Pirates Next Door Paperback – International Edition, January 1, 2012

This was the first of Jonny Duddle's pirate books that I read and is now one of my favorite pirate books to read my son. A family of Pirates, including a young boy, move into a small town temporarily and the boy befriends the little girl next door. She has no bias towards him and is excited about learning all of the unique and exotic things about him and his family. The rest of the neighbors are pretty awful and judgmental, all because the Jolley-Rogers are different. The Pirates leave behind gifts for everyone, in hopes that they will think more highly of their kind the next time they encounter them.I am someone who very thoroughly believes in the importance of being oneself and celebrating the things that make you who you are, especially if you are different or weird. So this book struck a chord with me. I really enjoyed how it portrayed the characters, making it clear that Tilda, the girl, was the one with an appropriate attitude and that the other neighbors were shallow and jumping to poor conclusions, but in a way that is still enjoyable to read. I think it's a great "teaching" book.The art is just fantastic and springs from the page. The colors and details are wonderful. There is also a foldout section towards the end that adds a nice touch to the enjoyment of the story.This is written in rhyme and the flow and rhythm is so much fun to read aloud. There is a lot of great "pirate speak" and the voices of all of the characters are a joy to ham up to kids. This and The Pirate Cruncher are new favorites that I know will be getting a lot of attention at bedtime.

The book's written in fun rhyme. The artwork is full page and beautiful. We like to find the skulls and other "Easter eggs" on each page. There's one moment of great irony on one page in the artwork that took us forever to notice. The story is so good. But be sure to really notice what's going on in the artwork! Such a great book for kids (and their grown ups)!

Johnny Duddle pirate books are fun. The rhyming is really good. The words and illustrations take you into a pirates world. The reading got a bit tiresome of the neighbor's gab, but afterwards the young pirate boy gives an unexpected surprise to the readers. The lesson in this book is simple but adults sure could take notes and remember to zip the li more often.

Love this story! Super cute and the kids loved it. Fantastic illustrations as well.

Kid loves this book

This is a delightful book with pictures that have tons to look at and make my five year old and I laugh. For older children there is the possibillity to talk about deciding who or what people are like based on what they look like but for now we just read the story. I don't mind repeated readings which is a plus.

Very cute

My four year old son has been a pirate fanatic for about a year, so we have about 25 pirate books. I had pre-ordered this for his birthday, even though the release date was about a month later. We have The Pirate Cruncher as well, and we love it. So I figured this book would surely be as good. And it is!I am always impressed when truly talented children's authors can rhyme stories and mix in humor and sentiment. The illustrations are so colorful, vibrant and cute without being too childish. It's the perfect length as well, so my son is satisfied when we're done, and the story isn't lacking for anything.I'm excited and hopeful that Johnny Duddle will write another great pirate tale! We'd like to see the Jolly Rogers take on the Pirate Cruncher!