100 books like Henry & the Crazed Chicken Pirates

By Carolyn Crimi, John Manders (illustrator),

Here are 100 books that Henry & the Crazed Chicken Pirates fans have personally recommended if you like Henry & the Crazed Chicken Pirates. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of How I Became a Pirate

Diana Murray Author Of Unicorn Day: A Magical Kindness Book for Children

From my list on children’s books for talk like a pirate day.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the author of over twenty books for children, including National Bestseller Unicorn Day and the sequel, Unicorn Night: Sleep Tight, as well as Help Mom Work From Home!, Goodnight Veggies (a Jr. Library Guild Selection), and One Snowy Day. My poems have appeared in many anthologies and children’s magazines, such as Highlights and Spider. I grew up in New York City and still live nearby with my firefighter husband, two children, and a dancing dog.

Diana's book list on children’s books for talk like a pirate day

Diana Murray Why did Diana love this book?

This book seems to make many “best pirate book” lists, and with good reason. It’s full of fun pirate phrases and songs, has a refrain that encourages audience participation, and has a great underlying message that is subtly delivered through the main character’s own kid perspective. Although being a cantankerous pirate seems like fun, the relatable main character eventually realizes that the pirates’ rule-free lifestyle has some negatives (such as green teeth due to not brushing) and decides for himself that maybe he doesn’t want to be a pirate after all.

By Melinda Long, David Shannon (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How I Became a Pirate as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this New York Times bestseller illustrated by Caldecott Honor–winning illustrator David Shannon, a boy sets off on a pirate adventure—with surprising results!

When Braid Beard’s pirate crew invites Jeremy Jacob to join their voyage, he jumps right on board. Buried treasure, sea chanteys, pirate curses—who wouldn’t go along?

Soon Jeremy Jacob knows all about being a pirate. He throws his food across the table and his manners to the wind. He hollers like thunder and laughs off bedtime. It’s the heave-ho, blow-the-man-down, very best time of his life. But then Jeremy Jacob finds out what pirates don’t do. .…


Book cover of Pirate's Perfect Pet

Diana Murray Author Of Unicorn Day: A Magical Kindness Book for Children

From my list on children’s books for talk like a pirate day.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the author of over twenty books for children, including National Bestseller Unicorn Day and the sequel, Unicorn Night: Sleep Tight, as well as Help Mom Work From Home!, Goodnight Veggies (a Jr. Library Guild Selection), and One Snowy Day. My poems have appeared in many anthologies and children’s magazines, such as Highlights and Spider. I grew up in New York City and still live nearby with my firefighter husband, two children, and a dancing dog.

Diana's book list on children’s books for talk like a pirate day

Diana Murray Why did Diana love this book?

Kids will enjoy the captain's search for the perfect pet and all the "commotion" the pirates cause wherever they go, "as good pirates should". A visit to the zoo lets the captain cross "peg leg" off his pirate checklist, thanks to a lion (the scene is handled in a humorous way without being scary). And the "poop deck" pun at the end (naughty parrot!) is sure to have everyone laughing

By Beth Ferry, Matt Myers (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Pirate's Perfect Pet as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

Ahoy! Pirates, pets, and puns run amok as a sea captain takes off on a mad search for the perfect animal sidekick.

Big, brave Captain Crave can check off most items on the Perfect Pirate checklist. He has a pirate ship, an eye patch, courage and daring, and more. Only one thing is missing: Captain Crave doesn't have a pet. Arrr! Shuck me an oyster and set sail for land! The captain and his crew race and chase critters of every size and shape, from the beach to a farm to the zoo to a pet shop, causing a commotion…


Book cover of Pirasaurs!

Diana Murray Author Of Unicorn Day: A Magical Kindness Book for Children

From my list on children’s books for talk like a pirate day.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the author of over twenty books for children, including National Bestseller Unicorn Day and the sequel, Unicorn Night: Sleep Tight, as well as Help Mom Work From Home!, Goodnight Veggies (a Jr. Library Guild Selection), and One Snowy Day. My poems have appeared in many anthologies and children’s magazines, such as Highlights and Spider. I grew up in New York City and still live nearby with my firefighter husband, two children, and a dancing dog.

