How to be a Pirate by Isaac Fitzgerald, illus. Brigette Barrager.

How to be a Pirate by Isaac Fitzgerald, illus. Brigette Barrager. Pub. Bloomsbury, 2020.

CeCe wants to be a pirate with the boys in their tree hut but they tell her no “girls can’t be pirates”.

So ceCe and her dog got to someone who knows how to be a pirate – Granddad. He has a tattoo and has been to sea. he tells CeCe the secret of being a pirate and lets the bemused boys know what it means to be a pirate.

Good values, good humour, lovely story. Illustrations are superb. Loved the dog. Good for juniors, reading aloud and developing reading skills. Every page is used even the back and front covers, I love it when that happens.

Harriet and the eye of the bird by Julie Lamb.

Harriet and the eye of the bird by Julie Lamb. Pub. The Cuba Press wellington, 2019.

This novel for primary and intermediate girls could well have been sub titled “the secret life of girls” because that is what it comes down to.

Harriet loves her dad and can see no wrong in him, but after staying out all night with a mate he leaves after a torrid argument with Harriet’s mum. He stays away, phones once and misses Harriet’s birthday. Her mum tells her to get used to it but Harriet sees only herself.

Her life is coming apart and she has a lot of learning to do. The family move to a house they can afford and the mother and big sister Claire accept the circumstances. Harriet misses her friends but is shunned when she goes back for a birthday party.

Harriet tries to make friends with a girl who is under the control of a very nasty girl. Why? A shy girl Alice comes into her life through school and Harriet treats her the same way she is treated by the girl she wants so much to befriend. She has to learn the true meaning of friendship. Read it and find out how. There is a tree and birds to help her.

Great conversation between characters who are nearly all female but there is a lovely granddad. As a granddad of two girls this book spoke to me and I read it in two sittings. You will too.

Julie lamb paces the novel perfectly and builds on her success  with The Discombobulated Life of Summer Rain, also reviewed on this blog. A writer to watch.