Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "rhyming"

The Grumpy Pirate by Corinne Demas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Pirates smile. They shout “Aye aye.” They do their chores. Well, almost all pirates. There’s one who’s not a team player. He complains and pouts and avoids chores whenever he can. His name? Grumpy Gus, and the rest of the crew has had enough! They want action or they’ll walk the plank. The wise and sly pirate queen understands. Rather than scold, she gives Grumpy Gus a special friend, who soon teaches him that grumpy and pirate don’t go hand in hand.

Geared toward young pirates between the ages of three and five, this is a delightful book for teaching an inventive way to resolve a problem and change an attitude. The pirate queen’s answer to near mutiny is unique and fresh; it’s also one that children will readily identify with and enjoy parroting. The large illustrations are bright, colorful, and easy to see. The infectious rhyming text invites places where listeners can participate as someone reads the story. Anstee does a marvelous job of incorporating differences into the pirate crew, not just in color but also disabilities, sexes, ages, and sizes. There’s even a crab with a hook for one claw. Young pirates will also enjoy perusing the pictures to spy surprises, such as Grumpy Gus’s pirate underwear. Great fun for young and old pirates alike.




View all my reviews

Pirate Nell's Tale to Tell by Helen Docherty

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It’s Nell’s big day. Her wish has finally been granted. She’s a pirate!

She brings along her Pirate’s Almanac, a book she’s studied forward and backward until she knows everything about being a pirate. She tries to share the book with Captain Gnash, but he frowns on reading. Nor is her grand adventure quite what she envisioned. Her days are spent scrubbing pots and swabbing the deck. Yet the crew enjoys the many tales she spins at night just before they go to sleep.

One night while on deck, Nell retrieves a bottle floating in the water. Inside is a treasure map, which Captain Gnash confiscates. Even though he hasn’t a clue as to where the buried treasure is, he sets off to find it, encountering troubles and perils along the way.

This captivating book demonstrates that gold and silver don’t always make the best treasure and, sometimes, even the newest pirate makes important contributions both to the ship and the quest. Complimenting the story is the vibrant color artwork that provides young pirates with treasures galore to find, such as Captain Gnash’s boneleg (a pegleg made out of a bone) or the lurking sea serpent. One of my favorite illustrations depicts the ship and crew tossed about during a storm. Another is what Nell and her mates do with the treasure. This rhyming tale will delight young and old alike, and is sure to be a young pirate’s favorite tale of adventure aboard a pirate ship.




View all my reviews