Prepping for Piratehood: How I Became a Pirate and Other Tales of Treasure

If your young hearties are hankering for more of the buccaneering business, you can't go wrong with Melinda Long's and David Shannon's How I Became a Pirate.

In their first tale, young Jeremy Jacob is shanghaied from his sandbox by a pack of pirates who need his digging skills to bury their treasure chest. Jeremy willingly takes to pirate life, enjoying the relaxation of parental strictures in the matter of, say, table manners, bedtimes, and dental care, as he cavorts with the colorful band of buccaneers led by Cap'n Braid Beard. Of course, Jeremy soon begins to miss the amenities of life at home, including being lovingly tucked in at night. To get himself discharged from service, he persuades the pirates to return him to the perfect place to bury the chest--in his own backyard. David Shannon, known for his No, David! and sequels, provides exuberantly plump and gap-toothed plunderers and a perfectly rigged privateer which make for clear sailing all the way.

And "th-e-y-'-r-e back" in the new sequel Pirates Don't Change Diapers. Cap'n Braid Beard and the kooky crew return to dig up their treasure in Jeremy's sandbox, but the boisterous buccaneers wake up his baby sister, Bonney Anne, who won't stop bawling. Jeremy does a deal: no digging 'til the baby's dozing, and the buccaneers turn out all hands to babysitting. Luckily, there's a pirate flick on television, and a rocking good time is had by all as baby Bonney Anne goes back to dreamland. Again, Shannon's grandly goofy illustrations bag the booty for a wonderful pirate party.

As we know, for guys at sea, there is nothing like a dame, and Lisa Wheeler delivers a delightful dairy diva in her Sailor Moo, Cow at Sea. Written in bouncy rhyme, this is the tale of Moo, who longing to see the sea, trades her "waves of grain" for ocean waves and a job as a ship's cook. Washed overboard, Sailor Moo is rescued by, what else, a group of sympathetic sea cows, who boost her aboard the pirate ship of buccaneer bull Red Angus. Moo is udderly shocked to learn that the handsome Red is the leader of "looting steers? Cow buccaneers?" and, taking the bull by the horns, confronts him with the evil of his ways. Captain Red falls hard for "his dairy queen" and promises to put down his pirating ways if she will but wed him. In a happy blend of beef and dairy, Red Angus and Sailor Moo retire to the "Jersey shore" to raise their little calf, "Half and Half." The cow puns keep coming, and the illustrations are a pure joy in this bovine buccaneer romp.