Ahoy Mateys! Pirates Ahead! - FAMILY magazine reviews

Hunt for summertime treasure as you ride the high seas in these pirate tales of adventure and travel! Watch out! Imagination required, as a shipload of magical new discoveries await. 

One-Eyed Jake by Pat Hutchins

            One-Eyed Jake was the meanest pirate ever. “Nobody liked him.” The cook, the bo'sun, and the cabin boy wanted to escape. But Jake “robbed every ship in sight. . .  And if anyone dared complain,” Jake threw him overboard.

            The colorful and detailed illustrations show Jake and his ship with the requisite pirate flag, spyglass, eye patch, treasure chest and much more against a white background and bright blue sea. Pirate activity moves the story in a beautifully choreographed combination of busy paintings and jaunty text. A variety of skin colors, plus faces and body language, demonstrate the threat and fear Jake’s greediness produce.

            What the cook, the bo’sun and the cabin boy wish for becomes clear as the story progresses. And what Jake does, despite the fishermen’s warnings, actually helps each of the three achieve their dreams. And satisfyingly, “One-Eyed Jake was never seen again.”

Greenwillow

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 1

Poppy the Pirate Dog and the Missing Treasure by Liz Kessler, illustrated by Mike Phillips

            Adorable Poppy comes to the rescue once again in this third adventure starring the pirate pup. Expressive illustrations in ink and watercolors, surrounded by lots of white space, show Poppy and her human family preparing for a pirate show in honor of Mom’s birthday. Poppy's job is to “guard the treasure and keep it safe.”

But while protecting the treasure, Poppy injures her eye and must wear a plastic cone around her neck. Thinking this will keep her from all the fun Poppy tries to take a nap. However, along with the other family members, Poppy realizes that the sparkly new necklace Dad bought for Mom's birthday is missing.

Text and illustrations together offer clues for beginning readers. How Poppy discovers this treasure's hidden location doesn’t require a pirate map. It does, however, assure readers that Mom's pirate show and party are not spoiled.

Poppy with her family supply another episode of fun for fans of this early chapter book series.

Candlewick Press, $3.99 (paperback) $14.99 (hardcover)

Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 3

Pirate Girl by Cornelia Funke, illustrated by Kerstin Meyer

Molly is on a trip, sailing to visit her grandmother, when she is captured by Captain Firebeard, the “terror of the high seas,” and his fearsome crew. They decide to hold her for a “handsome ransom.”

Meyer’s cartoon-like illustrations use mixed media to show scruffy bearded buccaneers in partnership with Funke’s humorous text. In spite of being forced to perform endless chores, Molly resists threats to feed her to the sharks, if she doesn’t reveal her parents' names and address. Instead, she makes a clever plan, waits until the pirates are sleeping, and tosses messages into the sea, secretly tucked in bottles

When she’s caught in the act, and is about to be thrown overboard, rescue arrives in the form of pirate Barbarous Bertha, who happens to be her mom. Firebeard and his mates are now required to take over Molly's chores. She, meanwhile, sails happily off to Grandma's house.

Chicken House, $15.95

Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 1

 

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Nightmares (Monday Poem)

by Francisco X. Alarcon


sometimes
dreams

that ignore
or exclude

the dreams
of others

become
nightmares



from Poems to Dream Together / Poemas Para Sonar Juntos
by Francisco X. Alarcon
2005, Lee & Low

Until I Saw the Sea (Monday Poem)

by Lillian Moore


Until I saw the sea
I did not know
that wind
could wrinkle water so.

I never knew
that sun
could splinter a whole sea of blue.

Nor
did I know before,
a sea breathes in and out
upon a shore.




from Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child's Book of Poems
Selected by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers, Eva Moore, Mary Michaels White, Jan Carr
1988, Scholastic

Yellow-Bill Duck (Monday Poem)

by Jack Prelutsky


I'm a yellow-bill duck
With a black feather back,
I waddle waddle waddle,
and I quack quack quack!

I dabble for my dinner
With a swish swish swish,
and I gobble gobble gobble
all I wish wish wish.



from Ride a Purple Pelican
by Jack Prelutsky
1986, Greenwillow

The Great Frog Race (Monday Poem)

by Kristine O'Connell George


We used flashlights one night
to find them in the damp and secret
places in the garden.

We put the frogs in a cardboard box
and wet down the driveway.
The garden hose was the finish line.

One by one, we lined up the frogs,
(It wasn't easy.)
We yelled: Ready-- Set-- Go!

