The Three Little Pirates by Georgie Adams and Emily Bolam
| The Three Little Pirates by Georgie Adams and Emily Bolam | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Dave Martin
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| Summary: Three Little Pirates is a wonderfully funny shared reading experience for any parent and child aged between five and eight. Bookbag particularly enjoyed the cliffhanger structure and appreciated the clear moral message. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 96 | Date: September 2006 |
| Publisher: Orion Children's Books | |
| ISBN: 1842555197 | |
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Mo the mermaid princess's friends have been captured by the evil pirate Vanilla Cringe. She plans to sell them to a collector and seeks Mo as her main prize. Just before capture, Mo makes a message in her magic moonstone and gives it to Errol. Can this seaweed pop guzzling monster to carry the message to his friends the Three Little Pirates and will they be able to save Mo and her friends from Vanilla Cringe before it is too late?
Three Little Pirates is a wonderfully rich, vibrant story of seafaring rescue. This is a book full of colour and life and immediately engages the young reader with its tale filled with magic and daring. Split into nine short, action-packed chapters, this is an ideal story for the confident reader aged between five and eight who likes a challenging story with descriptive and imaginative writing. Reading this alone, a less confident reader might struggle with some of the longer words, but with the encouragement of an exciting plot and a willing parent "Three Little Pirates" is a rewarding reading experience. Chapters are short, each with a cliffhanger ending, and this makes it a great book to read aloud to the pre-school child. It's a book full of onomatopoeia, I know my three-year-old daughter loved hearing the whooshes, crashes and bangs of the sea and its many colourful characters.
Reassuringly, there is a clear distinction between good and evil. This is a book that teaches the difference between the good and bad pirates. It has a strong moral theme about theft and greed being wrong. There is a clear cause and consequence for good and bad behaviour and it is always nice to see a clear boundary being drawn between the two. Of course, my daughter remains entirely unaware of this, such is the surreptitious nature of it. That makes this book even better as it offers something which I believe all good children's books aimed at the young reader should; education along with the entertainment.
Of course, the important thing to my child is entertainment and fortunately Three Little Pirates has that in spades. It offers pace in each chapter and a definitive conclusion. My daughter can never wait to read the next chapter, but the fact they end so abruptly also make this an ideal bedtime read as you can read a chapter a night. Indeed, we have read and re-read Three Little Pirates twice in less than a fortnight! The illustrations and layout in this book engage with splashes of colour. They have a roughly sketched quality reminiscent of the Captain Pugwash stories I read as a child and indeed, share many similar qualities; particularly the humour.
Three Little Pirates is certainly filled with humour and comic asides from a cast of characters with ridiculously colourful names. This gives the reader a little light relief from the gravity of the poor mermaid's plight. It also allows parent and child to laugh together in a shared reading experience. I heartily recommend this as one for the confident reader to experience alone but particularly for those who want an exciting read to entertain both parent and child.
Many thanks to the good people at Orion Publishing for this already much loved copy.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Three Little Pirates by Georgie Adams and Emily Bolam at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Three Little Pirates by Georgie Adams and Emily Bolam at Amazon.com.
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