The Dread Crew is a children's book, but like all the best children's books, that means that adults can ostensibly buy it for someone else and read it themselves on the sly.

The book as a whole was...... I find it hard to pinpoint the precise, correct word. Entrancing, I think is closest. I would not want to even try to describe the plot, involving as it does exceptionally smelly pirates, a fearsome wood ship, peacocks and goats locked in low-key warfare, an adventurous, talented and insightful grandpa and a Gooperator.

It's the kind of book that, as a child, I particularly loved: a clever and resourceful child (that would be me, of course) discovers that behind the facade of normal life, strange and wonderful things not only exist, but thrive, and are there for the discovering. ... Kate's unique, startlingly original turns of phrase, her vividly quirky descriptions and most of all her sly, earthy humour are all there. With pirates. Pirates! How can you resist?

Loth of The Gym Isn't Working was one of the Stories That Stick meme winners, a blogger with Canuck connections who lives in Nova Scotia's motherland. Or put more properly, a blogger who is the target of this Canuck's envy for living in the motherland of sticky toffee pudding. Read her sweet and spritely review here. Thank you, Loth, for the lovely feedback and for getting your copy of the book properly dented and scruffy, as it should be.

The Gym Isn't Working ::: I love my elder son sometimes. Wait. That sounded wrong. I love him ALL the time, but sometimes he does something that makes me look at him more fondly than usual.

You have to love that boy.

My hair was totally electrified with winter static and I'd just stumbled in from a two-ton plate of pad thai and I was all breathy and felt weird but here it is, the first interview with local online news site Haligonia. Do I seem all serious? Christ. I think I do. I was trying to be proper. The outcome of that might be you falling asleep, but hey. Watch this if you're suffering from restless leg syndrome and it's keeping you up. And please excuse the part where it almost sounds like I call myself a rock star. I didn't mean to do that. I only meant that I always roll my eyes when someone describes themselves putting on shows when they were three. Cause every three-year-old does that. Even the ones ordained to become accountants.

Caution: periods of knee-jerk spirituality ahead. Visibility near zero. And then: pirates again! All is well.

Is it possible to do one of these things without crawling all over with strangeness? Please say no.

Thanks to Clare at Haligonia for great questions and such a cozy view. Next time I'll order a garden salad instead. I promise.

When The Dread Crew came in the mail, Dustan snatched it up before I could. And since then I haven't gotten to it. But I know it will rock my world because here's Dustan's review:

D:  Hey, I finished Kate's book, Pirates In the Woods.

(I know. I can't get him to reprogram. Your title just got Americanized.)

B:  The Dread Crew? How was it?

D:  Ok. I have this idea. Are you ready for this? We are going to do this... this Scavenger Hunt for our kids, it will be a story, except it will be REAL.

(I'm ironing a shirt, he's pacing the floor).

D:  When our kids are really young, we write a story. It's about a boy or a girl who finds a key in a basement under a stone tile that goes to a box that has a map in it. And that map leads to a treasure. And it takes a really really long time to get to this treasure. It has to be really grand. And then one day - like when it's their 5th birthday or something - we tell them - go look in the basement. And suddenly they realize, they're IN their favorite story we've always told them. And because we've always told them, they know it by heart. So they know where to find that key. It's the key from the story. And it takes them years to unfold all the clues. And we have it all planned out. They never know when a clue will come. It might be a special day. It might be just an ordinary day. But the clues all unravel in their lifetime. Wouldn't that be SO COOL?

Me:  (Blinking) Yeah!

That's your review from this end (so far). "Pirates In the Woods" made the mind of a thirty-year-old dude re-spin in wanderlust of childhood.

So says Betsy of Tales from the Dairy Air. Thanks, Betsy. Thrilled to incite mischief, although from what I know of you and Dustan, it's an easy sell.

I ordered my copy of @SweetSalty's book when it came out in Canada last fall, but only got around to starting it about a week ago... and now, I wish I could go back and read for the first time again. Why? Because about 2/3 of the way in, I suddenly found myself filled with something that felt very much like joy — actively grinning from ear to ear as I made my way through the passage in which these backwoods pirates and the normal, everyday folk of Nova Scotia finally come face-to-face, and... well, I don't want to tell you what happens, but the experience achieved a kind of alchemy that is, honestly, beyond rare for me.

