November marks several celebrations in the bookish world - it's Picture Book Month, Non-Fiction November, and for those writers out ...

Picture Book Month - Pirates!!!

Wednesday, November 09, 2016 BookBairn 12 Comments



November marks several celebrations in the bookish world - it's Picture Book Month, Non-Fiction November, and for those writers out there it's NaNoWriMo! As you can imagine, Picture Book Month is the one that has most grasped mine and BookBairn's attention and for those of you who have been following us for over a year, you will know that last year we celebrated with a new picture book every day. Last year I wrote that Picture Books are imprtant because the create a magical worldfilled with words, art and adventure that can be shared from generation to generation (read more here).

And in a year, I have seen the value of these words all the more. BookBairn can now join in with the storytelling: she remembers key words from familiar stories, discusses the illustrations and enjoys choosing books to read. Books really do create a little kind of magic.

And along with a group of fellow picture book enthusiasts I have volunteered to write about some of our favourite books on certain of the themed days. (If you follow us on Twitter you will see I have shared their posts too).

So yesterday was 'Pirate' day and I shared this photo of two great pirate books on our social media. These two books by Jonny Duddle who wrote the popular 'Jolley Rodgers' series which have just been released in board book and they are brilliant!

'The Pirates Next Door' is a hilarious tale of a family of pirates who move into a suburban street, much to the neighbours dismay! They simply don't fit in - on the street, at school, at the dentist! But these pirates are used to this sort of unfriendly reception and when they leave they leave behind a treasure hunt apology for the neighbours. And in the end the neighbours realise that pirates maybe aren't so bad after all.

'The Pirate Cruncher' is not for the faint-hearted! A less-friendly band of pirates take to the high seas in search of treasure (of course) but what they find takes them by surprise. The treasure island is no island at all! It's an evil sea-monster who lures the pirates right on to the tip of it's nose before... well, it's not called 'The Pirate Cruncher' for nothing!

These books are both filled with fantastic and detailed illustrations with multiple illustrations on some pages making them seem more like a comic book than a picture book. There are also many speech bubbles which is a great introduction to little readers following speech throughout the story. As you can imagine, these books are aimed at readers older than BookBairn and whilst she has enjoyed looking through them she has yet to sit through the entire story. So we enlisted a little help from her older (he's six) nearly-cousin to share his review of 'The Pirates Next Door': his favourite part is when the pirates hand out the gold to all the neighbours and his dad finds it funny that the old gets golden headphones! Clearly a book that appeals to many generations! These books are both brilliant for your little pirates but I would recommend 4+ age (ish - I don't really like age brackets on books, after all we like what we like but sometimes it helps) or at least children who are able to sit through a slightly lengthier story and enjoy more detailed illustrations.

As part of the Picture Book Month collaboration, I also intended to share a craft but unfortunately I haven't been able to as BookBairn has been struck down with yet another winter bug. I will update this once she is back on form and capable of gluing and sticking!

What Picture Books are you enjoying this month? I'm also looking for recommendations for Non-Fiction November for really little readers. I find that non-fiction for toddlers is mostly early word primers but would love to hear recommendations of great non-fiction for younger ones.

Happy Reading,
Mummy and BookBairn


*DISCLAIMER* We requested a selection from this series of books from the publisher and received these books in response. All words and opinions are, as always, my own.

 
Click on the images above to find these books on amazon.co.uk 
*This post contains Affiliate links



Read With Me

12 comments:

  1. I prefer the sound of the Pirates Next Door to the Pirate Cruncher but I'm sure they're both equally good. My picture book of the month is Golf Monthly but it probably doesn't qualify. Sorry to hear that wee BookBairn has a smelly cold and I hope she gets better soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Golf Monthly does not count! But you can read as many as you like when you visit next week! She's a lot better today thanks xx

      Delete
  2. My nephew would really enjoy these books although I think my youngest daughter would too. Thanks for sharing with #ReadWithMe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the fact that they are board books too - super sturdy!

      Delete
  3. I've not read many pirate books with my grandchildren. Will look out for these.
    #readwithme

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BookBairn is just getting into pirates from TV at the moment but will need to look out some easier stories for her to start off with. Thanks for reading x

      Delete
  4. I love the look of these. We have a pirate party to go to on Sunday so we'll certainly be in the mood for them 😃 #readwithme

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These would be great! Have fun at the pirate party and if the kids misbehave just make them walk the plank, or open the rum! x

      Delete
  5. All pirate books welcome! Great fun stories and children live them

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pirate books are a lot of fun! But not as much fun as eating their golden treasure chocolate coins!

      Delete
  6. My 4yo loves The Pirate Next Door! I think I heard a whisper from F.C. that The Pirate Cruncher might be on its way for Christmas too ��
    I'm publicising a non fiction book a day for non fiction November, a mixture of ones enjoyed by my 4yo and 1yo so you might see one that Book Bairn might like. Would have loved to join in with picture book month too but there just aren't enough hours in the day! #readwithme

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love Non-Fiction November recommendations, but like you I couldn't do them both so I decided on Picture Book Month as there aren't as many great non-fiction books for readers as little as BookBairn! x

      Delete