The Pirate Jamboree

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%E2%80%935. (Apr.)