The Pirate Tree

The Pirate Tree is a picture book from the point of view of an old tree. The tree likes to be a pirate ship when a girl named Sam plays on it. Sam puts a rope and a sheet on the tree to make it more like a boat. One day, a boy named Agu comes over and asks if he can play. Sam doesn’t want to play with him, because he’s a stranger. She changes her mind, when she finds out he’s from Nigeria and has sailed on a real ship. Then they visit deserted islands and fight with other pirates together. They become friends. The tree hopes it will get to turn into a pirate ship again soon.

The one thing I didn’t like was: what if Agu didn’t have experience being a sailor, then what would have happened? Would they still have become friends? I didn’t like how Sam acted, but I think it was realistic and a nice part of the story.

It was fun that the story was from the tree’s point of view. The illustrations are whimsical. My favorite picture is the one where they are battling pirates from their ship, and they are all standing on fish. This is a good book for smaller kids. It would be good for story time, but only if there were other books because this one is a little short.