cover image The Pirate Girl’s Treasure: 
An Origami Adventure

The Pirate Girl’s Treasure: An Origami Adventure

Peyton Leung, illus. by Hilary Leung. Kids Can, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-55453-660-3

Want to know how to fold an origami T-shirt from a piece of white paper? Want a story to go with your instructions? You’re in luck: first-time author Peyton Leung and his brother Hilary have created a determined, pigtailed hero (referred to throughout as “the pirate girl”) whose grandfather has buried a treasure chest on a desert island and set her on a quest that calls for an origami boat, an origami hat, and an origami cave. Hilary Leung’s (the Ninja Cowboy Bear series) crisp-edged, cheery digital artwork shows each of the origami creations in stark white among the speckled, video-game–like scenery. Even the shark that takes a bite out of the pirate girl’s boat isn’t too scary; the pirate girl bails like crazy and heads for shore (“She had only one thought in mind: I won’t give up on Grandfather’s treasure!”). Literal-minded children will follow the story eagerly, although the ending may inspire some thinking along the lines of “My pirate grandfather sent me across the ocean to find a buried treasure chest, and all I got was this T-shirt.” Ages 4–8. (Apr.)