My Granny Is a Pirate - Hardcover

Val McDermid is the author of 22 bestselling novels, which have been translated into 30 languages. They include Fever of the Bone and A Place of Execution, and her Tony Hill books are the basis for the television series Wire in the Blood. She has won such awards as the CWA Gold Dagger, the L.A. Times Book of the Year, and the Lambda Literary Awards Pioneer Award. This is her first children's book. Arthur Robins has illustrated numerous children's books, including What's Happening to Me? and Where Did I Come From?

K-Gr 2-After swearing readers to secrecy, the narrator of this slight offering reveals his family secret. In uneven verse, he tells of his grandmother's cabin-girl origins, and how her fierce reputation grew until "every other pirate feared/she'd capture their ship too." Granny's typical piratical habits are detailed-making the crew swab the decks, walk the planks, etc. Then things get confusing, as the woman rows for shore, changes into her granny clothes in a dark cavern, and follows a secret passageway to a ruined castle. There, she runs into a band of marauding skeletons that are after her gold. Fortunately, she beats them into dust with her handbag, and the story ends happily. Several flaws combine to sink this book. The verse doesn't scan in some places, which makes the text read awkwardly. Additionally, there are verb inconsistencies that lead to confusion about the sequence of events. Finally, the muddy cartoon illustrations do little to enhance the lackluster text. There are several richer choices in the piratical picture-book world, including Melinda Long's How I Became a Pirate (2003) and Mem Fox's Tough Boris (1994, both Harcourt).-Rachael Vilmar, Eastern Shore Regional Library, Salisbury, MDα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.