by Laura Leuck
illustrated Kyle M. Stone
Harcourt 2007
This cracks me up. Not the book but my original notes taken a few weeks back.
This rhyming picture book explores The joy of raising boys Without a mother's love aboard A pirate ship of noise A father's tenderness is buried In text beneath the gruff Exterior of belching lads And other other pirate stuff
First, I don't remember penning those lines, but the handwriting if definitely mine. Second, why I felt the need to take notes in rhyme is beyond me. It happens sometimes, what can I say. Third, if I wasn't going to finish the review-in-verse why the hell didn't I take down some other notes to help flesh out my initial impressions?
It's hard to believe that the current piratemania hasn't played itself out but I suppose as long as the Johnny Depp franchise continues to come out at regular intervals we won't see the last of it for a while. Which isn't to suggest this is a bad book, because it isn't. In fact, it's a nice little tale of a pirate papa indoctrinating his boy into the life of a pirate as matter-of-factly as any parent raises their child with their own beliefs and customs. Certainly there are elements specific to pirate culture but change those out and give them spirited illustrations, as included here, and you could be reading I Love My Amish Papa or I Love My Homeschool Papa. Because the pirate theme is there to deliver a father and son bonding story.
Now, let's see if we can't get more period-based father and son (and father and daughter) picture books out there. We could have I Love My Secret Agent Dad (done in a mid-century retro style to match the Cold War era), and I Love My Cowboy Pa, and perhaps I Reckon Ain't No One Better Than My Pappy Farmer.
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