Captain Abdul's Pirate School

I am one of those parents who likes to expose my girls to books with strong female characters. The main character in this book is actually a girl, but you don't find that out until the end. The surprise is wonderful and my 5 and 7 year old girls loved it. I had to buy pirate outfits for the both of them. I recommend this book to parents who would like to take a break away from the typical Barbie-Princess-Bratz genre for young girls.

Arrrrgh! Life on the bounding main! Kids are crazy about pirate stories, and this delightful book is well-loved by my granddaughters. The pirates are so delightfully drawn, and the captions so witty, that adults will enjoy reading it as much as the kids enjoy hearing it. Practice your pirate voice before you start! We love the diary format -- a new student (who turns out at the end to be a girl named Maisie) is sent to pirate school to toughen her up because she likes to write poetry and paint pictures. A good-natured mutiny occurs and Maisie finds a way to be a pirate and still pursue her artistic interests. The pirate-as-adorable-imp theme is a familiar one, however unfounded in reality. What is it about pirates that we like so much? Maybe it's the fact that they make their own rules. In "Pirate School" the students wind up rejecting much of the rough pirate behavior, turning away from meanness while keeping the freedom and adventure. That's what we'd hope for -- the antithesis of "Lord of the Flies"! Fun story, great drawings -- highly recommended by me and my granddaughters.

I first read this book to my boy/girl twins when they were 2 years old. They loved it so much that today, ten years later, they can still recite it word for word. The drawings are detailed and delightful, but also simple enough for little ones to understand the goings-on at Capt. Abdul's school. The twist at the end -- the protagonist is a girl, not a boy, pirate -- is just perfect.

I used this book as my centerpiece to a school unit on Pirates (a "just for fun" unit). I inducted all the students into pirate school and we read about Maisie's adventures. The students enjoyed the illustrations immensely and we all practiced our pirate speech and "manners". Aargh! The best part is the ending (Spoiler alert!): Maisie is a girl -- this drew in my female students who thought we were heading into "boy time". We then re-read the book, knowing now that it was about a girl, and had a meaningful discussion about gender roles.Following Captain Abdul, we then used a variety of books (including DK's Pirate book) to learn about real pirates...it made for several fun afternoons.

My students love this book so much I had to buy a second copy! A playful twist on parental expectations with a smart female protagonist. Pirate school is so fun it'll make you and your children want to sign up next semester.