Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain

Story

Tim loves the sea. His friends – the Old Boatman and Captain McFee – teach him all about boats and knots and everything else a sailor needs to know. When his parents tell him that he is too young to sail, he stows away on a steamer, and he soon discovers that life aboard a boat isn’t quite as simple as he thought.

Why we chose it

Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain, published in 1936, was the first of Edward Ardizzone’s Tim books and the Tim stories are still in print now. His distinctive watercolour illustrations made Ardizzone one of the best loved children’s illustrators of the 20^th century.

Where it came from

Edward Ardizzone (1900-1979) was a prolific artist, writer, and illustrator. His first published illustrations were for the 1929 book In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu, and he held his first solo exhibition at the Bloomsbury Gallery in 1930. Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain was written at the insistence of his young son, Phillip.

Where it went next

Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain was adapted in 2016 by The Wardrobe Ensemble and Bristol Old Vic. Ardizzone’s later book, Tim All Alone, won the inaugural Kate Greenaway award in 1956. He was elected a full member of the Royal Academy in 1970, and was appointed a CBE in 1971.

Associated stories

Little Tim subsequently appeared in 11 further adventures, including Tim to the Rescue (1948) and Tim’s Last Voyage (1972). Edward Ardizzone also wrote Lucy Brown and Mr Grimes (1937) for his daughter Christianna, and the two children adventured together in Tim and Lucy go to Sea (1937). He also illustrated books for many other authors, including Stig of the Dump by Clive King (1963) and the 1967 edition of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.