Trick Arrr Treat: A Pirate Halloween

by Leslie Kimmelman (Author) Jorge Monlongo (Illustrator)

Trick Arrr Treat: A Pirate Halloween
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
Charlotte Blue-Tongue, Peg-Leg Pete, Glass-Eyed Gabby, and their friends swashbuckle through the streets demanding loot and treasure from their neighbors in this Halloween pirate tale. As their world transforms from neighborhood to pirate's lagoon, they shout, "We be pirates. TRICK ARRR TREAT!" But what's lurking in the shadows? Are the pirates brave enough to defend their treasure?
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ALA/Booklist

The illustrations are a delightful combination of bright colors and expressive characters who look like they have sprung from a Disney Junior show Short sentences and a narrator's commitment to a decent pirate accent will make this a Halloween storytime favorite.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

Multiethnic trick-or-treaters dressed as pirates conquer the streets of their suburban neighborhood, led by chief pirate Charlotte Blue-Tongue, who wields a blue lollipop and a glowing jack-o'-lantern. "Pirates sticking out their tongues,/ shrieking with their pirate lungs," reads Kimmelman's playfully assured verse, which is punctuated with pirate exclamations ("Fill my belly!" "Rot my teeth!"). The pirates' nighttime roving eventually takes them aboard a pirate ship, but a "Big black monster, sly and cunning,/ gets the frightened pirates running" (the monster turns out to be a friendly dog). Back at the pirate chief's house, "scurvy scoundrels have a party,/ playing games and laughing hearty," with fellow neighbors dressed as aliens, ninjas, and more. Lit with sunset shades of pink and purple, Monlongo's illustrations conjure a cinematic sense of theatricality while capturing the visceral excitement of fully escaping into character on Halloween. Ages 4-7. (Sept.)

Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2—Children will love to dress up like a pirate, gather their "loot," and yell, "Trick Arrr Treat!" after reading Kimmelman's pirate-themed Halloween tale. Six children are going out on Halloween night for a trick-or-treating adventure. Before leaving, they promise not to be sweet but to yell, "Trick Arrr Treat." The kids' imaginations start to run wild as they make their way through the neighborhood. The illustrations are rendered in a cartoonish style and add an extra layer that will enable readers' imagination to soar. VERDICT A first-choice purchase for a different spin in Halloween-themed storytimes.—Patrick Tierney, Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School, Providence, RI

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

 
Leslie Kimmelman
Leslie Kimmelman is a former children's book and magazine editor, as well as the author of more than a dozen children's books, including The Runaway Latke and Hanukkah Lights, Hanukkah Nights. Publishers Weekly has prasied her writing as energetic and highly accessible to very young children. Her current dog, Jodie is one of a long line of family dogs that have loved cool lakes, long, lazy summers, and--especially--ice cream. She lives in the New Yok City area.

Paul Meisel is the author and illustrator of See Me Run, a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book, and See Me Dig, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book, and is the illustrator of many books for young people, including The Schmutzy Family by Madelyn Rosenberg, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book. He lives in Connecticut.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780807580660
Lexile Measure
470
Guided Reading Level
M
Publisher
Albert Whitman & Company
Publication date
September 01, 2017
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV051000 - Juvenile Fiction | Imagination & Play
JUV001020 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure | Pirates
JUV017030 - Juvenile Fiction | Holidays & Celebrations | Halloween
Library of Congress categories
Stories in rhyme
Pirates
Halloween

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