Review by Booklist Review
Ahoy, ye swashbucklers and swashbucklerettes ! At the Pirateria megastore where they put the 'arg' in 'bargain'! discriminating pirates can find it all: treasure chests; big-buckle shoes (in the Yo Ho Hosiery and Footwear department ); swords; and SOS-message bottles. But it's not just a store it also offers night classes, like smuggling molasses and making your own spyglasses. With the pep and flair of a slick sales pitch, this festive, fun read by best-selling author-illustrator Brown (Polka Bats and Octopus Slacks, 1999) features plentiful and playful takes on iconic pirate trappings and accoutrements. Colorful, animated, cartoonish art captures the busy chaos, and varying illustrative scenarios convey everything from items' uses to snazzy ruffle- and eye-patch-wearing pirate shoppers and staff. Some terms may require explicating for younger ones (spinnakers and quinine, for instance), and the text is somewhat lengthy and wordy, but bouncy, occasionally arrhythmic rhymes (practice before reading aloud!) and comical commentary and asides keep things lively. While it's true there's no shortage of humorous pirate picture books out there, this one is a buccaneer-buffs' delight.--Rosenfeld, Shelle Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Brown (Boy Wonders) makes an enthusiastic sales pitch for Pirateria, where "we put the 'arg' in 'bargain'!" His infomercial narrative beckons scurvy shoppers to queue up for "Spinnakers, jibs, and rope in hanks;/ solid maple walking planks.... And this just in: a fresh batch of eye patches!/ Two per package to prevent mismatches." (An eye-patch color chart offers options like "bilge water gray," "moby white," and "dreaded red.") The Yo Ho Hosiery and Footwear department offers single shoes for peglegs, and another aisle features message bottles, since "pirates expect to be shipwrecked." Grudges are to be left at sea ("Attention buckos, oafs, and toughs./ You'll walk the plank if we spy fisticuffs"), and grumpy buccaneers roam Pirateria's food court. Brown merges pirate lore and consumer frenzy in his upbeat, clever rhymes; he even lists a BOGO galleon special and a night class in "protecting your booty." His dingy paintings of surly scalawags become a bit monotonous-prepare for a surplus of buckle shoes and bandanas, muddled purple grays and murky seaweed greens-but pirate fans will yearn to shop here. Ages 4-8. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-"Do you need top-quality pirate gear?" Bouncy rhyming verse extols the virtues of the Pirateria. "Our glorious pirate emporium/is known the world over,/from the Spanish Main/to the cliffs of Dover." Indeed, this one-stop shop carries everything from "solid maple walking planks" to "fresh lime quinine/to ward off the scurvy" to eye patches in colors such as "plunder plum" and "cannonball black." However, Pirateria is more than just a store: it provides night classes in subjects such as chart reading, smuggling molasses, and spyglass making. Brown makes the most of the premise, finding more pirate puns and references than one would think possible. Goofy swashbucklers, rendered in acrylics in sea-faring hues, cavort across the pages.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Brown presents a book-length advertisement for an imaginary emporium of all things pirate. Whether you need rags or pantaloons, spinnakers or planks, you can be sure to find them at Pirateria. With specials like "buy one galleon, get one free!" its hard to imagine any self-respecting buccaneer passing this store by. Nonsense is the order of the day, with silly wordplay ("at Pirateria we put the arg in bargain!") and amusing rhymes ("our helpful sales staff / may look like riffraff / and need a quick bath, / but despite being gruff / they know their stuff"). Disclaimers are also sprinkled throughout: customers are reminded that "pirates lifetimes may vary" and that "rescue [is] neither implied nor guaranteed." Browns distinctive acrylics, in all shades of greens and blues, play well with the characters, who are more Brooklyn hipster than Barbary buccaneer. But thats most of the fun here -- the pokes at modern hucksterism as well as the cultural fascination with pirates (dont forget Talk like a Pirate Day on September 19). An entertaining romp, even for landlubbers. robin l. smith (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
One-stop shopping for all "swashbucklers and swashbucklerettes." Offering "[s]pinnakers, jibs, and rope in hanks; / solid maple walking planks" and arrays of specialty goods from eye patches to aRRgyle socks, this "wonderful, plunderful pirate emporium" merits a stop on every budding buccaneer's itinerary. Accompanying a hearty commentary that breaks into and out of rhyme but keeps to a rolling rhythm, Brown dishes up illustrations featuring an array of scurvy (if somewhat yuppified) shoppers of both sexes in nautical wear. They are browsing the Yo Ho Hosiery and Footwear department, sitting down in the food court with flagons and nasty-looking viands or accosting the glowering sales staff ("Where be the yardarm cozies?"). From pirate togs to treasure maps to night classes in map reading, here's the place to pick up anything piratical. Prices? "[W]e put the arg' in bargain'!" is the proud claim of this K-Mart for corsairs. Avast! This combination of nonsense verse and everything pirate is a guaranteed winner. (Picture book. 6-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
