Pirates & Privateers: Douglas Rees's Books

When Mom serves Bad News Pie, Wilson hopes she won’t notice his broken glasses. Again. (Wearing glasses and being small invites trouble when you’re a fourth grader.) No sooner does Mom reveal her news, but there’s a knock at the door. Her long-lost brother, Uncle Pirate, and his talking penguin, Captain Jack, arrive. And everything changes, beginning with Captain Jack’s tossing food out of the refrigerator so he can sleep in a cold place.

Having been marooned by his crew for failing to make them rich, Uncle Pirate must find work. The first few jobs he tries don’t quite work out as planned. Captain Jack just wants to go to school and learn to read and write, but Wilson doesn’t think that’s a good idea. How can one learn when nobody heeds the teacher and the pledge to the flag goes, “We pledge allegiance to the United Snakes of America and to all that other stuff we don’t understand. Amen.” Not to mention the fact that Carla Canova, “the meanest fourth grader in the last hundred years,” has a date to beat up Wilson for stealing her Pixi Trix. (He didn’t, but that doesn’t matter.)

When Uncle Pirate learns about what’s happening at school, he and Captain Jack accompany Wilson to school. Ms. Twissel, Wilson’s teacher, takes one look at Uncle Pirate and quits, so Uncle Pirate takes command. And he won’t tolerate all the mollymockery that’s been going on!

Uncle Pirate is a diamond in the rough. Without the dust jacket, it’s simply another book. One that will probably sit on the shelf and never be read. Though eye-catching and intriguing – after all, how many penguins have you seen reading a book or schools flying the Jolly Roger – the dust jacket may not quite stir you to look inside. That's a major mistake! Sufficient enough to get a pirate marooned!

This chapter book makes you wish you had a one-legged pirate uncle for a teacher. Rees subtly weaves pirate facts and speech into the storyline without being intrusive. His keen understanding of being a kid and coping with bullies makes the story true to life, while he laces the bad stuff with humor so as not to threaten. Auth’s cartoon-like illustrations cleverly bring the story and characters to life. The black-&-white renderings make you focus on the events that unfold -- color would intrude on the story -- and you’ll find at least one favorite that will make you smile and cheer. Uncle Pirate is one of those stories you want to read over and over again.