Ahoy! Check out these fine pirate reads

We asked our mateys at the Yakima Valley Regional Library to recommend some hearty reads for young pirates. Dig into these treasures:

Story Books
(recommended for adults reading to preschoolers through grade 2)

• “Edward and the Pirates,” by David McPhail. Edward is a studious-looking little boy who reads everything he can get his hands on and becomes so involved that whatever he reads seems to be real. He finds a book about pirates at the library and that night, pirates invade his bedroom.
• “How I Became a Pirate,” by Melinda Long. Jeremy Jacob is building a sand castle when a pirate ship lands nearby. While his parents are preoccupied, Jeremy sails the seas to help the pirates bury their treasure chest.
• “Tough Boris,” by Mem Fox. Although he is a very tough pirate, Boris von der Borch cries when his parrot dies.
• “Captain Abdul’s Little Treasure,” by Colin McNaugton. Captain Abdul’s disgruntled wife leaves a treasure chest on board his ship. Shocked to find Abdul’s little son hidden inside, the crew warms up to baby-sitting.
• “Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs,” by Giles Andreae. When a young boy’s markers run dry while drawing a dinosaur, he heads to the supply closet and discovers a sobbing pirate who explains that his ship has been stolen.

Children’s Chapter Books
(recommended for grades 3-6)

• “The 13th Floor: A Ghost Story,” by Sid Fleischman. Buddy Stebbins, a 12-year-old orphan in the care of his older sister, is faced with selling the family home to pay off their parents’ debts. Buddy calls on an ancestor, rumored to be a pirate, for assistance and launches the siblings on a time-travel adventure.
• “Peter and the Starcatchers,” by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. A prequel to “Peter Pan” (the Disney film as well as J.M. Barrie’s original play and novel), this book is full of high-seas hijinks and explains how Peter Pan learned to fly.
• “The Not-So-Jolly-Roger,” by Jon Scieszka. Joe, Fred and Sam — the “Time Warp Trio” — find themselves on a desert island, where they are captured by Blackbeard and taken aboard his ship. Something always goes wrong in the trio’s attempts to save their own hides.

Children’s Nonfiction
(fact books for grades 4-6)

• “100 Things You Should Know About Pirates,” by Andrew Langley
• “Fact or Fiction: Pirates,” by Stewart Ross
• “Eyewitness Books: Pirate,” by Richard Platt