Author: Arnon Z. Shorr 

Illustrator: Joshua Edelglass

Publisher: Kar-Ben Publishing

ISBN: 978-1728420097

Jose and the Pirate Captain Toledano has many things-- adventure, history, faith and stunning art and visuals, but most of all it has a good overall message that people of any age can enjoy.

Although he is just a teenage boy, Jose is very intelligent. Knowing five languages, he is often bullied for his smarts in his small colony of San Domingo. 

The year is 1547, and the Spanish Inquisition comes to San Domingo in the form of a ship that washes up on shore. The ship, the Santa Clara, was overtaken by pirates and only barely managed to make it San Domingo with it's occupants still on board. Because Jose's father is a leader in the community, he sends Jose to bargain with the local native tribe, the Taino, to ask for more land to house the people from the ship. 

Upon returning, Jose's father reveals to him that he has been hiding a secret. Jose's father, and, by extension, Jose is Jewish. With the Spanish Inquisition in town looking for Jewish people to arrest, Jose's father is panicked that they will be next. His fears turn out to be true, when the captain of the ship, De Guzman, shows up to their house and arrests Jose's father. 

Only narrowly managing to escape capture himself, Jose runs to the bay and sneaks aboard a pirate ship. The ship belongs to Captain Toledano, the other titular character and a man of great faith, himself. Toledano is also Jewish and he takes it upon himself to teach Jose the ways of their faith. 

But Jose's only interest is in returning to San Domingo and rescuing his father. When Toldeano discovers that the man who arrested Jose's father is a man that he has a personal vendetta against, he agrees to help and the two hatch a plan to return to San Domingo and take action against De Guzman themselves. 

This is a fantastic graphic novel for history lovers and adventure lovers alike! 

About Arnon Z. Shorr

Arnon Z. Shorr is an author, screenwriter and filmmaker of character-driven adventures and thrillers, where heroes grapple with the extraordinary, and in doing so, learn important truths about themselves.

Arnon spent most of his childhood between worlds: a Hebrew speaker in America, a private school kid in a rented two-bedroom apartment. Whenever he’d set foot in one world, his other foot would betray him as different. For that reason, he tells stories that embrace the peculiar, where encounters with the unexpected reveal who we are.

About Joshua Edelglass

Joshua Edelglass is a freelance illustrator from Massachusetts. He is also the Assistant Director of Camp Ramah New England. At Brown University, Josh wrote and drew the political cartoon, WorldView for The Brown Daily Herald. That experience gave him the bug for cartooning, a passion that has never left him.

Josh’s work has appeared in a variety of exhibitions, including Pow! Jewish Comics Art and Influence that ran at the Brooklyn Jewish Art Museum in Spring 2018. Josh was included in the Jewish Comix Anthology, published in 2014 by Alternative History Press. Josh was also included in SCI: The Jewish Comics Anthology vol. 2, which was published in the fall of 2018.

 
Follow Here To Read Bee's Interview with Joshua Edelglass and Arnon Z. Shorr