CAPTAIN ABDUL'S PIRATE SCHOOL

With more than 60 books under his belt, author/illustrator Colin McNaughton obviously enjoys great popularity with the kindergarten set, although his latest is not about to endear him to parents any time soon. Pickles is sent away to pirate school because Dad finds thinks he's a big softie, always writing poems and painting pictures. At Captain Abdul's Pirate School, kids learn to toughen up quick and are praised for cheating, swearing, and generally getting into trouble. Cleaning your room or brushing your teeth can earn you a scolding or even a flogging. Eventually, there is a mutiny on board and pupils sail away to their own island. A curious kind of joke operates here, obviously turning the expected conventions of appropriate children's behavior upside down, but somehow the humor falls flat and children are all too apt to take the exhortations of the wily Captain (``Why, when I was your age, I already had a wooden leg!'') at face value. The raucous, overly busy illustrations don't help either. Altogether, an annoying, not-very-funny book that may even frighten some children while aggravating their parents. (Picture book. 4+)