The Pirates Are Coming!- John Condon & Matt Hunt

This is such a clever concept blending the elements of The Boy who cried wolf with a huge twist and the childhood love of pirates but with added educational value. 

Tom feels it his job to look out for pirates to give the villagers time to hide, but he doesn’t really know what he’s looking out for so he rings the bell every time he sees something on the horizon causing much exasperation… but what will happen when the pirates really do arrive?!

I particularly enjoyed the quietly communicated idea of building descriptions using adverbs and adjectives, compare and contrasting as Tom continues to mistake ANY ship for the pirates! 

Illustration by Matt Hunt

Both girls adore this book especially the bits when Tom flies down the hill and through the town ringing his bell and shouting ‘The Pirates are coming!’ So this has HUGE potential for readaloud in schools, libraries and if CBeebies doesn’t get a enthusiastic read of this for Bedtime Stories I shall be very disappointed!! 

I really like the ding ding ding THE PIRATES ARE COMING!! Bit it’s really funny- and I like the twist (shh no spoilers!!) I like Tom’s daddy being kind when he makes the mistakes! 

Littlefae

We used this for an activity of our own. Littlefae and Tinyfae acted out their own versions of The Pirates are coming but using the methods of transport that various family members use – particularly good to push on adjectives because both their daddy and grandfather drive small blue (but different kinds of blue) cars. 

illustration by Matt Hunt

They then went on to act out the book again using their Sylvanians so this really is the story that keeps on giving!!

Yeay this book is funny! Tom is silly the pirates aren’t coming again oh dear! 

Tinyfae

This is such a fun book and highly recommended whether for fun or an educational setting its guaranteed to be a hit!!

The Pirates Are Coming!- John Condon & Matt Hunt is published by Nosy Crow 

Thank you for our copy 💜