Twenty-Six Pirates by Dave Horowitz (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Twenty-Six Pirates by Dave Horowitz
As in his Twenty-Six Princesses (BCCB 6/08), Horowitz presents twenty-six characters, one for each letter of the alphabet, from "Pirate Arty. First to the party," to "Pirate Zach. The final attack." There are nasty pirates ("Pirate Brad. Born to be bad") and not-so-nasty ones ("Pirate Doug. Needs a hug"), bold buccaneers ("Pirate Frank. Walks the plank") and more timid ones ("Pirate Grant. Can't"). The text lacks any substantial narrative, but it's still an amusing and lively list, and pirate-loving youngsters may enjoy the multitude of variations on Horowitz's piratical theme. Some of the compositions are clunky, but the cartoonish illustrations, created with construction paper, charcoal, colored pencils, "and a chicken feather or two," are as bold and brash as their subject. Most spreads will carry well to a crowd, making this useful for storytimes and classroom readalouds. Particularly humorous are the froggy sidekicks featured on each page, whose pop-eyes and frequently worried mouths convey their concern and disapproval with the pirates' wild antics. This would be useful as an addition to a pirate-themed storytime lineup or as part of an abecedary collection; it might also work as a read-alone title for reluctant primary-grade readers.
