Description[]
Flinn is at school looking in the art cupboard for some coloured pens to finish off his dinosaur drawing when he stumbles upon Captain Stubble, a real live Pirate Captain! He tells Flinn that his ship, the Acorn, has been stolen and that he needs Flinn to help him rescue it back. Stubble makes Flinn the captain and they sail away on an old pirate ship...they finally find the Acorn but, to their horror, realise it's been stolen by PIRATE DINOSAURS! Captain Flinn and his crew attack the dinosaurs and, after much fighting, seize control of the ship once more. Flinn and his friends then sail back to the harbour clambering through the boatshed door and back into the art cupboard without the teacher even noticing they've been gone!
Reader's Reviews[]
Book Review: Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs by Giles Andreae
Age range: 4-7 (Foundation stage and KS1)
Type: Picture book
Genre: Pirate stories/ Dinosaur stories.
This wonderful picture book depicts the fantastic adventure of a boy named Flinn and his friends as they set off to find a lost ship. It all starts when Flinn is trying to find some pens in the school art cupboard, and he finds a pirate capain crying under an old curtain. Flinn discovers that the pirate is crying because someone has stolen his ship, and with the help of his friends Pearl, Tom and Violet, he offers to help his new friend to find his ship and get it back. Just when it looks like they're not going to find the ship Violet spies it in the distance, and they up speed to catch it up and capture it back, however, when they get there they are confronted by the most fearsome baddies of all: pirate dinosaurs! A great battle begins but brave Flinn leads his crew to victory and reclaims the ship back from the mighty Captain T-Rex, and even manages to get himelf and his friends back to school before lunch!
The book contains some excellent and very engaging illustrations by Russell Ayto which accompany the story perfrectly and are facinating for young children. The book uses lots of different word types such as alliteration, e.g. shaking and shuddering, similies, e.g. like a giant jelly, and lots of onomatopoeias! There are lots of fantastic descriptive words to help build on children's vocabulary, and this imaginative dialogue helps to build a brilliant image of the characters. Andreae also introduces children to new technical vocabulary surrounding pirate/ dinosaur topics such as cutlass, crows nest, helm, and many different dinosaur names such as diplodocus and stegosaurus, therefore would be a good introduction in a foundation or KS1 classroom to one of these topics. I find that the book is excellent for capturing children's attention and imagintation, particularly the boys, and will even keep the attention of those whose minds wanders easily. In a KS2 classroom it could be used to illustrate the use of rhyme, alliteration and onomatopoeia. Overall, an exciting and engaging read.
Parental Guidance[]
- Reading Age: 4-7
- Reading Aloud Age: 8-10
- This story could be scary for very young children, and does contain some scenes of sword fighting and violence.
If you like this you might like[]
Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs: Missing Treasure, by Giles Andreae and Russell Ayto.
Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs: Smuggler's Bay, by Giles Andreae and Russell Ayto.
Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs: The Magic Cutlass, by Giles Andreae and Russell Ayto.
Mungo and the Picture Book Pirates, by Timothy Knapman and Adam Stower.
The Pirates Next Door, by Johnny Duddle.
The Night Pirates, by Peter Harris.
A New Home for a Pirate, by Ronda Armitage
Links[]
Ceebeebies bedtime stories: Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs: Missing Treasure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a7PJLqPfBA
Animated cartoon show of Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs
www.slrproductions.com/captain-flinn-and-the-pirate-dinosaurs
Ceebeebies bedtime stories: Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs: The Magic Cutlass.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm02CpDCumA
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