The Pirates Next Door (Jonny Duddle)

The Pirate Cruncher is endlessly requested, especially with the excitement of the 'island' turning out to be a sea monster. Now we have The Jolley-Rogers, The Pirates Next Door, in this companion edition. Again a great success, with two years + grandchildren - all ours are pirate mad.Dull-on-Sea is taken aback by the arrival of the shockingly exotic pirates, who are laid up ashore for repairs. Matilda/Tilda however is thrilled to make friends with - a pirate boy - Jim! While the older folks in the community grumble and busily complain to each other, she couldn't be happier. All told in doggerel verse, this bouncy tale gives a little life lesson in not judging a book by its cover...The pirates actually have hearts of gold, and on leaving, the lines go:'That night there was a tapping at Matilda's window pane. Outside was Jim. He whispered "I've got something to explain.. Whenever we stop somewhere new, the neighbours are unkind. To show them pirates aren't so bad, we leave some things behind" Shh!'Surprises in the form of the x marks the spot kind are discovered the next day. All laid out on a double page pull out, great fun to look through.The friendship between Tilda and Jim endures and a return visit is perhaps on the cards. The artwork is atmospheric, easy to take in. The sharply observed turn around in the reactions of the Dull on Sea Nimbies is hilarious.Jonny Duddle has done it again, Oo Arr! Shiver me timbers...

He loves it!

My class read ‘The Pirates Next Door’ and really enjoyed it so wrote their own reviews and wanted to share them with you. Well done Trust Class!The book is about a boy and his pirate family. Some pirates move to Dull-On-Sea, next door to a girl called Matilda. The girl thinks it is great that some pirates have moved next door and says to Jim-Lad, ‘you’re cool!’. But the pirates get up to mischief and start doing naughty things. The people of Dull-On-Sea wanted them to go away so they phoned up the council.One of our favourite characters was Nugget; “My favourite character is Nugget because she is really, really cheeky, rude and funny and she is learning to fire cannon balls”.You should read this book because if you read the blurb it sounds exciting and the name sounds really cool and the pictures look cool and they are a crazy family.The book is about a super family and the pages are detailed with writing and the pages are colourful.So those are some of the opinions of my class and I can back them up. A fantastic picture book that children love!

Bought for a 4 year old who loves it, even her parents are enjoying joining in with the laughter... Wonderful illustrations add to an all round winner... Would certainly buy again for other little people we know...

We got this book, after getting the Pirate Cruncher, hoping it would be much the same. Its nice but it didn't grab myself or 4 yr old as much as the Pirate Cruncher. Its a nice story of a little girl who seems to have little or no friends, till a pirate moves into the house next door. Its only temperary, till they mend their ship, but the neighbourhood is not happy, and tries to get them kicked out. I felt it was less about pirates and more about tollerating neighbours who are different and giving people a chance. There is a fold out page, as there is in the Pirate Cruncher (and my son can never wait to get to it) , but this one is terribly unexciting. Dull colours and very little happening. We barely open it anymore when reading the book. Maybe we would have liked it more if we'd read this one first. But a high standard was set, and unfortunately this didn't meet it. Didn't do much for a big Pirate fan, but still a nice enough book.

Such a good series and one that goes from picture books to longer stories as your kids grow. Awesome illustrations to study for hours and a great narrative. Boy and girl heros.

Great story, book arrived in perfect condition, given to daughter's pirate-loving friend for his birthday

This is currently my sons favourite book, it really is excellent!