Mei and the Pirate Queen by Tony Bradman (illustrated by Scoular Anderson, as credited on the cover) is a White band reader in Cambridge Reading Adventures for Class 3 at Lahore Grammar School (LGS). The cover shows two children on the deck of a Chinese junk, a red-and-gold dragon painted on its side, with a yellow sail behind.
This is the most grown-up story in this group of readers. In the 2027-28 session it offers Class 3 children a real adventure with a brave heroine, more complex sentences and some tricky vocabulary.
What happens in the book
According to the teaching notes, Mei runs away from home and is captured by pirates. In a brave encounter she confronts the Pirate Queen. In the end, good triumphs over bad. The story line is sustained over time and place, with a series of events culminating in a conclusion. The notes add a caution: the subject matter can be challenging for some younger readers, and in regions where modern-day piracy is an issue, teachers need to handle the content sensitively. Parents may want to read it alongside their child for the same reason.
The sentences are more complex, and grammatical structures such as ellipsis (page 3) convey tension. Connective words and adverbial phrases (‘A couple of days later’, ‘As the junk sailed on’) structure the sequence of events. Vocabulary choices indicate action and motive (‘Suddenly, all the pirates looked nervous’, ‘Everyone else just stared, open-mouthed’), and adjectives like ‘toughest’, ‘nasty and cruel’ and ‘very unpleasant’ describe character and mood.
What your child learns from it
The publisher’s teaching notes list these learning outcomes. A child who reads this book can:
- consider the author’s intent in vocabulary choice and grammatical structure;
- discuss personal interpretations, providing evidence from the text to support opinions;
- read a wider range of novel, unfamiliar words, relating them to known words and parts of words such as suffixes and prefixes.
How to read it together at home
The guided reading lesson printed in the book gives a simple routine you can follow:
- Begin by activating what your child knows about pirates from films and other stories; consider the usual stereotypes.
- Ask your child to read the title and the blurb independently and tell you their predictions: where and when it is set, what kind of story it is, what the resolution might be.
- Say: the blurb tells us this story is about a girl called Mei who runs away from home and meets a pirate queen. It sounds exciting, doesn’t it? I wonder why she runs away.
- Ask your child to read pages 2 to 7 silently and say what happened to make Mei run away. Do you think she did the right thing? What would you have done?
- Look at the vocabulary used for Uncle Feng (‘nasty’ and ‘cruel’) and notice that Mei ‘begged’ not to be sent away.
Fun learning links beyond the book
For history, use the internet to investigate true stories of female pirates such as Anne Bonney, Sayyida al Hurra and Mary Read. For PSHE, Mei is brave and stands up to the Pirate Queen even though she is scared; talk about times when your child has been brave, or read about people who have strived for human rights in the face of adversity.
About the White band
White band books, according to the publisher, tend to explore why-questions and use more complex sentences with a wider range of grammar, so they suit confident readers.
Who, when, where and why
Whom: Class 3 children (about eight years old) who are confident readers. When: during the 2027-28 session. Where: at school and at home. Why: to practise reading complex sentences and to talk about courage. Lahore Grammar School campuses follow almost the same book list, but a few campuses use their own list for some subjects. Send us your child’s campus on WhatsApp and we confirm the title before we dispatch.
Frequently asked questions
Is it suitable for all children?
The teaching notes say the subject matter can be challenging for younger readers, so we suggest reading it together first.
Who wrote it?
Tony Bradman, illustrated by Scoular Anderson.
What band is it?
White band.
Order Mei and the Pirate Queen online with Cash on Delivery across Pakistan, or visit our shop in Lahore. Message us the class and campus on WhatsApp and we will confirm the edition before we dispatch.
