The Dead Men Stood Together by Chris Priestley - by a Year 10 pupil

In the Christmas holidays, I read The Dead Men Stood Together, Chris Priestley's retelling of the classical Coleridge poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 

For a conventional review see The Book Trust, but my blog piece is one of the Christmas Reading Challenge activities where we were asked to redesign the book cover in a way that showed our engagement with the themes in the book.

At first, I wasn't sure what to draw, as the story is oddly paced and the events are confusing. The imagery is rich and I was overwhelmed with options! However, when I looked back I could identify the moment when the story changed drastically. 

This key event was when the character's uncle shot the albatross in the eye. "Everything my uncle did seemed to have some effect."  After the death of the albatross, the boat becomes stuck fast in the ice before the sun comes out and saves them. However, the sun is too intense and the sailors become easily tired and grumpy. After this, more strange things start happening: flesh-eating creatures appear in the sea and the characters encounter an embodiment of Death which causes everyone on the ship to be taken away. The reader learns that the spirit who ruled this seascape of mist and snow loves the albatross and the uncle's senseless killing of the majestic bird is the cause of the doom.

That is why, in my drawing, you can see the albatross's eye with a crossbow arrow coming right at it, to kill it. I also added elements to represent fire and destruction reflected in the albatross's eye, showing what would be to come. I hope my book cover conveys both the beauty and the devastation encapsulated in the story.