Dirty Joe, the Pirate: A True Story (LIBRARY EDITION) »

Dubbed "the Mark Twain of contemporary kids' music" by Entertainment Weekly, singer, songwriter, and storyteller Bill Harley has entertained children and their parents for more than twenty years as an award-winning performer and a commentator for NPR's All Things Considered. In addition to recording many award-winning albums for kids, he is also the author of Dear Santa: The Letters of James B. Dobbins, illustrated by R. W. Alley.

Mr. Harley performs onstage around the country and lives in Massachusetts. A version of this tale appears on his Grammy Award-winning album Blah Blah Blah: Stories about Clams, Swamp Monsters, Pirates & Dogs.

The dreaded Dirty Joe and his piratical crew sail in search of the smelliest treasure ever: dirty socks! The rogues cheerfully pillage their way across the seven seas, until the day they run across another band of pirates—one led by the notorious Stinky Annie. Has Dirty Joe finally met his match?

From Grammy Award–winning storyteller Bill Harley and bestselling illustrator Jack E. Davis comes a zany, tongue-twisting, side-splitting tale certain to be prized by budding buccaneers!

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2- This book has everything to attract kids and tickle their funny bones-pirates, smelly socks, and, best of all, undies! In rollicking rhyme, Harley tells of a "cruel and evil man" who sails the seven seas with his crew, stealing dirty socks to hang proudly on the ship's rigging. But Dirty Joe meets his match when he comes upon Stinky Annie and her all-female crew, buccaneers who specialize in pilfering and displaying undergarments: "Boxers big and boxers small, with stripes and polka dots,/And tighty-whities hung there too, like the ones your grandpa's got." After a battle fought with swords, toasters, tennis rackets, and whatever else comes to hand, the barefoot women prevail and, in a heartfelt and humorous moment, Joe and Annie discover that they are siblings. That doesn't stop Annie from taking Joe's drawers, leading to a last-page bemoaning of the fact that older sisters hold a lifelong upper hand. Davis's balloon-headed, goofy characters are just right for the tale. The chaotic full-color pictures are jam-packed with pirates and dirty laundry. The crews, dressed in a hilarious mishmash of styles, will have readers poring over the pages to spot amusing details. Even kids who aren't pirate fans will be wooed and wowed by this rib-tickling tale.-Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha Public Library, WI