I'm Going to be a Pirate! is an original storybook about two sisters. Little Lily describes in detail her plans for a pirate adventure ... but her big sister Amanda is not impressed. Amanda says things like, "You can't be a pirate, you get seasick," trying to ruin her little sister's fun. The ever-exuberant Lily responds to each of Amanda's complaints with irrepressible optimism & creativity.

For instance, when Amanda says Lily can't be a pirate because she doesn't like to eat fish, Lily adds that she'll just bring their mom along to make sandwiches. Page by page, the two girls weave a detailed world of pirate pretend play. And in the end Amanda stops complaining, asking if she can be a pirate too. The magnanimous Lily responds that Amanda can be her 'big pirate sister'.

This sweet digital storybook has a few settings, but they are easy to miss. In fact, I thought the app had no sound at all, at first. All the controls are located in the device's settings, a nice touch that keeps children from changing things accidentally. From this menu you can even record narration, as well as turn on background music.

[Note About Recording: This was one of the easiest apps I've found for recording your own narration. The set up is intuitive and I easily recorded the whole book in just a few minutes. Set the app to 'record your own' for 'narration mode', then open the app and you'll see simple buttons for record, stop & play on each page. After recording every page, close the app and return to the settings to change the narration mode to 'recorded'. The audio quality is good, although without a microphone it does pick up background noise.]

Overall this is a cute story that makes a great bedtime read. It is also notable for being very easy to personalize with a loved one's voice-over. I'm Going to be a Pirate! is above all good storytelling, with a tale that siblings (and parents of siblings) will appreciate. As an app, this book doesn't do a lot to take advantage of the iPad's capabilities, but it does do a great job of bringing an appealing, original picture book to lots of new readers.

All reviews are of the app, not the platform/device. Based originally on iPad versions. Minor technical details may vary.