How to Be a Pirate is fabulous! Surprising, funny, and just lovely.” —Jacqueline Woodson, bestselling and award-winning author of THE DAY YOU BEGIN and BROWN GIRL DREAMING
“A beautiful, generous, fun collaboration of story and illustration and pirate tattoos. Seriously wise pirate advice for everyone!” —Jon Scieszka, National Ambassador for Young People's Literature
“This is a bighearted book about stories and storytellers, told with wit, flair, and abundant tenderness.” —Mac Barnett, New York Times bestselling author
“[This book] exemplifies what children's literature should be, sweet, emotionally generous, and elegant in what it can teach a child. . . . This book is charming as #$@%.” —Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author
“Isaac Fitzgerald could've easily named this, HOW TO REMEMBER HOW AWESOME YOU ARE, because that's what this book is. A reminder that every child-pirate is, in fact, a treasure.” —Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author of ALL AMERICAN BOYS and LONG WAY DOWN
“In Isaac Fitzgerald's wonderfully empowering story, Cece finds the road map to becoming a pirate in her grandfather's tattoos, while Brigette Barrager's illustrations vibrate with energy and joy. How to Be a Pirate is the perfect primer for swashbuckling, and a happy, self-reliant childhood.” —Ann Patchett, bestselling author of COMMONWEALTH and LAMBSLIDE
“Have you ever read a story that made you remember how beautiful the world can be? . . . This is the story our children deserve. This is the story our young selves would've loved to read. Thank goodness for Isaac Fitzgerald, who writes for both the brave adults and the brilliant little ones!” —Mahogany L. Browne, author of BLACK GIRL MAGIC and WOKE BABY
“Filled with bright colors, soaring spirits, and a timely feminist message.” —Publishers Weekly
“Happily, Fitzgerald's tale is accompanied by the rollicking vibrancy of Barrager's art.… its feminist themes are strong.” —Kirkus Reviews
"A charismatic story that will delight . . . this is a book readers will want to share with each other." - School Library Connection
2019-11-05
Feminism for the piratically inclined.
Fitzgerald and Barrager give the old chestnut of a girl who's turned away from a boys' fort due to her gender alone a piratical twist. After CeCe's initial disappointment, she vows to get advice from the only true pirate she knows: her grandfather. Game to give his granddaughter a 101 in how to be the best possible scurvy dog, he uses each of his tattoos to extol a virtue such as bravery or speed. As in Alison McGhee and Eliza Wheeler's Tell Me a Tattoo Story (2016), body art becomes the inspiration for any number of adventures and aphorisms, ending with the most important lesson: love. Readers may note that few of these flights of fancy have much to do with pirates specifically. Nevertheless, an emboldened CeCe returns to the boys and successfully owns her piratude. The ending is more than a bit optimistic, as CeCe gains admission simply by redeclaring intentions with a smidgen more chutzpah. Would that misogyny always rolled over so easily. Happily, Fitzgerald's tale is accompanied by the rollicking vibrancy of Barrager's art. Reality pales (literally) in the face of the imagination, with a clever tonal shift to a brighter, more saturated palette indicating CeCe's determination. CeCe and Grandpa both present white; the boys who initially snub her display a range of skin colors and hair textures.
While thar be precious little piracy visible in this, its feminist themes are strong. (Picture book. 3-6)
