Dare to Explore Booklists - Pirates, Mermaids and Go Aqua

One of the challenges in the Go Aqua set is to read a Pirate or a Mermaid book. Luckily we have heaps here at the libraries, as well as lots of other books about the sea and water sports.

Pirate Underpants! By Tom Easton and Matt Buckingham. One of the books from the Poor Pirates start reading series.
Captain Flint is in a bad mood. His ship (The Stuck Pig) is too slow to catch any ships because it sails are full of holes. He comes up with a plan that gives him patched up sails but leaves his crew in their underpants. But are they fast enough to catch up with the treasure on the Spanish Galleon. A lively funny tale for first readers.

The fierce little woman and the wicked pirate by Joy Cowley was one of my favourite picture books from last year when the original 1984 story was reissued with wonderful new illustrations. The little woman is fierce and fiesty and the pirate is wicked. But he does need something from the little woman. A true kiwi classic.

The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson is a forever favourite and has been adapted many times. So the story of a little mermaid who is prepared to give up life under the sea for the love of a prince on land is often available in different formats (picture book, children's fiction, fairy tale anthology and DVD) in the library.

The Deep End by Ursula Dubosarsky and Mitch Vane. One of the Aussie Nibbles readers
I can still vaguely remember learning to swim at school. Although we had a deep end, we could still touch the bottom and stand up in it. I’m sure if we had a deep end over my head when I was learning to swim, that I would be just a little bit scared about jumping in. Read how Becky overcomes her fear and her pride when she achieves her goal. Although not strictly a mermaid book, learning to swim is the first step to finding your inner-mermaid. This is an easy to read first chapter book with simple text and illustrations, well spaced out to help the new reader.

Check out the Dare to Explore... Go Aqua pages on our website for some more things to do in the water this summer (we didn't include things to do out in the rain - but why not put on your gumboots and raincoat, take mum and dad and go splash in some puddles) and check out our Dare to Explore Booklists for more ideas of water books to read.