Who can resist pirate outfits and treasure?

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, September 16, 2006

What is it about kids and pirates? I think it comes down to one word: costumes. Just like princesses, firefighters and other perennial preschool favorites, pirates have great gear for playing dress-up. At my 3-year-old son’s pirate party, his friends loaded up with beaded necklaces, rings, eye patches and hooks and were as happy as if they’d found real buried treasure. Maybe it’ll be different when they get older, but none of them seem interested in the fighting or stealing aspects of piratehood; they like digging in sandboxes, pretending they’re looking for treasure.

Publishers have caught on to the passion for all things piratical, and there’s been a shipload of picture books about pirates in the past few years. Happily, most of them focus on pirates’ funny language, cool costumes and freedom from rules, rather than weapons and theft.

One of the earliest is still one of the best – in fact, one of my favorite picture books of all time: “How I Became a Pirate” by Melinda Long, with illustrations by David Shannon. Published in 2003, it tells the thrilling tale of Jeremy Jacob, who was taken from the beach by a crew of unsavory but somehow jolly-looking pirates.

Jeremy’s adventures include learning words such as “landlubber” and “scurvy dog,” and eating with his mouth full. But when bedtime arrives and he discovers that pirates don’t read stories and don’t tuck people in, Jeremy realizes that he’d rather go home. And he even makes it in time for soccer practice! (Harcourt, ages 4-8).

The love of reading is also a theme of “Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies” by Carolyn Crimi, with illustrations by John Manders. Henry’s father, Barnacle Black Ear, “the baddest bunny brute of all time,” isn’t happy that his son would rather read than make prisoners walk the plank, but – surprise! – Henry’s book-learning comes in handy after their ship is destroyed in a storm. (Candlewick, ages 4-8).

Another set of unlikely pirates – mice this time – are laid up by a storm in “Pirate Treasure” by Loretta Krupinski. Captain Oliver and his faithful mate, Rosie, get to know the mice of a small village as they set about repairing their ship.

Krupinski’s gentle, highly detailed illustrations reminded me of Jan Brett, making this book appropriate for even the youngest pirate-lovers. (Dutton, ages 2-8). Rosie is far from the only female pirate around; girls get top billing in Cornelia Funke’s surprise-ending tale “Pirate Girl,” illustrated by Kerstin Meyer (Scholastic, ages 3-8), and “Olive’s Pirate Party” by Roberta Baker, with illustrations by Debbie Tilley (Little, Brown; ages 4-8). In “Captain Abdul’s Little Treasure” by Colin McNaughton, the captain’s wife sneaks their baby onboard and leaves him there for the crew to baby-sit while she and the other wives go off for a refreshing week of pirating. McNaughton’s illustrations have a cartoony style reminiscent of R. Crumb – just right for a bunch of big, hairy men discombobulated by a baby. (Candlewick, ages 4-8). “Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs” by Giles Andreae and illustrator Russell Ayto, combines two childhood favorites in a tale about a ship full of toothy dinosaurs who are tired out in a sword fight by a boy named Flinn. (Margaret McElderry Books, ages 4-8). For older kids, there are two similar – and similarly excellent – new books: “Pirateology” and “Pirates.”

They both feature many inserts, letters, booklets about pirate history, diagrams of pirate flags and pirate language, etc.

If I were buying only one I’d probably go for “Pirateology,” because it has more of a story: It purports to be the journal of 18th-century Capt. William Lubber, who circled the globe in search of the female pirate Arabella Drummond.

On the other hand, the text in “Pirates,” while no less intricately laid out, is definitely easier to read.

You can’t go wrong with either one. (“Pirateology,” by Dugald A. Steer, Candlewick, ages 5-10; “Pirates,” by John Matthews, Atheneum, ages 5-10).