Captain Bling’s Christmas Plunder

When Captain Bling and his pirate crew are caught in a gale, their Christmas Eve plundering plans are thrown off course. Their ship washes ashore at the North Pole, where Santa’s home and workshop await. The pirates pillage this trove of gifts, but Santa’s goodwill leaves them feeling contrite (“Overlooked every Christmas, they acted so rotten,/ thinking nobody cared... but they’d just been forgotten!”), and they swap their swashbuckling threads for elf suits. Although a touch clunky in places, Colby’s rhymes bounce along merrily, and McClurkan’s smooth digital cartooning is packed with visual humor. With ample room for presents aboard the pirate’s ship (and a Jolly Roger flag that features crossed candy canes instead of bones), readers may wonder why Santa ever flew anything else. Ages 5–7. [em]Author’s agent: Kathleen Rushall, Andrea Brown Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Anne Moore Armstrong, Bright Group. (Nov.) [/em]