Great fun listen!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest feedback.

This book reminded me of a cross between “The Cat in the Hat” and some ofJeremy Strong’s books about pirates. The narration was full of variety and the descriptions were wonderful. The quirkiness was similar to the books mentioned above along with the absent parents and responsible children, all wonderful plot devices. Initially I thought the recipe for Pirate Stew was an inventive method to get children to eat vegetables, but I should have realised that was not the intention. I listened to this by myself but would love to hear children responding to it. I am sure there would be plenty of laughter and opportunities to create the stew themselves.

Gaiman has an amazing way of creating a fun adventure of a book with rhythm and rhyme. The ending was a lot of fun too!

I listened to the audiobook which was thoroughly engaging and an amazing way to enjoy Gaiman's book as he perfectly brings the characters to life.

Wonderfully whimsical! Full of Gaiman's trademark humour and quirk, my kids were transfixed with this one a recent drive.

This was a very cute and fun short story. Young children would really love listening to this. In addition to bring a talented author, Neil Gaiman is an excellent narrator.

This is a very fun and short audiobook all about what happens when two children get a pirate as a babysitter! ‘Pirate Stew’ is just ten minutes long and is a great and silly story with lots of fun rhyming. The audiobook is narrated by the author and this adds a lot to the overall fun feel of the tale. The story is told from the point of view of one of the two children, a brother and sister who don’t want to be babysat when their parents go out for the evening. But their parents have already arranged for a babysitter, and when he arrives he looks and sounds very interesting.

Long John McRon, the ship’s cook, reassures the parents that he’ll look after the kids, but when the parents have left, more of the pirate crew show up and it leads to lots of strange things happening including the cooking of some pirate stew! This story was so fun to listen to and I can imagine children enjoying listening this story again and again either before bed or at any time really. Most lines of the story rhyme making it easy to enjoy this and also easy to remember. The story is a short one, only ten minutes in length for the whole book, but it’s got a great adventure of the strange night the kids have with the pirates and has a fun little twist at the end too.

Neil Gaiman’s narration is just brilliant! This is the first time I’ve heard him narrating a book and I have to say it really added to the fun of the whole story. The pirates all sound very piratey with lots of “Arrrghs” being heard throughout the story. And I love the added extra “Arrghs” and fun way that the author also reads out the introduction and the details of production, copyright etc.

This is a really entertaining short book which made me laugh out loud in certain parts and I can imagine lots of children will enjoy listening many times. It’s made me want to check out the physical copy of the book too to see the illustrations, but as an audiobook this really is a great one to listen to and one I recommend. :)

*Disclaimer: I received this book in audiobook format for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw that this was available on NetGalley, I just had to request it. I really enjoy Neil Gaiman’s books on audiobook because he usually narrates them himself. It’s a shame that I didn’t experience the story with Chris Riddell’s illustrations but his work is consistently impressive so I would love to pick up a physical copy.

This is a quirky story about pirates babysitting a brother and sister. It’s a short read at just 48 pages, or ten minutes on audiobook, but so enjoyable. I think if you have a young person in your life who loves pirates, this is something you should definitely pick up – I will be buying it for my son!

4 out of 5 stars!

4.5 stars
A very enjoyable entertaining tale read by the author himself Neil Gaiman who is a natural storyteller and has a voice you could listen to forever!.
The voices he is able to speak in are always good and in this instance really brought the pirate babysitters alive.
The story itself could really fire little imaginations and the rhyme to it made it more fun.
A short audio that I listened to in one gulp on my commute and left me smiling.
My thanks go to the author, publisher and Netgalley in providing this copy in return for my honest review.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the advanced audiobook of Pirate Stew. This was fast, funny and witty. I have enjoyed Neil Gaiman's works before and still do now. I like that this was narrated by the author, as he did a good job. This is a must for Neil Gaiman fans. I can't wait to by the physical copy once this is released.

"Pirate Stew" is my first encounter with Neil Gaiman's children's prose. I know him from his middle-grade stories like "The Graveyard Book" and adult fantasy like "Neverwhere" and was very excited to discover a new side of his work.