Diana's book list on children’s books for talk like a pirate day

Diana Murray Why did Diana love this book?

With bouncy rhyming text (extra points for the unique rhyme scheme!), this one makes for a fun read-aloud. Pirates and dinos are a winning combination and it’s a nice touch that Captain Rex is female. The main character is a small dino that kids will relate to and root for, and there is a nice underlying message of cooperation.

By Josh Funk, Michael H. Slack (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Pirasaurs! as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

We're Pirasaurs! We're Pirasaurs!
We rule the open seas!
We'll cannon-blast you to the past! 
We do just what we please!

Meet the Pirasaurs, a ragtag team of seasoned pirate dinosaurs looking for adventure and treasure! There's fearsome Captain Rex, golden-toothed Velocimate, one-eyed Bronto Beard, and more fearsome, buccaneering beasts....as well as one new recruit who may be small, but who's eager to prove he can learn the ropes and find his place on the team.

But when a trap is set upon the Pirasaurs while looking for buried treasure, it's up to the littlest recruit to show the team…


Book cover of Pirate Mom

Diana Murray Author Of Unicorn Day: A Magical Kindness Book for Children

From my list on children’s books for talk like a pirate day.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am the author of over twenty books for children, including National Bestseller Unicorn Day and the sequel, Unicorn Night: Sleep Tight, as well as Help Mom Work From Home!, Goodnight Veggies (a Jr. Library Guild Selection), and One Snowy Day. My poems have appeared in many anthologies and children’s magazines, such as Highlights and Spider. I grew up in New York City and still live nearby with my firefighter husband, two children, and a dancing dog.

Diana's book list on children’s books for talk like a pirate day

Diana Murray Why did Diana love this book?

This hilarious story is an early reader rather than a picture book, and it’s a great example of a children’s book that will also entertain adults. Pete’s conservative, well-mannered mom gets turned into a pirate by a hypnotist. Then she proceeds to fly a jolly roger flag over their house, tries to fight a neighbor, steals underwear off the clothesline, and screams at the PTA to “Give me yer loot!” It’s incredibly funny to see the extreme transformation and all the trouble that Pirate Mom causes when she is in a trance.

By Deborah Underwood, Stephen Gilpin (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Pirate Mom as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 6, 7, and 8.

What is this book about?

Join Pete, whose mom has been hypnotized to believe she's actually a pirate, on his adventure to get his mom to remember who she really is!

Yo ho ho! Pete loves pirates, but his mom thinks they are rude and messy. Then Pete and his mom go to see the Amazing Marco, and Marco hypnotizes Pete’s mom into thinking she’s a pirate! Now Pete’s mom won’t behave. She chases the neighbors. She steals underwear off other people’s clotheslines. She’s even flying the Jolly Roger over the house. Pete has to find the Amazing Marco. He wants his real mom back!


Book cover of Mad Kestrel

Monica Hahn Author Of Tales of Tibercon: The Princess and the Pirate

From my list on pirates you’ll fall in love with.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always had a soft spot for pirates. The romanticized version, of course. They epitomize everything I want in a story: adventure, romance, humor, drama, and danger.  As for my life story, I’ve traveled around the world (22 countries in 3 months), am married (got it right the second time), find something to laugh at every day (myself, usually), have a five-year-old (plenty of drama), and the most danger I’ve ever been in was climbing into the bed of a pick-up truck to avoid a grizzly bear and her cub at 3:00 A.M. in Alaska.  

Monica's book list on pirates you’ll fall in love with

Monica Hahn Why did Monica love this book?

In a world where having any powers could get you exploited or killed, Kestrel has managed to successfully hide her magical abilities and find a pirate captain willing to take her on as part of his crew. When the captain is taken, though, Kestrel vows to repay his mentorship by rescuing him, and to do that she needs McAvery as a bargaining chip. Even when McAvery isn’t stealing ships, he’s annoying. Kestrel doesn’t trust him, and needing his help was never part of her plan.  

A fast-paced, enjoyable read.

