CAPTAIN AND MATEY SET SAIL

A handful of cockamamie pirate tales that will have beginning readers chortling along as Captain and Matey squabble their way through silly adventures. In four separate stories, Captain and Matey do things that pirates do, such as acquiring a parrot. Then they argue about what to name the bird—until the bird settles the issue. They bicker over what song to sing while swabbing the decks—until the parrot shows them how to cut and paste their favorites together. Captain gets huffy when a pirate they save seems to possess more piratical talents, and the two friends feud over how to spend the treasure they never find. But that is the crux, of course: they’re pals who tidy up their friendship at the end of a spat-filled day. Newcomer Laurence, who is an early-reading specialist, has built plenty of repetitions into the stories by way of arguments—will to, will not, will to, will not—but mostly his eye has been on keeping things lively and very funny. And Muñoz’s slaphappy, brisk illustrations are perfectly matched to the silly story and are invaluable aids in helping new readers get the gist of the words. (Easy reader. 4-8)