BACKBEARD AND THE BIRTHDAY SUIT

Backbeard the buccaneer gets a wardrobe upgrade in this waaay south of serious outing. So hairy and unsanitary that even his parrots quit in disgust, the pirate chief at last decides to exchange his filthy rags for something classier, and maybe pick up a new mascot too. Fortunately (for readers, if not for him), he finds a tailor both quick-witted and poker-faced, and soon Backbeard is strutting down the street past stunned townsfolk in a sporty boater and flashy psychedelic duds, balancing a piglet on his shoulder. His own crewmembers don’t recognize him—“You sound like the Captain, but you look like a goofball”—until a friendly melee sets them straight. Properly capped with a back cover of equally hilarious alternative outfits and a squat, glowering, hirsute paper doll, this makes the funniest makeover since Laura Rader’s Santa’s New Suit (2000). (Picture book. 6-9)