Who Stole My Leg?

PreS-Gr 1–When Captain Grislygrin walks the deck of his ship, “the clonk, clonk, clonk” of his wooden leg makes his crew scream with fear. One night, a brave cabin girl sneaks into Grislygrin’s cabin and steals his peg leg. She replaces it with a rubber duck. “Q-u-a-a-a-a-c-k,” squeaks the rubber duck at the end of his leg, and an angry Grislygrin shouts, “Who stole my leg?” Each night after that, a brave cabin girl or boy sneaks into the Captain’s cabin and replaces his peg leg with either a bouncing spring, a hairy dog, or a pencil. With his pencil leg, Captain Grisygrin is transformed into a happy, grinning pirate, who “drew and wrote stories and adventures of enormous whales and hidden treasures.” Subsequently, the happy cabin children beg Captain Grislygrin “to take long walks on the deck so they could listen to his wonderful pirate tales.” Sierra works with pencils and graphite to illustrate the text, outline the characters, and draw the full-page, primary-colored illustrations of rolling sea waves and shipboard scenes. Her cartoonish characters are a perfect match for the lighthearted plot. This engaging, uniquely funny story provides children with a creative outlet for their fears.