Adaptability and acceptance are the real treasure at the end of this pirate-y adventure.
In this follow-up to Pirate & Penguin (2023), the titular pair aim to recruit fellow corsairs.
Penguin—whom Pirate now refers to as his Ground Parrot—and tan-skinned Pirate, still a one-man lexicon of sea terms, make two. That’s too few. They need a crew. To attract new careerists, they paint the ship in vibrant pastels, substitute a smiley face for the skull and crossbones (creating “the Jolliest Roger” imaginable), and tie bright balloons to the yardarms. But the “funnest flagship” elicits only guffaws from would-be buccaneers (depicted with tan skin). Their cries of “goofy ship” and “goofy pirate” don’t bother Pirate, but when they mock his “extra-goofy parrot,” he bristles and threatens to send them to the “bottom of the briney deep!” The “yellow-bellied landlubbers” scatter. But then Pirate spots a stowaway: a female octopus who meets their exact requirements (“four pairs o’arrrrrrrms”) and who likes the odd couple “for who we arrrrr.” As a squall arrives, the cry is “Man—and woman—yer stations!” and the decorative ship departs for “adventure and bountiful booty.” Black speech bubbles lend grimness to Pirate’s declarations, and a few somber touches contrast with the frivolity of their spiffed-up man-o’-war. The verses carrying this excellent yarn roll like the ship’s deck under our feet.
Adaptability and acceptance are the real treasure at the end of this pirate-y adventure. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781645678625
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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