Poppy the Pirate Dog

Best-selling author Liz Kessler makes her first foray into early fiction with a funny tale about an aspiring pirate dog who is afraid of boats.

Poppy the dalmatian can’t wait to go on a seaside vacation with her family. And when they tie a skull-and-crossbones scarf around her neck, she’s sure a pirate’s life of adventure on the open seas awaits. But to be a pirate dog, Poppy must find her perfect pirate ship. Unfortunately, boats bob up and down a lot. Waves splash over the side. Strange creatures live in the water. After trying — and failing — to be a brave pirate dog on a fishing boat, a seal-spotting cruise, a pedal boat, and a speedboat, Poppy has almost given up. Will she manage to find her pirate ship before the family heads back home? From New York Times best-selling author Liz Kessler comes a full-color early reader for adventurous young scalawags and their pirate pooches.

Liz Kessler is the author of the beloved Emily Windsnap series, as well as the Philippa Fisher series and the novels A Year Without Autumn and North of Nowhere. She says that Poppy the Pirate Dog is based on her own beautiful dog, Poppy. “After we moved near the ocean, we bought her a skull-and-crossbones scarf,” she says. “But the funny thing is that she’s a bit scared of water, and that was the inspiration behind this story.” Liz Kessler lives in Cornwall, England.

Mike Phillips has been illustrating everything from picture books to the gruesome Horrible Histories series for almost twenty years. He lives in a small fishing village in England with his family and thinks his own dog, who is also named Poppy—believe it or not!—may want to be a pirate dog as well.