By Neil Gaiman
Mom and Dad go out for the evening and leave a pirate in charge, and he cooks up a pot of pirate stew.
When Mom and Dad need a babysitter, they get Long John McRon, Ship's Cook, and his entire pirate crew rolls up in a ship on wheels to look after two children for the night. Instead of anything sensible for tea, Long John makes his famous Pirate Stew, and the moment you eat it the night goes gloriously, magically sideways: doughnuts on parade, a wild ride through the stars, pirates everywhere. It's Neil Gaiman doing rollicking rhyme and Chris Riddell doing gorgeous, swashbuckling pictures, and it gallops from start to finish with a nudge-and-wink ending when the grown-ups come home hungry.
Your child likes their stories a little bonkers, and this is the pirate book for them. It doesn't have a tidy plot so much as a runaway rhythm, and it trusts a child to just ride the rhyme and the wild imagery wherever it goes. It reads aloud like a song, Riddell's art rewards slowing down and poring over every corner, and the whole thing is warm and safe under all the mayhem. A lovely pick for a pirate fan who also loves a bedtime read that feels like a dream.