Pirate's Perfect Pet - Hardcover

Beth Ferry is the author of the picture books Stick and Stone and Land Shark. Her family has cared for myriad pets, including two land sharks, a hedgehog, a blue-tongued skink, and a heap of hamsters, but her absolutely perfect pet is an English bulldog named Winston. She lives in New Jersey.

Matt Myers is the illustrator of many books for young readers, including E-I-E-I-O: How Old MacDonald Got His Farm with a Little Help from a Hen by Judy Sierra and Bartholomew Biddle and the Very Big Wind by Gary Ross. Matt Myers earns his doubloons by painting in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Myers’s vigorous art and Ferry’s (“Stick and Stone”) revved-up story still offer plenty of moments to stop and laugh.
—The New York Times Book Review

A master of bubbly, sunshiny, high-spirited spreads, Myers (Cock-a-Doodle-Doo-Bop!) paints the pirates leaping the fence into a farm, storming the zoo (where an encounter with a lion lets Captain Crave cross “peg leg” off his to-do list), and, at last, the pet store. “Shiver me Shih Tzus,” cries the captain. “Thar be piles of pets!” One with colorful feathers draws attention by pooping on his hat. Ferry (Land Shark) fills her yarn with loads of pirate lingo and affectionate pokes at pirate tradition, while Myers’s luscious, thickly painted illustrations look as if they’ve been frosted. Readalouds don’t come much rowdier.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Rife with buccaneer-speak and salty seadog sentences, Ferry's text uses repetition to its greatest advantage. Meanwhile, Myers' thick acrylic and oil paints render both buccaneers and beasts in an attractive angular style while also hiding a multitude of tiny details (keep an eye at all times on the expressive skull on the captain's hat). As Capt. Crave says, "Shiver me Shih Tzus!" There's some fun here.
—Kirkus Reviews

Ferry’s story and Myers’s acrylic and oil paint illustrations are a perfect match—the details in the writing and the accompanying pictures are hilarious and smart, and the dialect will encourage children to try out their best pirate accents. Animated readers may find a new favorite read-aloud in this book. The illustrations will delight kids, who will find something new every time they pick it up. Great writing and vivid illustrations make this a sure bet for most collections.
—School Library Journal