How I became a Pirate

How I became a Pirate
by Melinda Long
Illustrated by David Shannon


This is the story about Jeremy Jacob who one day is playing at the beach and all of a sudden he sees a Pirate ship approaching.  He tells his parents but they are too busy to pay attention to him. The ship gets close and a rowboat approaches the beach. Oat of it come pirates who are lead by Captain Braid beard.  He tells Jeremy Jacob that he will go with them and that is the day that he became a Pirate.  When they are out at sea the pirates have no rules, they eat what they want and go to sleep whenever they want.  Jeremy Jacob likes that so he enjoys being a Pirate.  He tries to teach the how to play soccer but they lose that ball in the water and a shark takes it away.  Everything is great until he finds out that pirates also don't tuck in at night or read a story before sleeping.  During the night a storm comes and everybody is too busy to pay attention to Jeremy.  At that point he decides that he does not want to be a Pirate.  Towards the end they want a place to bury their treasure and Jeremy draws up a map that leads to his backyard which is where they bury their treasure.

I would use this book in my class because it is a fun and interactive book.  I think the kids would enjoy it.  I would read it aloud and ask the children to repeat some stuff as I read.  This book is appropriate for Kindergarten to Second grade.