The High-Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate - by Scott Nash

Have you ever found yourself wishing for a rollicking old-fashioned pirate story... in which the characters are all BIRDS?  Probably not, but this story may change your mind.

Blue Jay is a demanding captain of a flying pirate ship in a land which seems to be filled with all birds.  When his crew captures a giant egg, they think it is pure treasure... until it turns out to be a goose.  Luckily, geese are considered near-gods in the bird world (Birdlandia), but unfortunately, this particular gosling quickly outgrows Blue Jay's ship, but cannot yet fly. However, when the pirates find themselves at the sword-point of a nasty gang of crows, their goose may not be cooked after all.

With interesting characters, including a star-nosed mole and a number of feisty little warrior birds, a unique story line and incredible drawings by the author, this is definitely an interesting and unusual adventure and an enjoyable book.  The problem is the target audience: The language may be a little advanced for the kiddos who may be most likely to pick up this book, and the ideal audience of middle-grade readers may think bird pirates are too silly, or may recognize the author as a regular on the picture-book circuit for younger readers.  It's a story worth anyone's time, though, as long as that reader has a sense of adventure!