Book Review: Small Saul by Ashley Spires, illustrated by Tara Walker

Book: Small Saul
Author: Ashley Spires
Illustrator: Tara Walker
Published: 2011
Source: Local Library

Saul loves the sea, but it doesn’t love him back. He’s a little too neat and clean and, well, nice to be a proper pirate. So the captain pushes him overboard. (He is a pirate. It’s just something they do.) But they soon start to miss the freshly scrubbed decks, the yummy lemon cakes, and most all, the bandaids during battle. Is it too late to get Small Saul back?

Kids will giggle over the text and the pictures, which are jam-packed with silly details (his Pirate College Diploma says “You ARRR a pirate.” HA!) Both sweet and tongue-in-cheek, this is a book for everyone who’s been a square peg in a round hole, and unexpectedly found that’s where they were meant to be.