Pirate Girl by Cornelia Funke and Kerstin Meyer (Chicken House Books)

When a young girl sails off to visit her grandmother in her sturdy little pirate boat, she has no idea of the adventures in store for her. Kidnapped by the meanest, scurviest bunch of pirates to sail the seven seas, led by the nefarious Captain Firebeard, poor Molly must fend for herself.

But she's a resourceful girl, and as she slips messages into empty rum bottles and drops them over the side of the pirate's ship, she hatches a plan of rescue and retaliation.

Cornelia Funke and Kerstin Meyer have spun together the perfect tale of a brave young pirate girl and her triumphant revenge on a rather nasty bunch of piratical coves. If your children are anything like my daughter, they'll have a fascination with the slightly naughty antics of pirates, and of course the genius of putting children central to the roles normally inhabited by adults is that kids immediately identify with Molly and absolutely love what happens as the book draws to a close. As ever, no spoilers, and though it's a theme we've seen a lot before, it's still great to see Funke and Meyer's treatment of it.

Molly rocks!

Charlotte's best bit: The end of the book and what happens to Captain Firebeard and his nasty crew. Also, as ever, she couldn't stop saying "Molly is me! Molly is me!"

Daddy's favourite bit: Simple ink illustrations beautifully coloured to bring the book to vibrant life.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars