"Pirates have green teeth - when they have any teeth at all;" The very first line of this Book Sense Book of the Year award winner promises fun, humor, and entertainment. The story takes off right away with the imaginative Jeremy Jacob building a sand castle until he is approach by pirates and invited to join their crew. The pages are filled with fun pirate jargon like, ""Ahoy thar, matey" and "Shiver me timbers," and repetition as the crew repeats the main part of whatever the captain Braid Beard says to reiterate it. Whenever the crew joins in, the font grows tenfold, and that's your queue to raise the volume and theatrics for emphasis. The pictures are every bit as engaging as the words. A kaleidoscope of vivid colors is painted in great detail, giving your child plenty to observe while you’re reading the words. The pictures are also wrought with humor when you look close, whether it's the pirate with two eye patches constantly lifting one so he can see, the parrot and the scraggly cat who are usually fighting somewhere in the background, or the unique perspective of all the pirates looking down from the page as though they are looking at the reader (or Jeremy) flat on his back.

You may very well have as much fun reading this book as your child does listening to it, as the dialogue and expressive cartoon faces provide for so much creativity and theatrics. Your child, like Jeremy, will have a blast learning the pirate colloquialisms like matey, chanteys, landlubber, scurvy dog, and more. Jeremy claims it only took him until dinner time to "speak pirate perfectly." There are also lessons within the story that you can stress to your child, such as how Jeremy learns it's not so bad that his parents make him brush his teeth (he doesn't want them to turn green or fall out like the pirates), it's not so hard to say 'please' and 'thank you', and how nice it is to have someone to read you a bedtime story or comfort you when you're scared.

My friend, Adam, has really enjoyed reading this book. I often catch him swashbuckling around the house fighting off pretend pirates and sharks, and I don't know how many times he's hidden my jewelry box insisting it's his 'treasure chest'. He told his friends in preschool that he would like to be a "nice pirate" when he grows up - "not the mean kind."

--Audra

This book has great artwork and a good story with some lessons in it, like saying please and thank you and brushing your teeth so they don't turn green and fall out! Beware though, this book can make your little boy run around the house saying, matey, chanteys, landlubber and scurvy dog! Boys can also learn that being tucked in is good along with having someone read you a story!