Cap'n Rex and His Clever Crew by Henry L. Herz and Benjamin Schipper

Dinosaur pirates! What a combination. That's what you get in Cap'N Rex and His Clever Crew, a ship full of dinosaur pirates in search of treasure. But, they'll encounter many dangers. First, a Megalodon (a giant shark) takes a bite out of the ship. One of the crew wonders aloud what they'll do.

"Now what, Cap'n? We can't steer without a rudder," said Pat. 

"Rex glared with teeth bared. "Can't ye?" 

And, herein lies the theme of the book. When a pea-soup thick fog rolls in and Terry (a pterodactyl) says he can't spy land, Cap'n Rex repeats the phrase, "Can't ye?" Whenever he says "Can't ye?" it makes his crew try harder to find a solution. Terry can fly above the clouds. Pat (an apatosaurus) can act as a rudder. Another dinosaur with armor on his back (Kyle, the ankylosaurus) can use his armor to knock away the boulders being thrown by an active volcano so that the crew can dig for treasure at the volcano's base. And, when the Cap'n says he can't share the booty with his crew:

The crew frowned. They looked at each other. Then the crew surrounded Rex. 

"CAN'T YE?" 

"Well, sink, me! Yer a clever crew," said Rex.

Recommended - Brightly colored, adventurous, witty fun. I love the theme of Cap'N Rex and His Clever Crew: You can come up with a solution if you think you can. There's only one complaint I have; I can't figure out what's happening in one of the illustrations. Just one. The rest are obvious (and all are delightfully bold). I also like the fact that each dinosaur's name is a hint to the type of dinosaur he is, without it being handed to you on a platter. Not necessarily knowing the type of dinosaur they're looking at will give little ones something extra to do if they're not already well-acquainted with dinosaurs. And, if they're not sure they can look up dinosaurs, whoever's reading to the little ones just has to say, "Can't ye?" and help them out. Children who are more knowledgeable will be delighted to be able to figure out the naming puzzle on their own. At the end of the book is a glossary of pirate terms used in the book, for easy reference.

This is Book #2 for Children's Week. More to come.

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