By Misty Massey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mad Kestrel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In a world where infants with magical powers are torn from their parents to be raised by the mysterious and powerful Danisoba, who have a monopoly on magic, Kestrel has managed to keep her abilities concealed-and herself free. First hiding in back alleys as a street urchin, she hid when they killed her parents, then served as a young tavern maid before escaping to sea, where magic is canceled by water. Now an adult, as the quartermaster of a pirate ship, Kestrel loves the freedom of living on the seas. But her way of life could end if anyone on…


Book cover of Pirates

Virginia Chandler Author Of The Devil's Treasure: The Complete Tale

From my list on pirates, history, and legend.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m not a real pirate, at least not most of the time, but as a kid, I wanted to be one. I was firmly in love with the romantic “Robin Hood” type legends of the pirate kings. As an adult, the love for all things pirate became a fascination with the pirate archetype, pirate history, and pirate legend. But, honestly, for me, it’s the mystery. There are so many mysteries involving pirates: Where did they hide their treasure? Was there a secret pirate kingdom called Libertalia? Were there pirate curses? This prompted me to research and write The Devil’s Treasure, inspired by the need to know, the need to solve, the need to conquer. 

Virginia's book list on pirates, history, and legend

Virginia Chandler Why did Virginia love this book?

This is a beautifully illustrated and well-presented book that covers everything pirate from slang to weapons. It’s a gorgeous book, cover to cover, with detailed pirate history and fun pirate myths. This one is an easier read with beautiful illustrations and memorabilia. This title absolutely belongs on ye olde pirate bookshelf.

By John Matthews,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Pirates as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 6, 7, 8, and 9.

What is this book about?

Ever wanted to be a pirate? Sign the contract that comes with this book and you'll be ready to sail the high seas. There's even a pirate slang dictionary, to help you talk the talk as you walk the plank. With detailed biographies of legendary pirates plus features on their weapons, codes of conduct and punishments, Pirates delivers a thrilling portrait of life at sea in a bygone age - a story rich in colour, intrigue and adventure. Documents include a guide to pirate weaponry, a guide to their bloodthirsty flags, wanted posters, and the grisly notice of a death…


Book cover of Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age

Len Travers Author Of The Notorious Edward Low: Pursuing the Last Great Villain of Piracy's Golden Age

From my list on curing you of DPS (Disney Pirate Syndrome).

Why am I passionate about this?

Let's face it: pirates of the Golden Age are just cool. No one would actually want to encounter them, but they have been the stuff of escapist dreams since childhood. Adventure, fellowship, treasure–the “romantic” aspects of piracy are what make these otherwise nasty individuals anti-heroes par excellence. As an adult and academic and as an occasional crewman on square riggers, I adopted pirates as a favorite sub-set of maritime history. As with other aspects of the past, I view the history of pirates and piracy as really two narratives: what the records tell us happened and why and what our persistent fascination with them reveals about us.

Len's book list on curing you of DPS (Disney Pirate Syndrome)

Len Travers Why did Len love this book?

I first read Rediker’s work as a graduate student, and from the first pages, I was “hooked.”

Want to understand what made pirates tick? In this book, pirates are recast not as violent, unthinking brutes but as ordinary, sea-going laboring men driven to lawlessness by the brutal demands of expanding Atlantic trade.

I especially appreciated Rediker’s situating pirate behavior and customs within the broader world of maritime life. He argues that these outlawed men created a floating society that was then the most egalitarian and democratic in the Western world.

By Marcus Rediker,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Villains of All Nations as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Pirates have long been stock figures in popular culture, from Treasure Island to the more recent antics of Jack Sparrow. Villains of all Nations unearths the thrilling historical truth behind such fictional characters and rediscovers their radical democratic challenge to the established powers of the day.


Book cover of Doctor Dogbody's Leg (Heart of Oak Sea Classics Series)

John Leonard Pielmeier Author Of Hook's Tale: Being the Account of an Unjustly Villainized Pirate Written by Himself

From my list on pirates and children.

Why am I passionate about this?

Peter Pan was the first book I remember being read to me when I was four. At the age of thirty-two, I discovered the real J.M. Barrie. I read everything I could of Barrie’s and even wrote a one-person play about him. This led me to discover R.L. Stevenson, Treasure Island, and the world of (fictional) pirates. On a visit my wife and I made to Robinson Crusoe Island, I came to believe (through deductive logic and vivid imagination) that this was the three-dimensional embodiment of Neverland. Barrie always envisioned himself as Hook, and though I longed to be Peter, I fear that my soul was a pirate’s soul. Hence Hook’s Tale. 

