School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-In this spirited adventure told in verse, a pack of neighborhood kids play at being pirates. Though the verso spread depicts them riding bikes in their neighborhood and wearing their ordinary clothes, the rest of the story shows them clad in pirate gear, sailing ships upon the high seas. Imagination takes over reality as Bluebeard, Blackbeard, Beigebeard, Sharktooth Jane, Eyepatch Sue, Cap'n Gunderboom, and Peg Leg Jones wreak havoc playing in Peg Leg's room until his mom appears and orders the pirates to clean up. Fun over for the day, the little buccaneers clear off and look forward to another day of seafaring exploits. Most spreads depict pirates lounging on their ships, though a few bustle with playful action, all painted in Teague's signature cartoonish style with brightly saturated acrylics. VERDICT A fun romp for young fans of all things piratical.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY c Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
With a buccaneer-worthy sense of bravado, Teague (The Sky Is Falling!) transforms an ordinary suburban neighborhood into a Caribbean-green sea teeming with pirate ships. In singsong rhymes with the spirit of a sea shanty, Teague introduces the young neighborhood pirates as they gather for a jamboree: "And look, you lubbers, it's Eye Patch Sue,/ with her curving scimitar./ Her parrot wears an eye patch, too,/ and mutters curses near and far." The meter of the verse is far from consistent, and the rhyming isn't always terribly imaginative (Teague rhymes jamboree with sea four times), but there's no faulting their energy or humor. The same goes for Teague's dynamic paintings, which make the most of funny scenes that include a pirate ship utterly laden with cannons, as well as the arrival of "the dreaded Mrs. Jones,/ in her black-sailed ship of doom!/ Ship of terror! Ship of bones!/ It's the S.S. Clean Your Room!" (The pirate's mother stands on the deck of her pirate ship dressed in a floral housecoat and clutching a broom.) Rousing and rowdy pirate fun. Ages 3-5. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
