Jake and the Never Land Pirates Birthday Bash by Melissa LaRose

Title: Jake and the Never Land Pirates Birthday Bash
Author: Melissa LaRose
Genre: Picture Book, Fiction, Fantasy
Reading Level: Ages 3 to 5


Jake and the Never Land Pirates Birthday Bash is about Jake's birthday celebration.  In the book, his friends along with Captain Hook and his crew enjoy a variety of activities as they follow a special birthday treasure map around Never Land.

It is interesting how this book shows Captain Hook being part of the "fun" from the beginning.  At times he is reluctant participant and he ends up not seeing them as fun with him often ending up in bad situations such as with the crocodile or a crab.  This confirms his hate for birthday parties and near the end it is revealed he partly already hated them because no one ever came to his.  This leads to a friendly gesture by Jake to declare the birthday bash for both Hook and him.

Jake and the Neverland Pirates Birthday Bash would make a good read for birthdays.  It is also a reasonably long picture book with about 30 pages and at least a paragraph of text per page.  The little tidbits from Skully in the bottom corners also add to the depth of the book, especially the clever jokes which may need explaining for some kids to get them.

Types of Readers Book Might Appeal To & Multiple Intelligence Categories

• Fans of Jake and the Never Land Pirates
• Those that like treasure hunts/maps may enjoy the plot of following the birthday map to activities and ultimately ending up at a big birthday bash on Pirate Island.
• The detailed illustrations that not only show the actions of the different activities along the way make it more appealing to visual learners as well as those that are not fluent text readers, yet. (Spatial-Visual)

Activities for Further Learning and Fun

• Jake and the Never Land Pirates Birthday - This part of the show's Disney Junior website for grown-ups has ideas for doing your own pirate themed birthday party.
• Jake and the Never Land Pirates Printables - This part of the show's Disney Junior website has some printable projects and coloring pages.
• Pirate Birthday Counting Worksheets
• Watch the Jake's Birthday Bash Episode

Related Books I've Reviewed

• Jake and the Never Land Pirates: The Croc Takes the Cake - This a picture reading book about Hook's birthday for emergent readers.
• Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Jake Hatches a Plan - This is another picture reading book for emergent readers.  This one is about helping out hummingbirds.

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