CAPTAIN PRUE AND HER SCURVY CREW

A playful tale about a crew of pirates who keep trying (unsuccessfully) to mutiny against their captain, Prue, who makes them eat health food and clean the ship. Haswell (Pog Climbs Mount Everest, 1990, etc.) has a satirical sense of humor and his energetically jocular text never skips an opportunity for alliteration and exaggeration. The pictures—comic watercolors of ships and pirates—have real character; the members of the crew are memorably ugly. An inventive layout frames text and pictures in exceptional ways: A scene turns into a diagram or a game; pieces of illustration litter the page; words and art constantly spill into each other's domain. An amiable adventure, imbued with the imagery of the high seas. (Picture book. 5-8)