THE PIGRATES CLEAN UP

Captain Dan is to be married, so he rallies his crew of pigs/pirates into a clean-up frenzy (``How can Kate and I be wed/If you look like unmade beds?''). Like willing children pitching in on Saturday morning, the ``pigrates'' swab the decks, tidy their rooms, wash their clothes and themselves, and even clip their nails and polish their shoes before the lady arrives. It's a clever notion to put tasks that often seem onerous into such a merry, celebratory context. Kroll's doggerel is serviceable—its cadence tends to be forced, and only occasionally does it achieve the humor it reaches for; but Bassett's lively depiction of the pigrates bustling cheerfully all over the ship is good fun, with recognizable characters reappearing and many amusing piratical and nautical details. (Picture book. 4-8)