Lucy Rowland works as a speech and language therapist for children. Her experience and passion for her work prompted her to make the leap into writing picture books. When she’s not daydreaming about story ideas, reading A. A. Milne, or thinking up new rhymes, she enjoys backpacking, baking, and long walks on the beach. Lucy Rowland lives in London.
My toddler is absolutely obsessed with pirates the past few months, so yesterday I bought this book, along with some others, to supplement the cool pirate kids books she already has (eg My Granny Is a Pirate). This one is a lot of fun, and we've already read it several times over.
There's a lot for little ones to love: pirates, lots of silliness, cheesy-smelling feet, sharks, undersea adventures, some cool rhyming. It's a well-written tale with a fun sing-song quality, backed up by delightful illustrations. Pirate Pete gets ostracised by his shipmates, forced to walk the plank when they can no longer tolerate his stinkiness - but after being marooned he finds a way to be helpful.
It's a cool wee story that's silly and fun while also having some wee themes about friendship etc and everyone being useful, etc. Hits the mark as a re-readable tale that could become a favourite.
As an added bonus there's a 'find x on every page' aspect to add to the fun on re-reads, as well as some stinky stickers. The story itself is very good - whether you like the add-ons or not may come down to personal preference.