Ghost Ship (The Sunken Kingdom series) by Kim Wilkins

Booktalk version: Asa and Rollo are a brother and sister on the run from the evil Emperor Flood and his spies. They live with their aunt in a secret cottage on an island far from the castle where they grew up with their father and mother, the King and Queen of the Star Lands. When the Emperor came, he flooded the lands, making the mountains into islands, and capturing most of the members of Asa and Rollo's family. A mysterious stranger visits the children one day, bringing a gift from their father, a ghost ship, which they can use to try to reclaim their throne. This is the first in a four book series about the Sunken Kingdom.

Full-length version: Ghost Ship by Kim Wilkins, illustrated by D. M. Cornish, is the first book in The Sunken Kingdom series. The book opens with Asa and Rollo, sister and brother, running for their lives to hide in a dank cave from spies for the Emperor Flood. The children are the only survivors of the royal family, captured by the emperor when he flooded the kingdom. They live with their aunt in a cottage which hides a warren of underground rooms built by their father, the King, in case the family needed a place to hide. His prediction has come true, and Asa and Rollo spend their days keeping out of sight from the emperor's spies.

A strange visitor comes to visit one day, bringing news about their family, and a gift from the King, a ghost ship. The ship is invisible unless hit by the rays of the rising sun, and Asa and Rollo sail off to try to save their family's legacy. Adventures and magical creatures await them in this book and the other three in the series.

The illustrations are dark and are reminiscent of The Spiderwick Chronicles or The Series of Unfortunate Events. It is a little confusing that the siblings are described in the text as children, but the illustrations show them as older, possibly teenagers. The tone is not as hopeless as the Lemony Snicket books, but readers will wonder how these two children might regain control of what is rightfully theirs, the sunken kingdom of the Star Lands.