Pirates Don't Take Baths

A pirate's life seems just the ticket for a little pig who refuses to take his bath—"They plunder, they pillage, they sail the seas in search of treasure... but they DON'T TAKE BATHS!"—until his mother points out his propensity for seasickness. Trying to maintain the upper hand, the little pig runs through several other scenarios that might be even friendlier to the bath-adverse, only to have his mother gently deliver reality checks ("It's hard to poop and pee in zero gravity," she notes when he claims to be an astronaut). Can mother and son find common ground? Yes, but not before Segal (Far, Far Away) treats readers to some wonderfully imagined watercolor and pencil fantasies starring his stubborn, wide-eyed, and very pink hero. The flattened, geometric renderings and muted palette could have easily fallen flat. But Segal gives each spread a sly, silly magic, whether the piglet is having a sleepless night under the stars in the Old West, dodging a walrus and whale in the arctic circle, or trying to keep his cool in the middle of the desert. Ages 3–5. (Mar.)