My children loved this whimsical story of a pirate boy (Captain No Beard) and his first mate (Hallie) who sail the seas aboard their ship The Flying Dragon. Along for the journey are also a few animals: Mongo the monkey, Linus the lion, Fribbet the floppy frog, and a no name parrot (every good pirate needs a parrot!).
The crew deals with a storm and almost losing a person overboard before facing a mermaid who happens to bring them yummy treasure. Through all of his adventures, Captain No Beard (who chose his name because it sounded frightening) discovers that “being a captain is hard work.” My children enjoyed repeating this phrase each time it occurred in the book.
What is so fun about this story is the surprise ending that shows how imaginative Captain No Beard and his first mate Hallie really are. My children wanted to play pretend “pirates” too! I thought the story was cute and perfect for preschoolers. While we read I learned something new about pirates too: “shiver me timbers” means “oh my goodness” in pirate talk!
The one thing I found odd about this book is that the illustrations do not always match the story. For example, in the story a large storm comes and the characters notice dark clouds coming their way. But the pictures of the book show only clear skies.
The illustrations are beautiful, but they also repeat. The cover picture is used again on the title page and then two other times in the story. Another illustration is a close-up of one page illustration and repeats twice in the book as well. There are a few double page layouts with only text, aside from waves along the bottom of the page and coconut leaves or a small monkey drawn in the corner.
Aside from these cosmetic flaws, the book is delightful, and I doubt that young children will even realize the lack of coordination between illustrations and text. If you have little ones in your life who love pirates, this is the book for them!
Captain No Beard: An Imaginary Tale of a Pirate’s Life
By Carole P. Roman
Book’s website: www.captainnobeard.com/
Price: $10.99 on amazon.com/$2.99 for Kindle edition
| Easy to Read | 5 |
| Quality of Illustrations |
3 |
| Appealed to Both Boys and Girls |
5 |
| Kept My Children’s Interest |
5 |
| I Would Purchase this for My Family |
yes |
| I Would Purchase this as a Gift |
yes |
| Overall Rating |
4 |
All ratings on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.
Meet the Reviewer!
Janice Richardson is an elementary
school teacher turned stay-at-home
mom of three energetic little ones,
ages 4, 2 and 5 months. She enjoys
playing with her family, being outdoors,
and eating chocolate. Janice blogs
about some of the activities she and her
children enjoy at babybrainstorm.blogspot.com.
One of her goals is to someday visit
each of the 50 states and each continent.
