Pirates Don't Say Please! - Tapa dura

"Arrrrgh!" says pirate Billy Nelson as he's sent to the brig-to his room without lunch-for bringing his ruthless manners to the table. "Pirates don't wash their hands," he declares before walking the plank to his dungeon with a plundered chicken leg.

Billy learns the cost of his scallywag habits when Mom asks him to leave his pirate behavior behind and return to being her polite son. While in his room, Billy goes on an imaginary journey. Marooned by Elephant for not saying "thank you," he is refused a ride to his treasure by the ship's captain for not saying "please."

Billy finds the buried booty on his own, but not before his tummy starts to grumble. Suddenly, this swashbuckling adventurer realizes being polite is more valuable than all the loot one sailor could plunder! With his hands washed and his jewels left behind, Billy trades his grubby ways for the manners of a prince just in time for dinner. After all, "a prince always says please."

Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and has authored more than thirty-five books, including Pelican's Cowgirl Alphabet; I Know a Librarian Who Chewed on a Word; Nana's Rice Pie; Red, White, and Blue; Why Cowboys Need a Brand; Why Cowboys Need a Pardner; and Why Cowgirls Are Such Sweet Talkers. Her best-selling children's book Why Cowboys Sleep with Their Boots On, also published by Pelican, won the Premier Print Award from Eastman Kodak. An international speaker, Knowlton loves kicking back on her ranch, Roots 'n Wings.

Adrian Tans, a five-time Vermont state snow-sculpting champ and a native of Boston, is an accomplished painter and illustrator. He is the illustrator of Pelican's The Emperor's Army, Kick the Cowboy, Pirate Treasure Hunt!, and Witches' Night Before Halloween. Tans lives with his wife and children in Woodstock, Vermont.