Book Review: If You Ever Want to Bring a Pirate to Meet Santa, DON'T! by Elise Parsley

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Delightfully absurd and funny story

Cons: Listing cons would put me next to the pirate on the naughty list

The Bottom Line:

Pirate meets Santa

Hilarious disaster

For holiday laughs

Matey, This Picture Book Will Give Ye a Christmas Laugh

I'm so glad I stumbled on the Magnolia Says DON’T series a few years ago.  These picture books are silly fun.  As soon as I saw that there was going to be a Christmas entry this year, I knew I had to read it.  After all, how could you miss with If You Ever Want to Bring a Pirate to Meet Santa, DON’T!

When your father tells you that you are going to meet a man with a beard and a sack of treasure, he means Santa, not the pirate by the mall fountain.  And even if you befriend the pirate, it might not be a good idea to ask him to join you in line.  After all, he is on the naughty list.  His ideas of songs might not be festive.  He might want to pillage anything you are offered in line.  Will he reform before you get to the front of the line?

Yes, these books are told in second person, but really, they are Magnolia using her own experience to tell you why it might be a bad idea.  Trust me, the storytelling works perfectly here.

And the book is funny.  As you go along, the situation gets funnier until you reach the climax.  It was enough to make me laugh out loud.  And you will NEVER want to bring a pirate to meet Santa after reading this book.

The pictures add to the fun.  They are on the cartoony side, and they perfectly capture the absurdity of the situation.

Like others in the series, this book isn't labeled as an easy reader, although I suspect that beginning readers will be able to read most of this book without help.  There might be a word or two they'd need an adult to help them sound out.

If You Ever Want to Bring a Pirate to Meet Santa, DON’T! is perfect for this time of year.  And it is so much fun, I suspect it might get slipped into the reading pile the rest of the year.