Polly and the Pirates

K-Gr 2—When pirates Caleb and Annie dare to get married and—even worse—have a baby, Bad Bart and the crew of The Jolly Herbert set them adrift at sea. After a night on the ocean, the little pirate family makes it to shore and begins a new life on land. As baby Polly grows, she adopts her parents' pirate ways, but once she starts school, her teacher Miss Primly worries that Polly has not yet shown any special talents. The more Miss Primly observes, however, the more she realizes that Polly may just have a few hidden talents after all, and Polly's latent skills as a pirate come in handy when her class faces The Jolly Herbert while on a school trip to the seaside. Davies's bright, cartoonish illustrations are filled with pirate puns and amusing details to discover throughout the pages (like a carton of "Aahrange Juice" on the breakfast table), but the story's plot ambles quite a bit. The frequent use of pirate slang ("'Stop talkin' bilge!' said Caleb. 'We've always been good skippers.'") may also challenge newly independent readers, who are the target audience for this transitional early reader. Avid pirate fans are likely to enjoy the book but may be better served by the likes of Johnny Duddle's The Pirates Next Door (Candlewick, 2012) or Melinda Long's How I Became a Pirate (Harcourt, 2003).—McKinley Elementary School, Abington School District, PA