How I Became a Pirate by Melinda LongThis imaginative book is a great read-aloud if you are comfortable with Pirate-Speak. Captain Braid Beard and his crew have a lot to say and do...and a young boy loves their pirate lifestyle (no vegetables, no baths, no bedtimes) until it is bedtime and there is no one to tuck him in, read him a story, or give him a goodnight kiss - besides he has to get home for soccer practice. David Shannon' illustrations kept the kids eyes glued to the pages and had them laughing out loud.
The colorful cast of Pirate characters in this book - which include a GIRL pirate - are brave swashbucklers during the day. Doing as the things that Pirates do. But when darkness falls it is a different story altogether. Told in rhyme, with great illustrations this book delighted the kids at storytime today. We sang "If You're a Pirate and You Know it." (Tune: "If You're Happy and You Know It") and modified the verses to match some of the same pirate activities described in the book.
This is one sequel that is almost better than the original! In this second Melinda Long/David Shannon pirate book, Jeremy Jacob is visited by his old pirate crew, ready to dig up their treasure. Jeremy's baby sister though has other plans for the pirate crew and they have to change, feed and calm her before they can get to digging. The illustrations are just hysterically funny and the kids today loved them.
This was a creative, well illustrated concept book, and the kids really enjoyed the pirates' quest to steal all the letters of the alphabet for their Captain who decides that "R is not enough.......we need other letters to help make us tough." Did I mention that the Captain is a crocodile and the crew consists of a pig, a cat, a rat, and a mouse? The kids loved many things about this book, including the fact that the parrot on the Captain's shoulder wore a pirate hat and that the captain has a duck flotation device around his waist that wears an eyepatch.
I thought this book might be too long for my mostly toddler audience, but I was wrong. The kids loved this book laughing and commenting on the illustrations, especially when among the pirate treasure there was a teddy bear and a pair of purple pirate underwear. Great rhyming book, great illustrations just the right amount of pirate-speak to make this book a great read-aloud that will appeal to all ages.
This is a charming book about a cute little pekingese with a "boo boo." An unseen companion, helps the little guy imagine that instead of a cute dog with a broken leg, he is an adventurous pirate with a peg leg. With some help, he sails away and finds a treasure which makes him feel better. The illustrations are sweet and the text, told in a Mo Willems' like dialog is engaging and funny.
We closed with a Pirate version of "Row, Row, Row, your boat":
Sail, sail, sail your ship
Gently o'er the sea.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
A pirates life for me!
The kids all stayed to color a pirate ship coloring sheet and it was great fun to have some time to interact with the kids and their parents informally. I did however learn that talking like burly, swashbuckling pirates is very hard on the throat and takes a toll on my voice. Even so, this storytime was worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment