Book Review: Pirate vs. Pirate

Pirate vs. Pirate by Mary Quattlebaum (Illustrated by: Alexandra Boiger)

Review by Chris Singer

About the author:

Mary Quattlebaum is the author of more than a dozen children’s books, including Winter Friends, Family Reunion,and the popular Jackson Jones series. She is the recipient of many awards, including the Marguerite de Angeli Prize and the Sugarman Award for Children’s Literature. She writes frequently for The Washington Post, leads writing workshops, and speaks at conferences. She lives in Washington, D.C.

About the illustrator:

Alexandra Boiger was born in Munich and started her career as an animator for Warner Bros. She is the illustrator of such award-winning books as Little Bit Scary People, While Mama Had a Quick Little Chat, and Roxie and the Hooligans.  Alexandra dedicated this book, her favorite project to date, to her husband. She lives in San Anselmo, California.

About the book:

Who is the mightiest pirate in the world?  Bad Bart and Mean Mo both want that honor.  And so they hold a series of contests:  swimming with sharks, hurling cannonballs, and eating hardtack.  Aarrr!  The final contest—treasure counting--will decide the winner.  This lively story, full of sea-dog lingo, will appeal to both girls and boys.  Boys will root for Bad Bart, girls for Mean Mo—and in the end … well, that’s a BIG swashbuckling surprise.

My take on the book:

I loved this book! It's just plain fun and dads who love to read aloud to the kids will have an absolute blast with this one. (Do you know how long I've been waiting to do a pirate accent for my little girl?!?).

It was great to see a pirate of each gender (Bad Bart and Mean Mo) competing against each other for the title of best pirate and the healthy competition which results. No matter the contest though, whether it's arm-wrestling, cannonball throwing or swimming, each one results in a tie. A final contest (treasure counting) is to decide the winner, but you and your kids will never guess what happens in a wild and surprising finish.

This terrific story is accompanied by Alexandra Boiger's gorgeous illustrations which do a fantastic job of showing off the contests between Mean Mo and Bad Bart.

Be sure to check out Mary Quattlebaum's website for some creative and fun pirate and writing follow-up activities.