Poppy the Pirate Dog

Kessler (the Emily Windsnap series) ventures into early chapter books with a chipper story about a would-be seafaring Dalmatian. Poppy is excited about spending a week at the seaside with her humans—and proud of her new neckerchief featuring a skull-and-crossbones pattern (“Don’t mess with me, she thought. I’m a pirate dog”). The family’s boat-centric vacation agenda seems well suited to Poppy’s new life as a pirate, until she discovers that bobbing vessels, splashing waves, and seals that resemble sea monsters aren’t at all to her liking (“Poppy wasn’t feeling very much like a pirate dog anymore”). The narrative slips in and out of Poppy’s mind to humorous effect, easily capturing her alternating bravado and timidity. Recalling Quentin Blake’s work, Phillips’s ink-and-watercolor illustrations fill in the narrative’s blanks and flesh out Poppy’s persona (one moment Poppy is strutting proudly down the boardwalk with a look of roguish determination in her eye; the next, she’s cowering under a berth on a boat). Punchy dialogue and ample artwork nicely gear this to recent picture book graduates. Ages 5–9. (Aug.)