Do Pirates Take Baths?

September 1, 1997
A rhyming q&a format recounts the habits of a group of rowdy pirates, who dine on seaweed and don't wear underwear. Ages 3-6.

January 1, 1995
PreS-K-Rolling motion characterizes both words and pictures in this pleasant book. Bouncy, six-line verses provide colorful, innocent answers to 13 childlike questions. Readers learn that pirates eat barnacle stew, scrub their knees with seashells, and dance the hornpipe every afternoon. Even when they seize a ship, they merely tie their captives up with "good strong rope." Lighthearted illustrations add to the vision of jolly sea villains. Caricatures drawn with fluid lines and filled in with sunny acrylics show the men in constant motion. They toss food into their mouths, do cannonball dives into the ocean, and march across the plank to another ship with arm-waving, strutting gusto. Only when they are cozily swaying in their hammocks, dreaming of their mothers, are they still. Young children already fascinated with pirates will be pleased with the jovial picture this book paints.-Nancy Seiner, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

February 15, 1995
Ages 4-7. This sprightly picture book gives the lowdown on those low-down varmints, pirates. Each two-page spread offers a new glimpse of their sometimes nefarious, sometimes silly actvities: "Just once in a while, / when they smell "very" bad, / they jump into the seas. / They use sea foam / to wash their hair, / and shells to scrub their knees." Whatever tricks the pirates may be up to, like capturing a rival ship, are lightly looked upon by Wescott's cheerful watercolors. They make pirating seem like lots of fun indeed. ((Reviewed Feb 15, 1995))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1995, American Library Association.)