This Pirate Needs Your Help! (A Draw & Erase Adventure)

"Engage[s] young readers from the first page . . . sparking creativity and a sense of mastery."

David Rochelle is an award-winning author-illustrator who knows how to engage young readers from the first page. The clever premise of this book is that the reader is co-author and co-illustrator, drawing elements on each page that can change the plot. The cover rightly gives readers credit for their creativity, reading "By David LaRochelle and YOU."

The story is simple: a pirate is looking for buried treasure. Readers are invited to draw themselves into the adventure and to solve problems by drawing the solution.

"Arrgh! Your first duty is to get rid of these hungry sharks! Draw something tasty for them to eat and maybe they'll leave us alone."

The child could draw hamburgers or ice cream cones or something else entirely, such as a sea monster that eats the sharks. A later page introduces a different obstacle.

"Land ho!

But look at that scurvy sea serpent guarding the island!

Can you draw a monster that's even bigger and scarier? If you frighten away this overgrown worm, I'll steer us safely to shore."

Again, the reader can draw their own fierce monster or come up with a different visual solution. Maybe a dozen donuts tempt the sea serpent away. Maybe a bunch of crabs pinch it all over. There are an infinite number of possibilities.

The last page of the book invites the reader to draw the discovered treasure, "anything you'd like." This offers readers a chance to make their wishes come true, drawing whatever they've been craving, from a cookie to a rocket ship. The only limits are their imagination and the space of the page.

Each time the book is read, the child is invited to complete the story in a different way, sparking creativity and a sense of mastery. Everyone can write a children's book, so long as they have someone like LaRochelle steering the ship.