Pirates Don't Change Diapers Review

Pirates Don't Change Diapers [2007, Harcourt, Inc., ISBN: 978-0-15-205353-6], by Melinda Long and illustrated by David Shannon, is a 40-page children's book about babysitting.

The Story:

Mom has to go to the store to buy some milk and Jeremy Jacob has strict orders to try not to bother his napping father and to keep his little sister happy if she wakes up from her nap. Jeremy was trying to figure out what to buy for his Mom's birthday with his meager funds, but then needed to turn his attention to his little sister. Amazingly, the baby awakens immediately after Mom leaves, and that's just when the group of pirates arrive.

If the pirates are planning to stay to look for treasure in the backyard, they are going to have to help babysit. They agree, but only after they realize that they aren't expected to sit on the wee one. Speaking of wee, her diaper needs to be changed, and the pirates seem to have used up all the diapers in practice as everything from hands to pets to heads are sporting the strange contraption with fasteners and side holes. The strained spinach is something that a bilge rat wouldn't eat, but the pirates didn't know to duck when the baby sneezed.

Rocking isn't something with a beat but rather a strange chair that is supposed to appease the child. They tried every idea they had, but finally found a person that could keep the fussy baby quite while the crew headed to the back yard to dig up that treasure...only to realize that the baby had the map and had eaten parts of it.

• Would Jeremy and the pirate crew ever find the hidden treasure?
• Would the baby ever sleep?
• Would Mom ever get home and what about her birthday gift?

My Viewpoint:

Pirates Don't Change Diapers is a funny story with lots of pirate talk for those lads and lasses that like to hear a story with an accent. The illustrations compliment the story nicely and are humorous as well. I have three children (8, 5, 2) and my kids could certainly relate to the difficulties of trying to watch an active baby that awakens early from a nap. Hopefully they won't be taking the shovels out to the back yard when I'm not looking.