Pirate Booklist

We love opening Nadia Shireen’s picturebooks, as the illustrations and warm humour never fail to bring a smile to our faces. This adventure features Shireen’s popular character Billy and her trusty feline friend, Fatcat. The pair uncover a mysterious message in a bottle at sea and attempt to outwit a pesky pirate crew. Billy and Fatcat are no strangers to danger and as always they put to action their quick thinking and bravery to wiggle out of even the most perilous situation – whether it’s toffee-eating sharks, tricksy mermaids or pongy pirates.

There’ so much to love about these stories – pirates, adventure, bravery and plenty of giggles. The story balances action and suspense with humour and the characters are richly drawn. The book works as a standalone as well as part of the wider series, which we also recommend. This is a great ‘read it again’ choice for storytime with Year 2.

Captain Firebeard has been destroying beautiful Monkey Skull Island and its inhabitants in his search for lost treasure. Molly Rogers – daughter of the famously fearsome pirate Barbarous Bertha – is not going to stand for Firebeard’s antics any longer and soon embarks upon a pirate rescue mission of her own. A fun, swashbuckling adventure with vibrant illustrations.

Every day Tom climbs to the top of a high hill and looks for pirate ships so that he can tell the villagers to go into hiding. The problem is that he keeps ringing his bell and shouting “PIRATES!” – but the vessels turn out not to be pirate ships. The villagers start to get tired of hiding, but what happens when one day a real pirate ship does arrive?

The Pirates are Coming is a fun new retelling of Aesop’s fable of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. The repeated phrases with their implied actions and vocal expression means that this is a fun book to read with young children.

Matt Hunt’s lively and vibrant illustrations add an extra splash of humour to this pirate theme picturebook. The inventive ways in which the villagers hide are particularly funny.  The Pirates are Coming is a vibrant and fresh approach towards an old favourite cautionary tale.

The Troll is a truly delightful picture book by national treasure Julia Donaldson, and a book that we absolutely love at BooksForTopics HQ.

The story offers a fresh perspective on a familiar grumpy character, adeptly mixing the well-known troll from the traditional Three Billy Goats Gruff tale with a fun pirate story arc. The hungry troll, perpetually stuck with a fish diet and constantly outsmarted by goats, finds his path crossing with a rough-and-tumble crew of equally food-limited pirates.

The genius of this book lies in how these two seemingly separate storylines run in perfect parallel, leading to a wonderfully gleeful conclusion. David Roberts’ quirky, characterful illustrations are full of humour, perfectly complementing Donaldson’s witty, rhyming text.

This is a fantastic KS1 read-aloud that holds a unique charm, making it highly recommended.

The Pirate Tree does a good job of challenging how we see people who appear different, encouraging the reader to think about how we can be more inclusive. When Agu first asks to play with Sam, she tells him that he can’t play because he’s new and not from her street. But in actual fact, Sam has a lot to learn about sailing from Agu who teaches her about his own background and experiences in Nigeria. There is so much that could be explored in the book; it would encourage some great discussions about how we see others and value diversity.

The book’s illustrations accompany the text superbly. The natural textures and patterns on each page make it a lovely book to read slowly so as to allow enough time to take in the details – such as the bow tie or top-hat-wearing fish!

A young graphic novel series, about two friendly ‘bugbops’ called Bumble and Snug.

This brightly illustrated story is lovely for Key Stage 1 to read independently. The characters are lovable, the story is fun and easy to follow, and the comic strip style makes for a really fun read. There are oodles of fun moments to enjoy, from picnics and pirates to jelly and a giant octopus.

Visual readers new to the graphic novel format will find this a real treat.