We’re three days into the book blog of 2013 and it’s really picking-up steam. The anticipation builds all day until the boys actually forgot to demand treats after dinner tonight, rushing to bath time as the final hurdle before opening the secret book bag.
Before our story synopsis, a little ditty I was reminded of after tonight’s literary feeding frenzy. Earlier this year, Nate was eating out of his French pirate bowl and his dad started quizzing him… in English… as I’ve said we’re want to do. He gets “crab” right and “birdie” (technically a parrot) and of course “pirate” no problem. Then James asks, “Nate what’s that?”
“The Dolly Roger!”
And so our next book is titled How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long, illustrated by David Shannon.
In a nutshell: It’s a story about a little boy who meets a band of pirates during a day at the shore… in Long Beach. He finds out that pirates won’t tuck you in and don’t have books and are reluctant to provide goodnight kisses—a somewhat thin argument on why being a pirate isn’t all it’s cracked-up to be. It’s key redeeming qualities personally lay in the fact that the main character’s name is Jeremy Jacob, and it ends with said namesake playing soccer in a pirate soccer uniform. As I am literally a former soccer pirate, I found the ending exceptionally serendipitous. Unfortunately I found the illustrations a little too ugly. As Tyra says, there’s ugly ugly and there’s pretty ugly. I’m more a fan of the latter. I may have related to the lead character if he was just a little less bug-eyed and tic-tac toothed. I do however like that this book allows me to practice my Scottish pirate accent… which is prit-ee guid if I do say so meself.
Families can talk about: What does “down the hatch,” “matey,” and “me hearties” mean? How wise is “pirate” as your targeted career path? Is it a good idea to go off with eight of the ugliest and sketchiest dudes at the beach? And why is Jeremy Jacob wearing a flag like a Superman cape if he clearly doesn’t have a Superman shirt? Where his Superman shirt go?
Photo courtesy of How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long, illustrations by David Shannon.
Pingback: jeremiah