ROGER, THE JOLLY PIRATE

Helquist takes a break from illustrating “A Series of Unfortunate Events” for a solo debut, offering an eye-rolling account of the pirate flag’s origin. Dubbed “Jolly Roger” by his shipmates—and “they didn’t’ mean it nicely”—an inept pirate is sent belowdecks when the ship is attacked by a British Man-O-War. In an effort to increase his social standing, Roger decides to bake a cake in an unused cannon—so when he blasts into sight, a ragged figure covered with white flour and burnt powder, the frightened attackers flee, and his grateful chums sew up a flag in his honor. Sporting a gap-toothed grin, argyle socks, and a chicken on his shoulder, Roger’s definitely a misfit among his scowling, beetle-browed mates, but then, looks—not to mention a continuing inability to tell “the starboard from the larboard, the windward from the leeward, or the mizzen from the main”—aren’t everything. A bit of spindrift for young pirate fans, capped by a brief ballad (not seen). (Picture book. 7-9)