From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3–This imaginary adventure combines a boy's two passions–pirates and prehistoric animals. Flinn's markers run out while he is drawing a dinosaur at school and he goes to the supply closet to get more. There he discovers a sobbing pirate who explains that his ship has been stolen. Along with three friends, Flinn vows to help Captain Stubble retake the
Acorn. The closet wall falls away, revealing a bright blue day and a scrappy-looking vessel. The children don pirate garb and Captain Stubble, who prefers to be the cook, puts Flinn in charge. They discover that the
Acorn has been taken over by fierce, pirate dinosaurs, and a great battle ensues. All of the creatures jump overboard--except for the
Tyrannosaurus rex. Flinn crosses swords with the frightening beast until it finally surrenders. Then it is time to return to school and the children step back through the closet and into the classroom where everyone is wondering where they have been. Ayto's watercolor-and-ink illustrations are angular, bold, and lively. The pirate dinosaurs–complete with eye patches and pointy weapons–are a curious combination of ferocious and precious. They look very much like Flinn's drawing. The fast-paced action and vibrant artwork make this tale a fun and exciting read-aloud.
–Linda Staskus, Parma Regional Library, OH Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Gr. 1-3. Andreae combines several childhood obsessions into a rousing tale of a schoolboy named Flinn who helps a weeping pirate, discovered at the back of his classroom's supply closet, to recover a ship that has been stolen by a gang of dinosaurs. In Ayto's appropriately big, messy, garishly colored cartoons, the peg-legged, eye-patched dino crew is impressive enough, but it's nothing next to its leader, a huge, slavering tyrannosaur Captain Hook, who battles intrepid young Flinn for more than two hours before conceding defeat. Will Flinn stay and become captain of all the pirate dinosaurs? No, it's time to sail back through the closet for lunch. Children fond of pirates, dinosaurs, ships, and wild rumpuses in general will happily climb aboard.
John PetersCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
