Rating:
Captain Abdul’s Pirate School
by Colin McNaughton

Best pirate book ever!!! OK, maybe not everyone has the soft spot for kid’s books that I do, but this one’s a dandy. When Pickles, a young girl, is forced to enroll in pirate school by her father, she dutifully logs the day’s events in her diary. She and her classmates carefully study the piratical arts, but then learn that Captain Abdul, the principal, has deviously schemed to ransom his own students back to their parents. Not to give away the ending, but Pickles and her friends do a right fine job of turning the tables on the fiend.

The story here is merely incidental – the real fun for me was seeing the different pirate classes and reading Captain Abdul say, “Ha-har, ooh-arrgh!” at every turn. The artwork is rough and crazy – perfect for the story and full of activity. This book was loads of fun, but bear in mind that it’s a picture book, so if you’re over six you’ll plow through it in about ten minutes.