I'm glad to say, that the audiobook, narrated by the author himself, is just perfect. I've listened to a few Gaiman books and some lectures already, and it's safe to say that I absolutely adore his voice and interpretation. "Pirate Stew" is a little audiobook that is just perfect for kids.

This was great fun as an audiobook with Neil Gaiman reading his own book about pirates who come to babysit. He was absolutely brilliant at the pirate voices, even continuing into the outro of the book crediting everyone who’d been involved in the production of the audiobook. As far as I know this is sold separately to the picture book, which going by the cover looks fantastic! I think it would be amazing if the publisher got a package together of the picture book with the audiobook. I remember we had some books and tapes when my son was a toddler (Commotion in the Ocean and Rumble in the Jungle) and we had great fun looking at the book whilst listening to the story, we can even remember some of the rhymes today!

Just magical! As a longtime fan of Neil Gaiman, but also a Nursery teacher, I was delighted to get a copy of this audio book. The story is joyously rambunctious, with repeated, lyrical, rhyming phrases that children will love joining in with. There is plenty of tongue in cheek humour for both children and adults to enjoy and Neil Gaiman’s engaging and enthusiastic narration truly brings the characters to life. I think it would be the perfect starting point for an early years or Key Stage 1 topic on pirates - just listening to it inspires me to dig out my box of pirate props and toys!

What a book?! Perfect for littlies doing a pirate topic. Brilliant for those rhyming couplets. Totally engaging. I have already recommended this book to colleagues.

Many thanks to #netgalley for gifting me an audiobook copy of #NeilGaiman #PirateStew in exchange for an honext review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bloomsbury UK for the audio-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It is no secret that I adore Neil Gaiman's writing, and I am a particular fan of his audiobooks as he often narrates them himself, and he is such a natural storyteller.

Pirate Stew is a fun little book about 2 children and what happens when their parents arrange for a pirate to be their babysitter. It is full of great characters that children will adore, and the story is a good fun adventure too! It is not a substantial book, but it will be a hit at bed-time I'm sure, and I highly recommend the audio-book for Gaiman's pirate accent alone!

4 entertaining stars.

A pirate babysitter and his crew gate-crash a house and take the 2 children on a pirate adventure. You better think twice before eating anything a pirate cooks for you!
This book was lots of fun and I absolutely loved Neil Gaiman's reading.

This is a fun story that younger readers are sure to enjoy. It is full of great characters and lots of wonderful pirate content. The story itself has a good rhythm to it and the rhyme scheme brings everything together nicely. It would definitely be a joyful read for children and their parents.

The audiobook is narrated by Neil Gaiman which really adds to the atmosphere. He brings life to the characters and really helps everything flow. It's not a substantial read but it would be good for a listen at bedtime.

A fun audiobook for children. Rhyming narrative read in a suitable 'pirate' style voice. . I'm sure my grandchildren will love this as it's thoroughly entertaining and I can imagine a lot of children's laughter when it's being listened to.. My only criticism is that it was a little short (only 10 minutes) so that on a car journey, when I know my grandchildren like to listen to audiobooks, it would barely get them to the end of the road.

This is a wonderful reading by Neil Gaiman of his story 'Pirate Stew.' He adopts the voices of pirates so convincingly it had me chuckling along the entire time. The story itself is short but contains so many great literary features: rhyme and rhythm, alliteration and repetition. Such a fun read!

The story is about children being left with a new baby sitter who was once a cook on a pirate ship. Long John McRon has all the features you would expect from a pirate: hook and peg leg include! However, he doesn't know what to cook for the children to have for their dinner, so he decides to reproduce his pirate stew recipe. As you can imagine, the ingredients are unusual and interesting and eating the stew has unusual consequences!

This is a lovely story for young children and worked really well as an audio book, though it is quite short - only 10 minutes! But I expect you will listen to it on repeat because it is so entertaining.

Such fun! A night when a group of unlikely babysitters — the ship's cook Long John McRon and his pirate gang arrive. The parents and thrilled; the kids — not so much. There is a magic stew, donuts, lots of rhyming, grownups being silly etc.

I loved how it rhymes. The audiobook, narrated by Gaiman is perfect to listen to, even if you are an adult, as long as you love stories, and poems and rhymes.