Pirates Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort

Simon Schuster Children's Books, 2013. ISBN 9780857072658. Paperback 32 pages.
Reading Age: 4-6 years. Themes: Pirates. Humour. Rhyming story. This is a fun new addition to the Underpants books; pirates love underpants just as much as Aliens, Dinosaurs and Panta Claus! The endpapers are filled with weird and wacky y-fronts, skull and crossbones bloomers, wooden plank undies, and ghostly briefs, quite a talking point.
The Pirates board their ship the Black Bloomer searching for the Pants of Gold treasure. They have to sail past sharks in fancy underpants before landing at Big Knickers Bay. Of course there are problems and difficulties along the way and underpants play an important role on every page. Of course the Captain's funny idea saves the day.
Claire Freedman has continued to follow the same rhyming patterns with her text. Ben Cort's bright comical paintings with bold splashes of colour add depth to the story. There are many styles of underpants pictured throughout and these make this a humorous story.
Claire and Ben's website http://www.aliensloveunderpants.com/ is a great resource with biographies, downloads, games and book information.
This is a great read-aloud book for sharing with children from three to six. Beginning readers will also enjoy the rhythm and rhyme.
Rhyllis Bignell