"A character driven comic adventure with heart."
September 2026 Book of the Month
Jenny Pearson has built up a reputation and loyal fanbase as writer par excellence of character-driven, comic adventures with heart, and How Not to Be a Pirate stands and delivers with the best of them.
Slightly shorter perhaps than her stand-alone novels and with lively two-colour illustrations on every page, it is the story of three trainee pirates who find themselves shipmates in a race to find hidden treasure as part of their Level One Pirate Grading.
Achieving Level One is a must for all young would-be pirates, but Wilbur is desperate to get the grades. He doesn’t want to let his pirate dad down, though he doesn’t seem to be natural pirate material: he suffers horribly from seasickness and his ‘Arrrghing’ is judged ‘softer than a jellyfish in slippers.’ Ellie on the other hand, who is keeping her heritage a secret, seems born to it, even if she’s a bit too quick to flourish her cutlass (it has to be confiscated and replaced with a candlestick). Ellie it is who assumes command of the Salty Sparrow and decides that Wilbur and fellow crewmate Gilbert will follow her tracking down the legendary and powerful Hag Stone, despite the enormous dangers involved.
The story is every bit as exciting and as funny as we’ve come to expect from Jenny Pearson, with lovely emotional undercurrents and subtle clues as to how the story will develop in future adventures. The high seas have never been so much fun and this absorbing adventure epitomises reading for pleasure, in the same way that Cressida Cowell’s Wizards of Once series does.
Get ready to set sail on a hilarious new swashbuckling adventure series from bestselling and award-winning author, Jenny Pearson.
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the best books for 9-12 year olds · the best books for teenagers
Get ready to set sail on a hilarious new swashbuckling adventure series from bestselling and award-winning author, Jenny Pearson.Wilbur doesn't believe he's destined to be a great pirate. He hates heights, gets seasick and is too scared to fire a cannon.But Wilbur, together with shipmates Ellie and Gilbert, is taking his Level One Pirate Grading.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed How Not to Be a Pirate: The Trouble With Curses and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-12 years old
How Not to Be a Pirate: The Trouble With Curses features in the following genres: Featured Books for 9+ readers, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Books of the Month, Recommendations, Star Books, Adventure Stories, Funny, History, PSHE: Self-Awareness, Self-Esteem and Wellbeing, Personal Social Health Economic (PSHE), Books to Motivate Reluctant Readers age 9+, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Pirates, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Friends and friendships, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Adventurers and outlaws, Children’s / Teenage: General interest, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Relationships (non-family / groups)
Paperback. £8.09, down from the £8.99 cover price. Temporarily Out Of Stock.
How Not to Be a Pirate: The Trouble With Curses was written by Jenny Pearson and published by Usborne Publishing Ltd. an imprint of Usborne Publishing
How Not to Be a Pirate: The Trouble With Curses has 293 pages
Yes it is part of How Not to Be a Pirate series
£8.09, reduced from £8.99. Temporarily Out Of Stock.
