by Moe Zilla

Created on: August 07, 2010

Eve Bunting was 73 when she wrote "Little Badger, Terror of the Seven Seas." But I was delighted to see this book, because an earlier badger book by Bunting had been about aging itself. "Can You Do This, Old Badger" shows a young and old badger, teaching the lesson that age may limit agility, but it brings wisdom. In this book, the two badgers meet again, but it's a much cheerier story about the power of imagination.

Little Badger "knew he could be anything he wanted to be and do anything he wanted to do," Bunting writes, "as long as he used his imagination and was home in time for supper. Old Badger had told him." The rest of the book simply shares all the enthusiasm this creates in the young badger - and the funny reactions he gets when he decides he wants to be a pirate.

Woodchuck asks him walk he's wobbling and waddling, and the little badger says a pirate needs to keep his balance "on the heaving deck of my pirate ship." The woodchuck describes the pirate hat he'd need to be wearing - and little badger imagines he's already wearing it, though despite the skull-and-crossbones across the front, the imaginary hat is still translucent. The book's drawings are by LeUyen Pham, who also illustrated Bunting's other badger stories. He's illustrated several graphic novels, including "Prince of Persia" and "Solomon's Thieves," so he probably understands a child's enthusiasm for pirate stories!

Pham hides a secret second story in his illustrations. Though Bunting's text never mentions a frog, there's one accompanying the little badger. When the badger imagines the pirate hat, it also appears on the frog's head! And when the raccoon insists that a real pirate would have a patch on its eye, the badger imagines a translucent patch onto the frog.  My favorite illustration shows what happens when the Crow suggests that a pirate would need a parrot on its shoulder. The badger imagines a translucent parrot, but its flapping wings frighten the little frog away!

The book's story isn't really about pirates, but about the love of pirate stories, and pretending. It's still fun to see the pirate accessories appearing, though, like a giant orange pirate ship in the sunny clouds. And the little badger looks very happy in the book's final illustration. With Old Badger's encouragement, he imagines himself sailing off into the waves of a blue ocean, where he's triumphantly unfurling his pirate flag.

And magically, he's wearing everything he needs after all - a pirate's cap, an eye patch, and a parrot perched on his shoulder!

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