Captain No Beard: An Imaginary tale of a Pirate’s Life by Carole P. Roman. Ages 2 – 7. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. July 2012. 40 pages. ISBN: 978-1478151708. $9.99 Fiction.
Quick Summary: Captain No Beard is about two children, Alexander and Hallie, playing pirate with their stuffed animals. Alexander is Captain No Beard and Hallie is his first mate. As they are swabbing the deck and pumping the bilges, they encounter a storm. They successfully navigate the storm and then encounter a mermaid. This is the most awesome mermaid ever — because it turns out that not only is she a mermaid, she is Captain No Beard’s mom and comes bringing cookies.
Our Experience Reading this Book: We highly, highly recommend it. Carole Roman has tapped into exactly what my son wants in a book and he can’t get enough of it. We read this book so many times. Each time I read this book to him he would say, “Please read it again,” as soon as I finished the story. Often times we’ll read a book about two or three times in a row and when he really likes a book we’ll read it five or six times. After the tenth time I read this book to him in a row I thought, “I’m going to have to hide this book from him or it will be the only book we read this weekend.”
I eventually convinced him that we should go ahead and read some other books. We read through a few other books, had a snack, nap, and played with toys, but as soon as we sat back down to read again — he rummaged through the pile of books and found Captain No Beard.
Captain No Beard is a fun book. The illustrations are vibrant and done by hand. None of the images are computer generated or even digitally enhanced — which makes it all the more impressive. Some of the images are repeated, but that doesn’t take away from the story or my son’s love of it.
All of the characters in the story are good. They mean well and have good intentions. Personally, my favorite part is when Captain No Beard pulls out the Pirate Dictionary to define, “Shiver me timbers.” I’m always looking up things and I enjoyed seeing that reflected in this book. I didn’t feel compelled to edit the story at all. It is entirely appropriate for my 2.5 year old and I’m sure that he’ll enjoy this book for several more years.
This book is an excellent combination of Early Reader and Picture Book. It has the vocabulary and illustrations of a picture book, but the accessibility of an Early Reader. The tone of the book and story line is right on.
Blessedly, it does not have the brain-numbing quality of a lot of Early Readers I have tried with my son. For example, my son loves the Dick and Jane books, but I can only take so much of them before I have to move onto something else. I enjoy reading Captain No Beard repeatedly to my son and I’m fully aware that I’m going to be reading it again and again and again.
I hope you check this book out and get to experience reading this with your children. Carol Roman has also written Pepper Parrot’s Problem with Patience: A Captain No Beard Story. My son also immensely enjoyed this book, but I’ll have to save that review for another day.
FTC Disclosures: I received a review copy from the author. No other compensation was received. The opinions expressed here are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” If you click on the link and purchase the book, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Author/Illustrator Website:
Some of my Favorite Reviews of this Book:
- http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/carole-p-roman/captain-no-beard/ (Starred Review and Best of 2012)
- http://werejumpin.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/captain-no-beard/
- http://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/weblog/2012/10/carole-p-roman-talks-about-the-rollicking-adventure-captain-no-beard.html
- http://www.washingtonfamily.com/page/Captain-No-Beard-Childrens-Book
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