Pirate Treasure Map: A Fairytale Adventure
Kindergarten-Grade 2—"Thar be a treasure map inside!" proclaims the grotesque cartoon pirate on the cover of this title. There is indeed a detachable map tucked inside the front cover, which includes some "golden nuggets of pirate lore." The story itself is a confused mélange of pirate clichés and hasty retellings of various fairy tales. The hero, Jack Hubbard, sets out on a voyage with his long-lost uncle, Cap'n Horatio Hubbard. When the pirate captain's treasure map falls into the ocean, Jack dives after it, and then swims ashore to seek his fortune. He finds it at the end of a breakneck jaunt through several fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The narrative is awkward and erratic, often overestimating the vocabulary of its target audience, and the page layout is crowded and unattractive. Melinda Long'sHow I Became a Pirate(Harcourt, 2003) or Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith'sThe Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales(Viking, 1992) are far richer choices.—Rachael Vilmar, Atlanta Fulton Public Library, GACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.