This book not only transported me to someplace different and fascinating, but it actually made me happy. I'm not even kidding: I felt happy reading it. I don't know what I expected going in, but "happy" isn't usually even a consideration.

Look, I'll put this simply: if you know Kate from the web, you already know she's a tremendous writer. But if you haven't read this yet... I envy you. Because you're about to experience something truly wonderful.

Thank you, TwoBusy. That's huge. I can't stop smiling. Your happy is my happy.

How did The Dread Crew make you feel? What was happening in the story as it occurred to you? I'd love to know.

Kate Inglis' The Dread Crew is a good book -- sure it is, and we’ll get to that in a moment. But before you ever experience the story, you see that it really is a pretty book. One I think my father might have selected for me, with all the other circumstances being right. There’s something lasting and promising and deliciously old-timey about the cover and binding of The Dread Crew. And that’s all right, because Inglis and her band of merry men deliver on all of those promises.

The Dread Crew is a tale of imagination and friendship. ... This is a spirited tale, gorgeously rendered. A debut work from a confident writer I feel sure will delight us again in the future.

January Magazine is one of the most respected book-related publications on the Web. Founded by author Linda L. Richards and graphic artist and photographer David Middleton in 1997, January has grown steadily, adding various sections and offshoot publications in the intervening years. January is perhaps best known for the author interviews it has published, including exclusive interviews with Salman Rushdie, Dennis Lehane, Margaret Atwood and many others. Over the years, January Magazine has become known for its sharp writing, art and editing as well as an arrogant style that frequently underscores the publication's independence from the publishing industry.

Click here to read January Magazine's complete review.

January Magazine  :::  In many ways it feels as though we at January Magazine evolved the format that has become associated with blogging. A decade ago, when everyone else was still loading up Web sites with Java applets and other additions that offered a lot of sizzle but not much steak, we found ourselves almost entirely concerned with content: great writing, well edited; top art; super photos. At that time we envisioned a Web site about books and authors and reading that would grow more rich and intellectually valuable over time.

What was the hardest part of the writing process for the book?

When you’re a creative, work-at-home parent, everyone wants a piece of you. Your kids want you to play lego. Your supper is sticking to the bottom of the pot. Your corporate client wants a feature article on the effect of social media on mass brands in a fragmented market. Your husband wants you to curl up on the couch for an evening and watch a movie and have you be mentally as well as physically present.

In the midst of all that, a small girl—a pirate scout—climbs through a window and whispers in your ear 'I may be small, but I’m the fastest they’ve ever seen...' And you’re entranced, and you fear she’s going to disappear back out through that window if you don’t drop everything and write about her. Then a small voice chirps from the other room HA! HA HA. LOOK. FUNNY POOP.

For the complete interview, visit The Daily Grommet.

The humor and sarcasm of Kate’s writing would have made this book a favorite of mine when I was a boy. The tone reminded me of those oddball adventure books written by Roald Dahl. The Dread Crew turns piracy on its head in unexpected ways. Pirate unions? Pirate junk-collectors? Pirates roaming in the forest?!

This novel has a strong sense of place, that of the Maritime Canadian woods, and at first, it seems like a strange place for a pirate story. On further research, I discovered that there is a whole tradition of Atlantic Canada pirate adventures, and clearly Kate is playing with — and against — this long tradition, even presenting her readers with a very modern environmental message underneath all of the “heap o’ splinters” and maggots in beards.

Neil Kramer of Citizen of the Month is a screenwriter in New York City. He's funny, has the greatest voice in all of the entire universe, and enjoys dirty jokes as well as bright red flannel pajamas. Don't ask me how I know. On both counts. Read Neil's complete review of the book here - and listen to a long, giggly, two-part audio conversation during which Neil asks me about boyishness, the nature of delightful mud, and the mysteries of the urban/rural divide (otherwise known as Nordstrom's versus a backwoods rooster pen).

Citizen of the Month ::: When times are tough, and they are in America in 2009, there is only one option available for someone unskilled like myself — getting onto reality television. From faking balloon dramas to crashing White House parties, the best and brightest of our country know the route to success is not hard work, but landing a reality show on Bravo.