While I like the idea behind Beth Ferry’s 2016 picture book Pirate’s Perfect Pet, I have to be honest: the real draw is the illustration by Matt Myers.
Sure, I like the inciting incident, when pirate Captain Crave gets a letter in a bottle from his “Mummy,” and l like the quest it sets up, where Crave looks for a pet to make him the complete pirate (at least according to a magazine checklist). Once we learn there’s a checklist, we know we’re going to get a show of Crave’s pirate details (like his hook and peg leg)…and that he’s going to fall short at some point. Since the title mentions a pet… pet quest!
For all that this is a good and functional story structure, it’s the images that really bring this to life. Pirates fill the page, drawing the eye easily to the shapes they make on the boat, in the air, or scrambling onto a sandy beach between vacation goers. The colors are vivid, and Myers uses positioning on the page, shadow, and strategic lines to hypnotize. For example, on one page a pirate’s sword parallels the center pole for a beach umbrella, giving kids things to spot and everyone something to enjoy.
(That being said, the pet store scene has some nice lines.)
