Pirates, ho!

K-Gr 2-Thomson's unpredictable verse should be rehearsed before being read aloud to maximize its impact and its humor. For example, this is one such bouncy passage: "A skull keeps watch from our flag of bones./Our swords are steel and our hearts are stone/as we send our foes to Davy Jones./We are pirates, pirates, ho!" The language is littered with terms like "thieving," "lying," "rascally," and "cut-throat"-plus the ever-popular "avast" and "ahoy." Gilpin's wacky cartoons have a retro, take-no-prisoners abandon. The motley crew members run up riggings, make enemies walk the plank, drive their ship through perilous seas, and have a generally threatening appearance-until one takes a closer look at their faces and postures, which are just plain adorable. The most conspicuous dent in the pirates' armor presents itself in the gloom of night, when they tell each other ghost stories by the light of the eerie, cratered moon. Eyes widen, mouths fall open, muscles tense: "We are pirates, pirates-YIKES!" Although pirate books abound, this funny, fabulously illustrated rhyme is certainly worth adding.-Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

"A skull keeps watch from our flag of bones. / Our swords are steel and our hearts are stone / as we send our foes to Davy Jones. / We are pirates, pirates, ho!" Bold talk from this crew of scurvy sea-dogs ("Peg-Leg Tom and Angus Black, / Dreadful Nell and One-Eyed Jack"), but let the sun go down and bare mentions of ghosts and cursed ships in the night sends them all scurrying to their hammocks, "hidden from shadows, safe in our beds, / with blankets pulled tight over our heads." The illustrations are a mismatch for the rousing rhyme, however; showing more grins than glowers, the bland, very clean cartoon pirates in Gilpin's nautical scenes look less like brigands than teachers and kids in costume. Budding buccaneers will respond more heartily to the equally vulnerable but leering knaves in the likes of Bill Harley's Dirty Joe the Pirate (2008), illustrated by Jack E. Davis, or Melinda Long's How I Became a Pirate (2003), illustrated by David Shannon. (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.