Friday, March 13, 2020

The Word Pirates by Susan Cooper - ADVISABLE

The Word Pirates by Susan Cooper, illustrated by Steven Kellogg. PICTURE BOOK. Neal Porter Books, 2019. $19. 9780823443598.

BUYING ADVISORY: EL(K-3), EL - ADVISABLE

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Captain Rottingbones leads a crew of Pirates who feast on words--words pilfered from books and writers the world over. One day they decide to attack a Word Wizard in New Zealand, but they are taken by surprise when she and the children who love her stories fight back. The pirates are shocked to discover the power of words can be more than just a tasty meal. Thanks to the Word Wizard the words of the world are safe from the pirates--and the pirates now can create words and stories of their own.

The best part of this book, it should come as no surprise, are the illustrations from Steven Kellogg. That and the pirate theme will give it a high appeal among readers.  It helps to understand that Cooper and Kellogg collaborated on this book in honor of a friend of theirs--a NZ based storyteller--because the story itself feels a little odd at times. Still, it will certainly be popular with lovers of books, and could likely be used in a generic lesson in a reading or English class. Its certainly not a bad book, but I was hoping to love it more when I saw the Kellogg illustrations.

Reviewer: TC

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