Pirate Pug: The Dog Who Rocked the Boat

Laura James's Pirate Pug: The Dog Who Rocked the Boat is a sunny seaside adventure for 6 year olds about a pug who's terrified of water and somehow ends up a pirate.

What happens

Pug and Lady Miranda are on holiday in Pebbly Bay, staying in the best suite at the Smuggler's Rest Hotel. Breakfast is jam tarts (of course). Then a parrot called Rio flies in and pinches a teaspoon.

A day at the beach should be lovely. But the sea is very bad news for a dog who's scared of water. Then a stray beach ball hits him in the eye and he comes out of the vet's wearing an eyepatch.

Wendy thinks he looks like a one-eyed panda. Lady Miranda thinks pirate, and pops into the gift shop for a hat. Pug feels very silly indeed.

Things get properly piratey when Rio swoops off with the mayor's gold chain and heads for Finders Keepers' Island. Legend says the old pirate will come back to haunt the town if the mayor isn't wearing that chain on parade day! Whoever brings it back gets to be mayor for a day.

So Lady Miranda and her new friends Daniel, Mimi and Hannah build a ship out of old hotel wood, with Wendy's aprons for sails. Racing them in the Black Octopus are Finnian, Caspar and Morgan, the meanest boys in town.

Those boys really are mean. They call Pug a stupid dog and take aim at Rio with pebbles. If your reader is sensitive about unkind kids, it's good to know that's in there, although the friends have some brilliant comebacks (one of them involves shoelaces).

It's Pug's thoughts that make it so funny. He's hoping there aren't any sharks. He's muddled up his left and his right. He's already eaten half the ship's jam tarts out of nerves.

Who wouldn't feel for a little dog who hates water being made to walk the plank? It's tense for a moment, but it's very much the giggly kind of tense.

There's lots for a newer reader to hold on to too. Big noises like SQUAWK! and THUMP!, plenty of chatty back and forth and a proper treasure island feel, with a shack in the jungle and quicksand.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Captain Pug is a lovely pick for them. Lady Miranda puts Pug in a sailor suit for a day at the boating lake, and he's every bit as unsure about the water.