Captain Sparklebeard, written by Timothy Knapman and illustrated by Sam Lloyd, is a pirate story — with a twist! This picture book celebrates adventure, girl power and following your dreams.

The story begins with elements that relate to a modern fairytale — Peg sweeping the floor and doing the housework for her wicked step-auntie. Peg is a lovely character who is made to do horrible jobs — just like Cinderella. She works hard all day long, but at night Peg reads pirate stories and dreams of escape and adventure.

Then one day, when Peg takes her wicked step-great-grand-auntie’s cat for a walk, she sees that the pirates have come to town. Unfortunately, the pirates won’t let Peg join the crew – because she’s too small, can read books and beardless!

Peg, however, feels determined and she doesn’t want anyone to ruin her chance of escape and adventure. She doesn’t get upset; instead, she comes up with a very clever plan. Back at home, she makes a pirate outfit from curtains and makes herself a big bushy beard out of sparkling jewels.

The next morning, the pirates see a brand new pirate in a ship made out of books — Peg is now Captain Sparklebeard! She then sets out on an adventure to beat the other pirates in finding the long lost treasure…

Lloyd’s illustrations are bright, colourful and fun, full of vibrant primary colours throughout. The illustrations are full of detail and expression.

Captain Sparklebeard is a picture book full of fun, determination and adventure, and tells a very subtle message within the story, about gender stereotypes, girl power and daring to be different. I enjoyed this one and I think lots of young children will also find this book very entertaining and funny too.