Do Pirates Take Baths?

Readers learn that pirates eat barnacle stew, scrub their knees with seashells, and dance the hornpipe every afternoon. Even when they seize a ship, they merely tie their captives up with "`good strong rope.'' Lighthearted illustrations add to the vision of jolly sea villains. Caricatures drawn with fluid lines and filled in with sunny acrylics show the men in constant motion. They toss food into their mouths, do cannonball dives into the ocean, and march across the plank to another ship with arm-waving, strutting gusto. Only when they are cozily swaying in their hammocks, dreaming of their mothers, are they still.