The pigrates clean up - Softcover

Kindergarten-Grade 2-- Captain Dan's pigrates (pirate-pigs) have quite a job getting their ship and themselves spick-and-span before the captain's wedding. From swabbing the deck to clipping hooves, from bringing order out of cabin chaos to taming bristly hair, no aspect of hygiene is left untouched. One rhyme on an aspect of the cleaning process appears on each spread, opposite full-page illustrations of the activities. These divisions make possible selective read-alouds to accompany appropriate lessons in personal spiffiness. However, the rhymes are sometimes forced and awkward, necessitating unnatural pauses or the accenting of words normally subordinated. On the other hand, Bassett's watercolor-and-pen illustrations are a delight. Appropriate nautical blues and greens are accented with splashes of red. Large pictures packed with hilarious detail should make group-sharing great fun. Especially enjoyable is an exuberant parrot who shows up throughout, holding clothespins, hanging upside down from the rigging, or examining the spotless pigrates. --Claudia Cooper, Ft. Stockton Independent School District, TX
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Captain Dan is to be married, so he rallies his crew of pigs/pirates into a clean-up frenzy (``How can Kate and I be wed/If you look like unmade beds?''). Like willing children pitching in on Saturday morning, the ``pigrates'' swab the decks, tidy their rooms, wash their clothes and themselves, and even clip their nails and polish their shoes before the lady arrives. It's a clever notion to put tasks that often seem onerous into such a merry, celebratory context. Kroll's doggerel is serviceable--its cadence tends to be forced, and only occasionally does it achieve the humor it reaches for; but Bassett's lively depiction of the pigrates bustling cheerfully all over the ship is good fun, with recognizable characters reappearing and many amusing piratical and nautical details. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.