by Moe Zilla

Created on: May 29, 2010

I loved this book's illustrations, by John Manders. He uses a pirate-gold tint for many of the drawings, adding it to the sails and the wood of the pirate ship, to the sunsets, and the sandy beaches. (The book's inside cover is even a golden map of the sea.) On the book's first page you can glimpse a grand sailing galleon through the orange-y mists, fully rigged with tall masts and blasting its cannons. But if you look closely, the crew of the ship is...bunnies!

"Cruising the seven seas on a rickety old ship called the Salty Carrot sailed a wild, rowdy band of Buccaneer Bunnies..."

All the color gives a harmless fantasy tone to the story, as the waves of the ocean form improbably curvy bumps. (Even the skull and crossbones on their flag has long bunny ears.) Author Carolyn Crimi also seems to enjoy deflating the book's fear factor, while still sticking to the opening's laughable premise. "When pirates on other ships saw their long floppy ears and their fluffy white tails, they shook with fear." And while the ship's captain is "the baddest bunny brute of all time" - a squint-eyed, scraggly-beared rascal named Black Ear - she writes that his son is a harmless ordinary rabbit named Henry, who lies on the deck reading a book through thick glasses.

It's the classic story of the son who wins his father's approval - in this case, by learning enough about meteorology to predict the arrival of a red-sky storm. (And when they ignore his warnings, he still saves the day by constructing a two-story hut out of palm fronds by remembering things he'd read in a book about tropical architecture.) But eventually the book delivers a second message - about the importance of reading books. When they've finally assembled a new ship, they sail it straight to the library at Easter Island. And it's Henry's father - Black Ear, the pirate - who finally declares that "Buccaneer Bunnies will always need books!"

It's a very enjoyable book, and it does a good job of delivering a well-illustrated pirate story. (Even the fonts for the pirates' dialogue are a grand, old-fashioned seraph font.) But at the same time it also works as a funny story about talking rabbits. The story's message about the importance of reading is ultimately delivered with fun and a light touch. And while Manders' illustrations fill the page with colors, their grand parodies are genuinely funny, like children's picture book version of Mad magazine.

On the book's jacket, he's even depicted with a parrot on his shoulder - and an eye patch!

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.