Seventeen frogs leaped in all directions,
croaking.  Blurk. Blurk. Blurk.
The Great Frog Race was over quickly.

One by one,
all contestants hopped off
into the moonlight.


from The Great Frog Race and Other Poems
by Kristine O'Connell George
1997, Clarion

Missing (Monday Poem)

by Cynthia Cotton


My brother is a soldier
in a hot, dry,
sandy place.
He's missing--
missing things like
baseball, barbeques,
fishing, French fries,
chocolate sodas,
flame-red maple trees,
blue jays,
and snow.

I'm missing too--
missing
his read-out-loud voice,
his super special
banana pancakes
his scuffed up shoes
by the back door,
his big-bear
good night
hugs.

There are people
with guns
in that land of sand
who want to shoot
my brother.

I hope
they miss him
too.

From America At War: Poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

2008, Simon & Schuster

In Honor of Fathers and Grandfathers (FAMILY magazine reviews)

From tender to funny, dads and grandads can provide their children and grandchildren with the support and nurture that is so important in the family setting as well as in the wider world. Choose some of these grand books to share as only one of many ways to honor these family members you care about.

My Father’s Hands 

by Joanne Ryder

illustrated by Mark Graham

A blonde child and her dad share nature’s wonders in their garden, delicately examining a pink worm, a gold beetle, a sliding snail, and a leaf-green praying mantis. Full color oil paintings in soft-focus create a Monet-type setting, with lushly flowering plants in the background. Graham uses pastel coloring to enhance intimate close-ups of both daughter’s and father’s hands and faces.

The story is in the memory, with evidence of gentle touching in the melding of text and illustrations throughout. The restrained investigations established by the father, are imitated by the child. The daughter knows “nothing within my father’s hands will harm me.”

This tender picture book demonstrates mindful attention in the natural world. By example, readers will want to look for similar opportunities to care for and sustain our earth and its occupants.

Morrow, $17.99

Interest Level: Junior Kindergarten – Grade 2

Alma and How She Got Her Name 

by Juana Martinez-Neal

            Alma Sofia Esperanza Jose Pura Candela has a “too long” name, she tells her Daddy, “It never fits.” He responds by telling stories about the family members she’s been named after: a grandmother who is a book lover, an artist grandfather, and a deeply spiritual great-aunt, among others.

            The pictures, by award winning illustrator Martinez-Neal, use print transfers with graphite and colored pencils to complement the text. She crafts her delightful illustrations in grays and blacks with touches of color that help to define both Alma herself, and the ancestors whose names she shares.

            Alma’s candy stripe pants pop against sepia tones which suggest old family photos. Affectionately curved shapes connect the individual family members to the rounded images of Alma herself. Adults who share this lively story book will want to be prepared for conversations with young children about their own names.

This charming tale ends with her daddy’s explanation that Alma is “the first and only Alma.” And she will make her own story. Her name “fits me just right!” says Alma, “and I have a story to tell.”

Candlewick Press, $15.99

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2

Grandpa Toad’s Secrets 

by Keiko Kasza

            During their walk in the forest, Grandpa Toad cautions his grandson, “Our world is full of hungry enemies.” As he begins to tell Little Toad his survival secrets - the first is to, “Be brave” when you meet danger - a snake shows up. Little Toad runs away. Not Grandpa, whose bravery sends the snake on his way.

            Grandpa’s second secret, “Be smart!” works when a hungry snapping turtle arrives for a snack. Little Toad takes off again. But Grandpa whispers a tip to the turtle. However, before Grandpa can tell his third secret, a monster - so “humongous” that he only fits on the double page spread sideways – appears, and both Little Toad and Grandpa run.

Except --- Grandpa is caught by the monster! Little Toad hides in the bushes, shaking with fear as Grandpa is becoming a toad sandwich. Still, as he thinks about the two secrets he’s just learned, and sees berries nearby, Little Toad decides on a plan to trick the monster, rescuing his grandfather!

Repeated phrases, expressive animal characters, plus plenty of white space around the comical watercolor illustrations surprisingly supply emotional distance, reducing the “scare” for young children. A clever tale, told in spare but jaunty language, this a winner for adult readers as well as their listeners.

Candlewick Press, $15.99

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2

More Terrific Tales:

Things to do with Dad 

by Sam Zuppardi

Candlewick Press, $16.99

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade 2

With Dad, It’s Like That 

by Nadine Brun-Cosme

Illustrated by Magali Le Huche

Albert Whitman, $16.99

Interest Level: Pre-Kindergarten – Grade1