How to be a Pirate by Isaag Fitzgerald - ADVISABLE

How to be a Pirate by Isaag Fitzgerald, illustrated by Brigette Barrager. PICTURE BOOK. Bloomsbury (Macmillan), 2020. $18. 9781681197784

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) - ADVISABLE 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

CeCe wants to join in on the pretend pirate play, but the boys in the neighborhood tell her she can’t join them. Instead of giving up she consults her grandpa and her grandpa consults his tattoos that show just what a pirate needs to be. His panther tattoos means that a pirate must be quick and his dancer tattoo shows that you must be fun. CeCe decides she is indeed all of those things.

Cece and her grandpa are a darling pair - a strong tattooed man in a striped shirt with a gap toothed frustrated girl. I haven’t seen many books that use tattoos to talk about symbolism and I thought it worked quite well. 

Jen Wecker, HS English Teacher