Cover Image: Pirate John-Wolf

Pirate John-Wolf

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Member Reviews

'Pirate John-Wolf' by Natalie Quintart with art by Philippe Goossens is the story of a timid young dog (not wolf!) who learns to be brave.

John-Wolf, who looks like a dog to me, gets taken advantage of at school. He's too weak to answer the teacher, or stop his lunch from being stolen. But things are different when he is home alone and he can sing songs about brave pirates. One night, he is kidnapped and taken to a pirate ship of Captain Drake. Captain Drake wants John-Wolf to sing a song about him. Can John-Wolf summon up the courage to keep the pirates happy?

It's an odd story, and one could say that John-Wolf picks an odd time to be courageous. It's the kind of time in the real world that could be pretty dangerous, but this is a world of cartoon animals dressed like pirates, so I guess there is no harm. The illustrations are fun, although I'm still wondering why John-Wolf looks like a dog.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Clavis Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

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Plenty of ominous skull and crossbones wallpaper to start, but the first thing seen is a kinda goofy-looking dog dressed as a pirate while the text tells us about how he always feels weak. The only time he feels strong is when he’s playing and singing in his room. Then he’s whisked away to be a real pirate, where he needs to work on his courage. Luckily the pirate captain needs a musical biographer.
A silly quick story intended to help little ones overcome their fears.

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I’m not going to beat around the bush. I don’t like this book. John-Wolf is a weakling and scared of everything. One day he gets taken by pirates. He becomes bolder upon learning that the pirates can not read, and uses this to become best friend with the captain. Then at school he is no longer a weakling. I find no redemption. No John-wolf gaining strength from using his powers of reading to help others. I see someone who was bullied, becoming a bully himself. I’t not a story I like, or I would put in my library.

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I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgallery for an honest review. over all this book was okay. To be honest my 7 year old got bored while I was reading it. He speed me midway through. I later finished it on my own. It was written well just not very interesting. Though it had pirate so it reamed extra like.

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It was alright. Not my favorite, but it wasn't really bad. I enjoyed the pictures, and the song, but otherwise I didn't really feel anything for this book.

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John-Wolf is a very shy, insecure wolf. He does not talk at school, doesn't answer questions and is afraid and nervous if anyone even looks at him. In his room at home he can sing Pirate songs at the top of his lungs and not be afraid or worried. When he has a marvelous and adventurous dream about being kidnapped by pirates one night, he sings in front of them and has fun. The next morning he goes off to school and has developed some self-confidence. This is a cute book that has a great message. I liked the fact that he learns to overcome his shyness and develop self-confidence on his own, but that is not usually what happens. This would be a good book to use with other things when helping a shy child become more self-condident. The illustrations are great. They are very child-friendly, colourful and fun.

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I wasn't a huge fan of this book but the images are very nice, lovely, bright and clear. For me the ending was much better than the start and wasn't too much of a fan of some of the scenes in between. 3 stars for the image quality alone.

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Cute book for readers who have fears of their own. The artwork creatively depicted the story and John Wolf's adventures with the pirates as he mustered his bravery. Thank you for the copy.

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This was absolutely adorable! I loved the story, the message behind it, and the art. I had a great time reading it.

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Thank you.
Enjoyed it.
Will purchase copies for family and friends.

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The illustrations are beautiful add to the story without distracting from the message. My children (ages 5 and 7) loved it. The similes were...different, I had a hard time staying on track because of them. My kids thought they were funny though Ex: "John-Wolf feels as weak as a custard bun with strawberries", "John-Wolf felt as weak as a lump of toothpaste", "...as weak as the meat in the sausage".

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I got bored with “Pirate John-Wolf" and the font changes were distracting and didn’t contribute to the story.

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Unfortunately this was my least favourite read in a while, I can't exactly pinpoint what it is that put me off the most but I know that the use of words such as weakling, hard as nails and talking about kidnapping. These words were a little harsh in my opinion and kidnapping may scare young children.
I do believe that there is great potential in the book and the illustrations are lovely and full of colour and imagination.

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A cute story about John-Wolf learning to find his confidence when he is overcome by feelings of weakness. I think the illustrations go well with the text, through the songs he sings could flow a little better (the meter is off a bit, making them hard to actually sing." I do love that he finds confidence through writing and music, thus teaching kids that the arts are a great way to express yourself, even if you never share it with others like John Wolf. The pirate theme will always go over well with young kids, and think that this one would be a great addition to a pirate themed story time here at my library. Also--the end pages are super cute!

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