SuitabookMy Granny Is a Pirate
Val McDermid
- Reading
- Read it aloud first, pausing to enjoy the rhyme and let the child inspect the pictures. If skeletons or pirate features cause concern, name them as make-believe and allow the child to skip or revisit those pages.
- Themes
- Granny in an adventurous role: Granny is presented as a pirate captain-like figure who captures ships, faces danger and uses her handbag against skeleton robbers, before returning to ordinary home life. The comic treatment makes Granny’s adventurous capability central, while her age is part of the humour rather than a restriction.
- Make-believe and family secrets: A boy reveals a family secret that his granny is a pirate, and the story invites the reader to imagine that their own granny might be one too. The framing treats imaginative transformation as playful and inviting, linking extraordinary adventures with familiar family relationships.
- Worth knowing
- The book includes pirate capture, walking the plank, skeletons, treasure conflict and pirate features such as sharp teeth, tattoos, a hook and an eye patch. These are framed as comic fantasy, but reactions may differ.