Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight? Pirate Boy by Eve Bunting

DANNY SAID, "MOM, WHAT IF I WANT TO BE A PIRATE AND SAIL AWAY ON A PIRATE SHIP?"

Mom and Danny have just finished reading a story coincidentally called Pirate Boy.  Sailing under the Jolly Roger looks pretty good to Danny--at first.

"OKAY, BUT MOM," DANNY ASKED, "WHAT IF I DON'T LIKE IT ON THE PIRATE SHIP?

AND I WANT TO COME BACK HOME?"

Mom is calm, as she replies that she'll catch the next friendly dolphin out to the ship and bring him back.

But the more Danny thinks about this buccaneering, the more it seems like risky business. He wonders aloud what will happen if no friendly dolphin is available? What if there a two sea monsters about to eat him?

Mom assures him that she'll swim right out to that ship with magic minty spray and those monsters will be shrinky dinks in no time.

But Danny's "Okay, But, Mom..." scenarios keep coming. What if the pirates on the ship like him so much they won't let him leave, even with his mom. What if....

But Mom has all the answers, even if the two of them have to become the crew and sail that ship to their favorite beach. And... when they get back home, Daddy will probably be there with milk and cookies for his two weary corsairs.

Eve Bunting's inventive mom has it all figured out, despite her worrywart little would-be seafarer, in a bright new edition of her Pirate Boy (Holiday House, 2013). While pirating has its pitfalls, the message here is that pluck and perseverance can go a long way in problem-solving. It's a successful fantasy voyage, illuminated by Julie Fortenberry's charming textured artwork which catches the perky wit and pleasant predictability of this storyline to a P (for Pirate).