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sassmistress's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
3.25
Early chapter book, good for maybe 2nd grade ish? Back of the book says age 6-7. Clean pirate story with "sea dogs" for pirates, cats in the Queen's Navy, and accidental stowaway mice. Pirates are unambiguously the bad guys, and we find out the cats are well fed, honorable, and won't eat the mice.
Writing quality is about on par with Magic Tree House. Not an awesome read for an adult, but seems engaging enough for kids.
Writing quality is about on par with Magic Tree House. Not an awesome read for an adult, but seems engaging enough for kids.
Content Warnings
Content notes:
- No female characters
- Pirate talk, atrocious grammar and misspellings to try to convey accent.
- Pirates toss bottles around, but it's soda water they're drinking.
- Pirates threaten to drown cats, "tear ya limb from limb", say "I hates mice! I HATES 'em!", and call others "dumb" twice.
- The mice choose to chew loose the pirates' anchor, knowing they'll be shipwrecked, to save the Queen's ship and her crew.
- Peril, regarding being trapped in a bottle underwater, a shark, nearly being eaten by one of the pirate dogs, cats on the Navy ship dodging pirate cannonballs with no way to fire back, and a pirate who "slashed his knife at the terrified mouse".
- Classic fade-to-black ending to implythe mice were stuck on the sinking ship, then the cats see them come straggling up.
- From the shipwrecked pirates: "Ye ain't seen the last of us, ye flea-bitten cats!... We'll drown ya yet!... I'll wring yer furry little necks!"
- No female characters
- Pirate talk, atrocious grammar and misspellings to try to convey accent.
- Pirates toss bottles around, but it's soda water they're drinking.
- Pirates threaten to drown cats, "tear ya limb from limb", say "I hates mice! I HATES 'em!", and call others "dumb" twice.
- The mice choose to chew loose the pirates' anchor, knowing they'll be shipwrecked, to save the Queen's ship and her crew.
- Peril, regarding being trapped in a bottle underwater, a shark, nearly being eaten by one of the pirate dogs, cats on the Navy ship dodging pirate cannonballs with no way to fire back, and a pirate who "slashed his knife at the terrified mouse".
- Classic fade-to-black ending to imply
- From the shipwrecked pirates: "Ye ain't seen the last of us, ye flea-bitten cats!... We'll drown ya yet!... I'll wring yer furry little necks!"
bookworm_baggins's review against another edition
5.0
11/2020:
Another delightful read of this book. It’s crazy that it has aged this well, but the writing is excellent for this age group and the peril and humor are so well done. Love getting to share these with my younger kids for the first time.
11/15:
Read aloud to Will (Emma read to herself). He absolutely loved this book, begged to keep reading at the end of each chapter, and laughed out loud many times.
2/13:
I remember reading these books with my sisters growing up. Emma really liked the mice in this story (so many kids books star mice it seems!) and the action was intense and exciting without being scary or too much for a four year old. Excellent. We'll be reading the next book soon!
Another delightful read of this book. It’s crazy that it has aged this well, but the writing is excellent for this age group and the peril and humor are so well done. Love getting to share these with my younger kids for the first time.
11/15:
Read aloud to Will (Emma read to herself). He absolutely loved this book, begged to keep reading at the end of each chapter, and laughed out loud many times.
2/13:
I remember reading these books with my sisters growing up. Emma really liked the mice in this story (so many kids books star mice it seems!) and the action was intense and exciting without being scary or too much for a four year old. Excellent. We'll be reading the next book soon!
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