Reading (or being read to) from an early age on a daily basis can help improve a child’s intelligence. It helps with listening to how words are formed and sounded, teaches them structure on how to form words, sentences and paragraphs and helps with communication skills – written and verbal. Reading for pleasure is the best way to do this, not just for the educational aspects but also for the joy a good story can bring like the book in this review – Pirates vs. Monsters.
Maverick Books are an independent publisher of children’s books – picture books, early readers and junior fiction – and have an excellent variety of books to choose from. We were delighted when we received Pirates vs. Monsters, written by David Crosby and illustrated by Lee Cosgrove, from their picture book collection.
Pirates vs. Monsters is a 32-page picture book about three boastful pirates and the fearful monsters they claim to have defeated – Hector, Sue and George are the pirates, The Hockler, The Crunk and the Muncher are the monsters.
Hector is tall, strong and bold with gold teeth. He claims to have defeated The Hockler – a monster that poisons by spitting in your eye.
Sue wears an eyepatch and has curly hair. She claims to have defeated The Crunk – a two-headed beast that eats whilst sleeping.
George is rotund and missing a lower limb. He claims to have beaten The Muncher – the monster he claims bit of his lower leg.
The three pirates have met up and are bragging about the latest grizzly, gruesome monsters they have defeated on their travels around the high seas. But as their claims are becoming more and more outrageous, are they telling the truth? Three more unexpected visitors to their little gathering might be able to throw some light on it.
Overall, this is a very good picture rhyming book. The text is very easy to follow and rhymes very well. It is a tale of pirates and monsters (what child doesn’t love them?) but has an underlying message about not telling the whole truth and that if you don’t you will always be found out. It is a lot of fun to read and the kids really enjoyed it (as did I).
Whilst the text makes a very good quick story, the illustrations and absolutely brilliant – bold and colourful and really bring the words to life. For a story containing pirates and monsters that could be quite dark with wooden pirate ships and horrible monsters, the colours and illustrations are all bright and appealing and will really engage the young readers. Lee Cosgrove is an excellent artist.
Pirates vs. Monsters is a book that we enjoyed immensely. The rhyming text is excellent (especially when you read it with pirate voices), the illustrations are bold, vibrant and engaging and the underlying message of it is never good to tell lies makes it a fantastically fun read.
A picture book that the kids and their adult readers will absolutely enjoy reading. It will make a good bedtime story (or story for anytime) as it is fun and really not scary.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £7.99 (paperback)
For more information, visit Maverick Books. Available to buy from Amazon here.
