The Gingerbread Pirates

When Jim and his mother make gingerbread men for Santa's visit one Christmas Eve, the young boy asks that they make the cookies in the form of pirates. Keeping Captain Cookie for himself, Jim falls asleep while the sweet creation mulls on what he has heard of this cookie-eating cannibal known as Santa. Determined to rescue the other gingerbread pirates, the captain sets out on an epic journey, one in which he learns a little bit about what Christmas is, and finds himself transformed into something a little more permanent...

With Christmas cookies, Santa's midnight visit, and pirates - what's not to love?!? The Gingerbread Pirates pairs an entertaining and creative seasonal story from author Kristin Kladstrup with appealing artwork from show more illustrator Matt Tavares, who, amongst other titles, has also produced an edition of T'was the Night Before Christmas. Recommended to young cookie and/or pirate lovers who are in the market for magical Christmas stories. show less

If your child is anything like my 2-going-on-3 little girl, this will be a hit for you. It combines two of her favorite things--Christmas and pirates--into an enjoyable narrative. One of the attractive features of the narrative is that many pages end on a "cliff-hanger" (such as: "What Captain Cookie saw next ASTONISHED him...") that make it very good for dramatic bedtime reading. (Until she memorized the story, my excitable daughter would follow up these lines with "What's going to HAPPEN, Daddy?!" Adorable. Now, instead, I will ask her to tell me what comes next before turning the page. She likes that, too.)

A couple of caveats. The first time we read it, I had to reassure my daughter that Santa was not going to actually eat the living show more gingerbread cookies, but once we had made it through the first time, she was less apprehensive. For a child of my daughter's age, I had to make a few substitutions--"sword" instead of "cutlass," for instance--and I thought it was a good idea to drop the word "cannibal" as applied to Santa Claus. Other than that, I can recommend this book unreservedly. show less

Love how this book walks you through the life of a pirate cookie. How big the world seems and how many unknowns there are for the captain and his crew. This is a great book for students who love to dream and imagine what it would be like if their toys came to life.

Kind of a cute idea, but I had to do some regendering so that there was a LITTLE more gender diversity among the male child, the male gingerbread pirate captain, the male crew, the male santa claus .... Luckily Santa is easy to regender.

A gingerbread pirate crew is just the ticket to grab hold of primary grade audiences during the holiday sesason. That audience will cheer when Santa pulls a gift that is just right for the pirate crew out of his sack. The dramatic illustrations add exciting frosting to this cookie tale.

This is the story of the gingerbread pirate captain and his crew. Jim and his mother made cookies for Santa but Jim wanted to keep the gingerbread captain along side his pillow. During the night, the captain went off to save his crew. When Santa came, he went to eat some of the crew members from the jar, but the captain stopped him. The captain told Santa that was his crew and he shouldn't eat them. Santa agreed and taught the gingermen what Christmas was all about. When Jim woke up in the morning, his gingerbread captain was gone, but underneath the tree was a pirate ships with a full crew and captain. A cute spin-off of The Gingerbread Man.

My big kids still crack up about the cannibal Santa jokes, and my youngest loves the cleverly-created gingerbread men.