THE TREASURE OF PIRATE FRANK

A treasure map doesn’t specify all the hazards on the way to a pirate’s hoard.

Modeled on “The House that Jack Built,” the cumulative narrative takes a young buccaneer and his eyepatch-wearing dog over diverse terrains (“This is the swamp where bullfrogs sing / past the forest where monkeys swing / over the mountains snowy and cold / on the island of spice and gold”) to where Pirate Frank’s treasure lies. Unfortunately, when the lad arrives at the designated spot, he’s shocked to discover that the treasure is guarded by Pirate (Sally) Frank herself (“She’s not on the map!”). Back over the island to his ship she chases him as the rhyme unreels. Tuya depicts both young freebooters as white children in typical pirate garb (with, for Sally, the addition of a ruffled tutu) and places them in pleasant landscapes replete with, as occasion demands, monkeys, frogs, or flowers. As the lad looks like a nebbish and his nemesis, who sports orange Pippi Longstocking–style braids, seems only slightly fiercer, the contretemps has a playful air.

A lightweight quest with a climactic surprise.