Jennifer M. (Kaydence) reviewed The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate on + 380 more book reviews
Summary:
Blue Jay the Pirate collects eggs. One day he gets a rather unusual one that immediately calls out the motherly instincts of the navigator Junco. Once the egg hatches, the crew upon the Grosbeak find they have a baby goose on their hands. The gosling eats like crazy and grows to be bigger than the little ship, but he struggles to learn to fly. As with all pirates, the Grosbeak goes through times of great treasure to times of not so great treasure. While the gosling, Gabriel, is growing, the Grosbeak goes through a bit of a rough time. They are unable to catch a good wind and eventually crash. During the crash, Gabriel falls out and Junco deserts the crew to help him. Blue Jay and the crew crash into crow territory and have to face off with a fierce enemy. As an good pirate adventure goes, the crew must reunite and stand together in order to have a chance of success.
My thoughts:
I had a great time with this book. Since it is a children's book, based with an audience of 4th-6th grade, I didn't have the same expectations that I would with a young adult book. I wanted a quick, fun read that didn't make me think about underlying meanings. This is very straightforward. The vocabulary is a little tough for the younger reader, especially since there are a lot of bird references. Some of the slight changes to make a word more relevant to a bird are difficult if you do not have some background knowledge or a good vocabulary to notice the slight shifts. I appreciated the traditional pirate aspects of singing, camaraderie, capturing ships, sword-fighting, and treasure (bird seed). The pirates also represent misfits that come together to build strong relationships. The overall story could have accomplished the same end with far fewer pages, but I enjoyed the meandering ride. I'm not sure why there is a possible ending before the actual ending, but I suppose that it adds to the feeling of being told a tale from an actual pirate. What spoken tale does not move around a bit?
Blue Jay the Pirate collects eggs. One day he gets a rather unusual one that immediately calls out the motherly instincts of the navigator Junco. Once the egg hatches, the crew upon the Grosbeak find they have a baby goose on their hands. The gosling eats like crazy and grows to be bigger than the little ship, but he struggles to learn to fly. As with all pirates, the Grosbeak goes through times of great treasure to times of not so great treasure. While the gosling, Gabriel, is growing, the Grosbeak goes through a bit of a rough time. They are unable to catch a good wind and eventually crash. During the crash, Gabriel falls out and Junco deserts the crew to help him. Blue Jay and the crew crash into crow territory and have to face off with a fierce enemy. As an good pirate adventure goes, the crew must reunite and stand together in order to have a chance of success.
My thoughts:
I had a great time with this book. Since it is a children's book, based with an audience of 4th-6th grade, I didn't have the same expectations that I would with a young adult book. I wanted a quick, fun read that didn't make me think about underlying meanings. This is very straightforward. The vocabulary is a little tough for the younger reader, especially since there are a lot of bird references. Some of the slight changes to make a word more relevant to a bird are difficult if you do not have some background knowledge or a good vocabulary to notice the slight shifts. I appreciated the traditional pirate aspects of singing, camaraderie, capturing ships, sword-fighting, and treasure (bird seed). The pirates also represent misfits that come together to build strong relationships. The overall story could have accomplished the same end with far fewer pages, but I enjoyed the meandering ride. I'm not sure why there is a possible ending before the actual ending, but I suppose that it adds to the feeling of being told a tale from an actual pirate. What spoken tale does not move around a bit?
Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate on + 2527 more book reviews
I got a copy of this book to review through the Amazon Vine program. This was a very cute book with some wonderful illustrations about a pirate bird named Blue Jay and his crew.
Blue Jay the Pirate is the most feared pirate of the skies and has a hankering for collecting beautiful eggs. When one of the eggs hatches to produce a gosling, things change for Blue Jay and his crew. Eventually Blue Jay and his crew find themselves allying with the sparrows from Briarloch to take out a gang of mean and vicious crows. Ends up Gabriel the gosling has a rather large role to play in it all.
This was a fun and cute story aimed at the younger age set. All the characters in the story are animals, mostly different types of birds. It is fun to watch how well the birds on the pirate ship work together, even during disagreements.
Gabriel is a great character, and although he doesnt fit in and seems like a detriment to the pirating crew, in the end he figures out how to use his differences to help out his friends and save the day. This is a great message about learning to embrace your differences and make the best of them rather than try to be someone youre not.
There are some great action scenes between the birds and the crows. Again it is fun to watch as the pirating birds and the landbound sparrows are able to set aside differences and unite to fight against a greater evil when the need is there.
This is a great adventure tale about friendship, teamwork, and embracing differences. The pictures throughout are beautiful and very well done. I read an advanced reading copy so they were all in black and white, but the final book is supposed to be in full color and I am eager to see this.
The book is aimed at a younger age set. As such the words used are fairly simple and the plot is very straightforward. Id recommend for kids age 8+. Young adults and older might find the story a bit too simple to really be engaging.
Overall a cute and fun read with some beautiful illustrations. A great adventure story about friendship, teamwork, and embracing your differences. The plot and language is fairly simple; so I would recommend for kids who love pirates. Young adults and older will probably find the story too simple to be very engaging. Younger pirate fans though should be highly entertained.
Blue Jay the Pirate is the most feared pirate of the skies and has a hankering for collecting beautiful eggs. When one of the eggs hatches to produce a gosling, things change for Blue Jay and his crew. Eventually Blue Jay and his crew find themselves allying with the sparrows from Briarloch to take out a gang of mean and vicious crows. Ends up Gabriel the gosling has a rather large role to play in it all.
This was a fun and cute story aimed at the younger age set. All the characters in the story are animals, mostly different types of birds. It is fun to watch how well the birds on the pirate ship work together, even during disagreements.
Gabriel is a great character, and although he doesnt fit in and seems like a detriment to the pirating crew, in the end he figures out how to use his differences to help out his friends and save the day. This is a great message about learning to embrace your differences and make the best of them rather than try to be someone youre not.
There are some great action scenes between the birds and the crows. Again it is fun to watch as the pirating birds and the landbound sparrows are able to set aside differences and unite to fight against a greater evil when the need is there.
This is a great adventure tale about friendship, teamwork, and embracing differences. The pictures throughout are beautiful and very well done. I read an advanced reading copy so they were all in black and white, but the final book is supposed to be in full color and I am eager to see this.
The book is aimed at a younger age set. As such the words used are fairly simple and the plot is very straightforward. Id recommend for kids age 8+. Young adults and older might find the story a bit too simple to really be engaging.
Overall a cute and fun read with some beautiful illustrations. A great adventure story about friendship, teamwork, and embracing your differences. The plot and language is fairly simple; so I would recommend for kids who love pirates. Young adults and older will probably find the story too simple to be very engaging. Younger pirate fans though should be highly entertained.
