The Pirate's Parrot

Long John Silver meets Winnie-the-Pooh in this goofy yarn by an author-and-illustrator team making their children's book debut. The high-seas shenanigans start when Captain Cur, who wears an eyepatch on one eye and a monocle on the other, loses his eyepiece and his parrot. Cur sends his first and second mates, Spittleton and Loot, to filch a new eyepiece and a new bird, but the mischievous Loot hides the replacement monocle and gives Cur a golden-brown stuffed bear for his shoulder. Cur's crew chortles at the sight of the unknowing captain and his plush toy (humorously nicknamed ""Barr""), but the teddy takes piracy seriously and earns the respect of the scalawag bunch. While Barr is original, the pirates themselves are a stereotypical lot of snaggletoothed misfits, and the overlong text depends on clich . Stuffed-animal lovers may give this tale a hearty har har, but others may tire of the coy characterizations (""I'm a walking, talking teddy,"" Barr declares) and the distended, one-joke plot. Ages 5-7. (Apr.)