Pirasaurs!
Written by Josh Funk
Illustrated by Michael Slack
Orchard Books   8/30/2016
978-0-545-75049-3
40 pages   Ages 3—7

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“We’re Pirasaurs! We’re Pirasaurs!
We rule the open seas!
We’ll cannon-blast you to the past!
We do just what we please!

“Meet the Pirasaurs, a ragtag team of seasoned pirate dinosaurs looking for adventure and treasure! There’s fearsome Captain Rex, golden-toothed Velocimate, one-eyed Bronto Beard, and more fearsome, buccaneering beasts. . . . as well as one new recruit who may be small, but who’s eager to prove he can learn the ropes and find his place on the team.

“But when a trap is set upon the Pirasaurs while looking for buried treasure, it’s up to the littlest recruit to show the team that there’s more to a Pirasaur than meets the eye patch!” [PUBLISHER WEBSITE]

Review
Pirates can be a ship full of trouble. They want a map with X-marks-the-spot of a treasure chest full of golden, gems and other glittering items that will make their heads spin. Pirasaurs is no different from any other ship full of rapscallions looking for that elusive X. And like most pirate ships, there is a new crewmate trying to find his place. On the Pirasaurs ship, this mate is the smallest dinosaur on the ship and he feels the pressure.

The little Pirasaur must earn the crew’s trust or walk the plank, So he stays busy by raising the sails, swabbing the decks, and navigating the seas to the spot marked with an X. No pressure there, especially with kind Caption Rex, ready to send him over the rails for a bath of salty sea. But there is a traitor afoot and our small Pirasaur falls victim to the red rat. The map is a trap. A fight begins, Pirasaur versus Pirasaur, until . . .

Pirasaurs will delight any young child who loves dinosaurs. The story bounces along on clever rhyming text with but one fault: exclamations marks—those excitable !!s—end sentences 31 times! Quite a lot even for this high-seas adventure. The read aloud rolls easily off any scallywag’s, um parent’s tongue. Multiple reads will not cause a mutiny.
Funk’s humorous Pirasaurs subtly teaches cooperation, teamwork, and a prehistoric water history never told before. I love the first surprise . . . (spoiler alert) . . . Captain Rex is a big blue T.rex . . . (last chance to move on from the spoiler) . . . Captain Rex is a firl! Oh, that red-rascal, I mean a girl with a questionable red companion on her shoulder.

The illustrations will put an elated glow in young children’s eyes as they watch this ship of Pirasaurs. Bronto Beard, a one-eyed Pirasaur, maneuvers the ship, while his mates enjoy their, “BURP!” meals from Triceracook. All the while no one suspects the prank-loving Pterodactyl to be a traitor, until there is a mutiny—the rat. The colorful Pirasaurs sails the seas, entertaining young children with each turn of the page. Slack’s images enhance Funk’s text with lovable Pirasaurs! Together, they have created a tail, er a tale any young Pirasaur will love.

Next up for Josh Funk: Dear Dragon: A Pen Pal Tale, a modern medieval tale of friendpenship between two unlikely kids.

PIRASAURS! Text copyright © 2016 by Josh Funk. Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Michael Slack. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Orchard Books, New York, NY.

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Find Pirasaurs! on Goodreads HERE.

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Text from Pirasaurs! written by Josh Funk. Illustrations copyright 2016 by Michael Slack. Used with permission from Orchard Books / Scholastic.

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Copyright © 2016 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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Pirasaurs!
Written by Josh Funk
Illustrated by Michael Slack
Orchard Books 8/30/2016
9780545750493