Maggie and the Pirate

This was one of my favorite books as a kid. It leaves the reader with a mysterious, sort of sad feeling. The illustrations are beautiful. It's been years since I read this book, but I remember it well. I couldn't remember the name so I searched for "girl, cricket, pirate" and found it. I'm glad I did, I want to order it and read it again.

Children will be delighted by the strange setting of the book as well as the story of Maggie and the Pirate. Maggie lives in an old school bus converted into a house in what appears to be a waterlogged tropical land. People use boats to go to "town," a surreal village on dock pilings, where the stores advertise themselves with signs shaped like the objects they sell. Small children will have a suspenseful and satisfying yet ultimately safe encounter with their first "pirate," a little boy who has built a treehouse in the swamp. First rate.

Having grown up with Bill Pete and Dr. Seus, Maggie and the Pirate is a story to join any children's storybook collection. Though it may seem strange to have a young girl's pet be a cricket the love it there all the same. So when a strange steals Maggie's cricket she goes on a hunt for her beloved pet; and yes, she does find him. However, through the struggle of retreiving him the cricket drowns. Still, both Maggie and the "pirate" reconsile their differences and more than one new friendship is formed.