HENRY AND THE CRAZED CHICKEN PIRATES

The bookish young hero of Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies (2005) again saves the flop-eared, fun-loving crew of the pirate ship Salty Carrot. This time, when a threatening note floats up in a bottle, Henry braves the derision of his shipmates to compose a thick volume of emergency plans—all of which come in handy when a flock of pirate chickens intent on plunder descends beneath a hot-air balloon for a surprise attack. Manders has so much fun depicting scowling, beaky or hugely bucktoothed figures swaggering about in full traditional pirate garb (eyepatches galore) that the sketchy plot and routine prose will barely register with young audiences, who will no doubt convulse with each mention of Henry’s “Parrot-Poop Helmet.” Fans of Giles Andreae’s Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs, illustrated by Russell Ayto (2005), and its piratical ilk will yo-ho-ho. (Picture book. 6-8)