The Gingerbread Pirates Gift Edition

Swashbuckling gusto and a poignant finish should make this a new favorite.—Publishers Weekly (starred review)Large in scale and dramatic in effect, watercolor-and-gouache paintings create believable settings, sometimes seen from unusual perspectives, and sympathetically portray the characters, especially the pirates, whose icing-sugar mouths and eyes are surprisingly expressive.—BooklistAn exciting story and full-page, dramatically composed paintings depicting harrowing adventures with a mouse, a cat, and the crew imprisoned in a cookie jar make this a good holiday read-aloud.—School Library JournalCaptain Cookie’s quest to rescue his crew from their cookie-jar imprisonment is not without peril, and humorous obstacles abound…Tavares’s vivid watercolor and gouache paintings dramatize Kladstrup’s lively text with vigor in this imaginative adventure story.—The Horn BookCookie’s-eye-view illustrations and a story enlivened with dialogue make this boy’s version of the nutcracker sparkle.—ForewordKladstrup makes the most of the adventurous possibilities, while Tavares’s sumptuous full-bleed spreads and spot illustrations play with a cookie’s-eye perspective.—Shelf AwarenessAn adventurous, hilarious story that brims with the magic of Christmas…pure delight.—Kendal Rautzhan’s Books to Borrow, Books to BuyAn imaginative kid-pleaser.—News TribuneRed and green dominate Tavares’ bold illustrations, making this one of the most festive Christmas books.—St. Paul Pioneer Press

Kristin Kladstrup is also the author of the middle-grade novel The Book of Story Beginnings. She lives near Boston, Massachusetts.

Matt Tavares is the author-illustrator of the New York Times best-selling picture book Dasher and its sequels, Dasher Can’t Wait for Christmas and Dasher and the Polar Bear, as well as Red and Lulu, the graphic novel Hoops, and several sports biographies, including Becoming Babe Ruth and Growing Up Pedro. He is also the illustrator of Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by Jeff Gottesfeld, The Gingerbread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup, ’Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, and Over the River and Through the Wood by L. Maria Child, among many other picture books. Matt Tavares lives in Ogunquit, Maine.