John's book list on pirates and children

John Leonard Pielmeier Why did John love this book?

This book is about neither pirates nor children, but it belongs on a list about pirates and children nonetheless. It’s certainly a book that children aged eight to eighty (or older) can enjoy, and because the protagonist is a one-legged seaman (Doctor Dogbody) who embodies the spirit of a one-legged pirate (Long John Silver) and a one-handed pirate (Captain James Hook) it deserves mention. Doctor Dogbody is a ship’s surgeon who likes his tipple, and when he’s drained his pint (or two or three) he is happy to tell the tale of how he lost his leg. And every time he tells the tale it’s a completely different saga, each saga more preposterous than the last. This is a laugh-out-loud book which I first discovered via the recommendation of a mountaineer, who would read each chapter aloud to his tent-mates at night while marooned in a snowstorm on the…

By James N. Hall,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Doctor Dogbody's Leg (Heart of Oak Sea Classics Series) as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ripping sea yarns from the creator of Mutiny on the Bounty.

James Norman Hall is best known as the co-author of the classic Bounty trilogy. In his later years, his favorite work was writing the tales spun by Dr. Dogbody, a peg-legged old salt who never lets the truth get in the way of a good story. Doctor Dogbody's tales vividly recreate the Napoleonic Wars, and delight with broad comedy, rollicking naval adventure, and characters that will live on in the reader's memory.


Book cover of Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates

David Poxon Author Of Watercolour, Heart & Soul

From my list on art influences.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a 5-year-old boy, I was given a tin of watercolour paints by my Grandmother. I had no idea how to use them, and there was no one around to teach me. I had to find my own way. Around the same time I was taken on a day trip to London, where we visited the Tate Gallery. It was there that I was confronted for the first time by the magnificent paintings of J.M.W.Turner. My love for art was ignited. I became a serious student of art, and although I have had to make a living in the world like everyone else, art became my go-to therapy for relief and recreation.

David's book list on art influences

David Poxon Why did David love this book?

On a day trip to Cambridge UK I was in an old book store. I could not believe my good fortune when I spotted an old-worn book entitled Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates. I realised immediately that Pyle was the art teacher of N.C.Wyeth, the styles of the 2 are interchangeable. This book contains numerous Pirate stories, which Pyle wrote himself. Obviously the text is now very antiquated, but there are numerous illustrations illustrating Pirate battles and adventure. Pyle wrote and taught art in the late 19th Century. Any student of the Wyeth’s should check him out.

By Howard Pyle,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

Pirates, Buccaneers, Marooners, those cruel but picturesque sea wolves who once infested the Spanish Main, all live in present-day conceptions in great degree as drawn by the pen and pencil of Howard Pyle….It is improbable that anyone else will ever bring his combination of interest and talent to the depiction of these old-time Pirates, any more than there could be a second Remington to paint the now extinct Indians and gun-fighters of the Great West.


Book cover of Crimson Rapture

Regan Walker Author Of Summer Warrior

From my list on pirate sea stories.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an author of romantic historical fiction and a book reviewer of more than 1,000 books. I also have a blog: Historical Romance Review. I love deep historicals—both my own and those written by others--that bring history and realistic love stories to life. Adventure and love on the high seas is my favorite setting.

Regan's book list on pirate sea stories

Regan Walker Why did Regan love this book?

Set at the dawn of the Regency era, the story begins on a British naval vessel on its way to Australia, transporting a famous prisoner—American privateer, Justin Phillips—as well as civilian passengers, including shy, 17-year old Christina Marks, in mourning for her father’s death and going to live with her uncle.

Justin and Christina share a love for books and ideas but are terribly different personalities. Were it not for the unusual circumstances in which the shy, unselfish girl speaks through a small window to a prisoner she can’t see, they never would have formed the bond they did. 

Horsman has brilliantly crafted this tale of a sheltered vicar’s daughter and a hardened man. Despite all against them, the two fall quickly and desperately in love.

By Jennifer Horsman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Crimson Rapture as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Kidnapped by pirates, Christina falls in love with their leader, the handsome captain, Justin Phillips


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