Starting with the energetic cover, this book heralds adventure. Youthful pirates swarm a ship at full mast, while the back cover presents a close-up of a one-eyed rogue, sword and parrot at the ready. True to form, Teague opens his adventure in the real world, showing dogs, children on bicycles, and a harried dad heading off to work. But soon this is all left behind, and the real fun begins. The rhyme flows smoothly, incorporating lively words (swash, adrift, jamboree) as well as appealingly challenging ones (desperado, scoundrel, lubbers, scimitar) and delightful character names (Beigebeard, Gunderboom, Peg Leg Jones). The illustrations are bright and colorful, depicting child pirates of all shapes, sizes, and genders as they leap, shout, shoot cannons, and generally create mayhem. But when the black-sailed ship of doom arrives to bring them back to reality (cleaning their room), they accept their fate, knowing there is always another day. Pair with Mary Quattlebaum's Pirate vs. Pirate (2011) for a variation on this swashbuckling theme.

Gathered ship by ship at Peg Leg Jones's for a jamboree, boisterous young pirates find that their outrageous plundering ways soon merit the arrival of the S.S. CLEAN YOUR ROOM, captained by none other than the dreaded Mrs. Jones. Teague's bright, action-packed illustrations fully and humorously deliver this imaginary pirate world, but the text's lackluster rhymes and often awkward meter drag the story down.

With a buccaneer-worthy sense of bravado, Teague (The Sky Is Falling!) transforms an ordinary suburban neighborhood into a Caribbean-green sea teeming with pirate ships. In singsong rhymes with the spirit of a sea shanty, Teague introduces the young neighborhood pirates as they gather for a jamboree: "And look, you lubbers, it's Eye Patch Sue,/ with her curving scimitar./ Her parrot wears an eye patch, too,/ and mutters curses near and far." The meter of the verse is far from consistent, and the rhyming isn't always terribly imaginative (Teague rhymes jamboree with sea four times), but there's no faulting their energy or humor. The same goes for Teague's dynamic paintings, which make the most of funny scenes that include a pirate ship utterly laden with cannons, as well as the arrival of "the dreaded Mrs. Jones,/ in her black-sailed ship of doom!/ Ship of terror! Ship of bones!/ It's the S.S. Clean Your Room!" (The pirate's mother stands on the deck of her pirate ship dressed in a floral housecoat and clutching a broom.) Rousing and rowdy pirate fun. Ages 3-5. (Apr.)

PreS-Gr 2 In this spirited adventure told in verse, a pack of neighborhood kids play at being pirates. Though the verso spread depicts them riding bikes in their neighborhood and wearing their ordinary clothes, the rest of the story shows them clad in pirate gear, sailing ships upon the high seas. Imagination takes over reality as Bluebeard, Blackbeard, Beigebeard, Sharktooth Jane, Eyepatch Sue, Cap'n Gunderboom, and Peg Leg Jones wreak havoc playing in Peg Leg's room until his mom appears and orders the pirates to clean up. Fun over for the day, the little buccaneers clear off and look forward to another day of seafaring exploits. Most spreads depict pirates lounging on their ships, though a few bustle with playful action, all painted in Teague's signature cartoonish style with brightly saturated acrylics. VERDICT A fun romp for young fans of all things piratical. Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY