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The Pirates Next Door (2012)

by Jonny Duddle(Favorite Author)

4.22 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0763658421 (ISBN13: 9780763658427)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Templar

review 1: The Pirates Next Door Starring the Jolly Rogers is an utterly brilliant read. The story begins when a character named Matilda or Tilda as she is fondly known, is introduced. She lives with her parents in the quiet seaside resort of Dull-On-Sea. It is clear from the name that it’s not the most exciting place to live! However, when the Jolly Rogers appear the town becomes alive but perhaps not for the right reasons! A huge pirate ship appears in someone’s front garden and they introduce themselves and their short-term plans, “We’re the Jolly-Rogers! We’ll be anchored next door. We've sailed the seven seas but now we've had to come ashore.” Tilda wastes no time and soon becomes great friends with the pirate’s eldest son, Jim Lad. Her parents aren't too happy abo... moreut this along with many other residents in the local community. They often complain about the pirates dress sense, personal hygiene and behaviour and worry about the negative influence this may have on their daughter. Perhaps this is because the Jolly-Rogers family don’t fit the norm of the rest of the residents. Tilda thrives off these differences and is drawn to Jim Lad and his wooden legged dog. Whilst their pirate ship is under repair, Jim Lad attends the local school and behaves in many mischievous ways. This behaviour continues outside of school and causes uproar with the neighbours. Mrs Bevan from number eighty-seven decides to begin a petition to ask the pirates to kindly vacate the town. However, the Jolly-Rodgers had no intentions of staying too long in the first place, they simply needed to stop off to repair their ship. Tilda is very sad to see them all depart, however they leave an exciting array of gifts behind. It’s only a matter of time before the residents of Dull-On-Sea discover that they weren’t so bad after all. I think this is a great book and is suitable for years 1-3 in school. The illustrations are brilliant, exciting and add to the amusing nature of the story. It’s great to read aloud to a class of children and practicing pirate accents are a must! Rhyme is featured throughout the book which is an additional feature that makes it perfect to read aloud. The book could be great inspiration for a literacy lesson as children could create their own pirate themed stories. It may further be used during a carpet time session to discuss the features of friendship and negative stereotyping. This could then be incorporated into a PSHE session about relationships, friendships and the wider community. Within the younger years this could be approached during a circle time session. Additionally, I think it is a great bedtime read between a parent/carer and a child. Due to the theme of the book I think it’s a fun way to encourage engagement in role play at home. Even the adults can get involved. Everyone finds dressing up good fun, especially when children are involved! I think it is such an enjoyable and amusing adventure to read to children and I would more than happily include it on my classroom bookshelf. For the earlier years it would most definitely be in the book corner.
review 2: This is a cute story about a Pirate family who moves to a new quiet town. At first the people from the town gossip about them and tell their children to stay away. One girl, Matilda befriends the pirate boy anyways. The pirate family ends up moving away after they buried treasure in everyone's yard. Matilda's treasure is a pen-pal! This book can teach children about making assumptions about other people, gossiping, and judging. I might read this to the class and then maybe give them all a pen-pal of their own to write back and forth to throughout the year! :) less

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