Swap!

Complementing the smart artwork is a smart story: you don't have to have a pocket full of gold to get by; wits often work just as well. Though the boy's peg leg immediately conjures hoary old pirate tropes, these are honest, hard-working tars, and it's a positive delight to see a disabled boy depicted as an equal participant in the economy.

Though the story is told through very little text, the mathematics inherent to each exchange extends to older readers. If they trade four of their six oars, how many should be left? These questions are not explicitly asked, but the illustrations always bear out the answers. The result is a delightful adventure with a sweet underlying message, and the treasure maps that grace the end papers are a perfect final touch.

A small sailor boy with a knitted cap, friendly smile, and wooden leg spies a dejected sea captain whose dilapidated boat needs an overhaul. Lit with inspiration, the boy swaps a button off the captain's coat for two teacups, then the teacups for three coils of rope: "Swap!" The exchanges continue in brief, telegraphic sentences punctuated by calls of "Swap!" (a good spot for children to chime in). Light (Have You Seen My Monster?) explores the logic of barter as the friends leverage excess items for things they really need: "One flag for three anchors. Swap! Two anchors for nine sails. Swap!" The boy, the captain, and their acquisitions appear in color while the finely detailed backgrounds are left in black and white (other than the bright blue of the sea). The boy's wooden leg is a physical difference that isn't remarked upon and doesn't hinder him from doing what he likes, and the fact that it's the boy who comes up with the plan is satisfying, too. Light's story will leave readers with much to think about. Ages 3-7. Agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt Agency. (Feb.)

Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

PreS-Gr 1--As he did in Have You Seen My Dragon? (2014) and Have You Seen My Monster? (2015, both Candlewick), Light brings his exceptional talent and clever storytelling to young pirate lovers and fans of all things nautical. A loose button is the creative spark that sets a down-on-his-luck sailor and his best mate on a swapping spree throughout some busy port islands, trading and profitting from the castoffs of others to refurbish their ship and make it seaworthy once again. Their barters include "two coils of rope for six oars." They then trade away two of the oars for four flags, then one flag for three anchors, and so on. Light's trademark sharp black line cartoon drawings are endlessly interesting in themselves yet have just enough pops of color to highlight the protagonists, their loot, and the deep blue sea. The repeated refrain of "SWAP!" affords the opportunity for interaction, and the easily counted items provide some math activity and build anticipation of seeing the fully re-rigged vessel. Several pages of sequential panels assist the minimal text in telling this engaging story of ingenuity and resilience. VERDICT A fun-filled swapfest for salty dogs and landlubbers alike.--Luann Toth, School Library Journal

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

The limited, repetitive text will be a boon to beginning readers, and the unusual deployment of limited swaths of matte color to accent the sea, the protagonists, and their trades will invite older viewers to consider how color guides the eye across a spread.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Faintly reminiscent in its cheerful preposterousness to Bob Gill's "A Balloon for a Blunderbuss" (1961), Mr. Light's tale features airy pen-and-ink illustrations that are brightly pigmented in only a few places—so readers ages 4-8 may want to keep the book away from their younger siblings, lest they be tempted to color in it.
—The Wall Street Journal