THIS LITTLE PIRATE

The creators of Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza (1999) spin off an equally inspired take on “This Little Piggy,” gathering ten pirate pigs in two rival crews around a big box found on a small desert island. And what’s in the box? After a bit of conflict—“So this little pirate threw a tantrum, / and this frightened pirate cried, ‘Duck!’ / Then this spunky pirate showed her muscle, / and this nasty pirate said, ‘Yuck!’ ”—the gang opens it together and finds a hoard, not of gold, but of party supplies. Time for a romp! Walrod illustrates with exuberantly detailed collages, assembled from a trove of papers cut and combined into a diverse set of bucket-nosed porkers in pirate dress, cast among arrays of astonishingly realistic food, toys, musical instruments and marine bric-a-brac. Partying done, “Then these little pirates put on jammies, / and these little pirates said, ‘Good night.’ / As these groggy pirates hugged teddies, / these tuckered pirates slept tight.” A delight for young mateys, at bedtime or any other. (Picture book. 5-7)