Swap!

by Steve Light

An old ship. A sad friend. A button . . . An idea. Let’s SWAP!

In a young scalawag's first tale of bartering, a peg-legged youngster sets out to help his captain repair his vessel. One button for three teacups. SWAP! Two teacups for four coils of rope. SWAP! And so it goes, until the little swashbuckler secures sails, anchors, a ship’s wheel, and more . . . including a happy friend.

Genres: Picture Books, Pirates, Childrens, Friendship, Fiction, Counting, Adventure

40 pages, Hardcover

First published February 9, 2016

About the author

Steve Light grew up in an enchanted place known as New Jersey. He went on to study Illustration at Pratt Institute, he also studied with Dave Passalacqua. Upon graduating he did some corporate illustrations for companies such as: AT&T, Sony Films, and the New York Times Book Review. Steve Light then went on to design buttons that were acquired by the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum. He has since published several children’s books with various publishers. He has read and told stories all over including The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and The Milwaukee Museum of Art.

Steve loves to draw. He draws everyday whether it is drawing in his sketchbook or on fancy paper for an illustration. Steve loves fountain pens and collects these ancient artifacts in order to draw with them. He also loves making things. Steve usually makes things like sculptures and toys out of wood. Steve loves sharing his art and stories with children.

Reviews

[The Library Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Caldecott caliber, but probably will be missed by that earnest set of reviewers in favor of some new and trendy piece of nonsense.

A pirate and his mate (son) refurbish their vessel by swapping one item after another till they have a rejuvenated ship, complete with a figure head and a parrot. The use of color vs. black and white is masterful, there are tons of details to pore over, and just enough text, as the pictures tell most of the story themselves. Ingenious

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Librarian Book Group
Very fun story of swapping items for other items and eventually getting what you need. The illustrations were grand and this book could possibly double as a coloring book for those with good fine motor skills.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

When his beloved captain gets downhearted at the dilapidated state of their ship, the young pirate boy in this entertaining picture-book from author/illustrator Steve Light has an idea. They will trade a button for two teacups, the teacups for rope, and so on, until they have everything they need to make the ship new again...

I saw the author perform Swap! at an event, and it made for an engaging read-aloud, as the audience joined in, shouting "Swap!" at every exchange. This story type, in which a series of exchanges is made, until the hero(s) finally reach their intended goal, reminds me of similar folktales I have encountered from diverse traditions, as well as such classic picture-books as Elsa Beskow's Pelle's New Suit . The detailed artwork is immensely appealing, with that same combination of pen and ink drawings and judiciously-used color accents that made Have You Seen My Dragon? and Have You Seen My Monster? so successful. Recommended to all young would-be pirates, and to anyone looking for children's stories about problem solving.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First sentence: An old ship. A sad friend.

Premise/plot: Two pirates (one adult, one child) find a way to fix their old ship by bartering. It starts with a red button that falls off of a shirt. That button is swapped for two tea cups. Those tea cups are swapped for three coils of rope. The swaps get progressively more complicated. Readers may or may not catch on immediately to what is going on. (Part of each trade is being held back to repair their ship. Part of each trade is being used to keep on swapping.)

My thoughts: I liked this one. I did. So much is communicated through the illustrations, I think. And the illustrations are simple and complex all at the same time. They are very detailed even if most of them are just black and white with a few splashes of color. I think there is enough going on to keep you rereading this one. Yet it's not overwhelmingly busy.

Text: 3 out of 5
Illustrations: 4 out of 5
Total: 7 out of 10

[Allie]

Steve Light rules. Swap is a super fun picture book about taking what you have and swapping for the other stuff you need. There are some good math things, not just counting but also addition and subtraction. It's kind of like a big silly word problem. It would be a fun book for a pirate story time and you could totally sing the pirate version of zoom zoom zoom with it!

Also it's the kid version of trading a paper clip for a mansion (or whatever that was).

[Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check out more Picture book reviews @ Perspective of a Writer...

A little swashbuckler goes a'bartering in hopes of helping his captain make his vessel seaworthy! One button for three teacups. SWAP!

The art in this is divine! My personal favorite type of art is pen and ink! The touches of color are perfect and really the art is a budding artist's dream. I had SO many favorite spreads in this book. The flag swap is so, so gorgeous and the 4-pack squares when they were repairing the ship!! GAH! Of course my nephew had to do the ship! And what a job he did...

The incredible thing is how my nephew grinned from ear to ear once he realized why we were calling out SWAP! Each time he'd sing-song it out and then explain what was traded. It did take him a couple pages to realize what was happening but it became a ton of fun for him to read. I did have to explain what anchors and other of the items were but as they were part of the illustrations that worked well.

The MESSAGE! You probably think, well, there isn't much of a message when its just singing out a trade and saying SWAP!... Well oddly there is a ton to talk about when it comes to money. This is a great book to explain why we give money and how we receive items in return. And that if money is spent then the items ought to be used.

BOTTOM LINE: A gorgeous swapping book to explain the idea of money!

______________________
You can find this review and many others on my book blog @ Perspective of a Writer. See my picture book reviews in a special feature called Boo's Picture Gallery...

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOOOOOOVE the illustrations. Tempted to bump up to 5 just for that because they're so fun to look at. The story is cute and fun too!

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young boy comes across a ship's captain who is heartbroken because his ship is in such poor shape. The peg-legged boy decides to help his friend gather the supplies he needs to fix up his ship by swapping or bargaining for what they need. They start one one red button off the sailor's coat, which they trade for two teacups. The two teacups are traded for three coils of rope. Two coils of rope are then traded for six oars and so on and so forth until the boy and the sailor (and a monkey) have visited a bunch of islands and gathered all the supplies they need. The fun incorporation of math (it would be fun to have children see if they can figure out just what supplies the two still have once they are done trading) and the detailed illustrations make for a delightful read. The judicious use of color also has an important role in leading the reader's eyes to certain aspects of the story. It would be lots of fun though to see what young readers/listeners notice once they look beyond the obvious. There is so much to see and do with this book that it's a real winner in my book. Beyond the obvious connections to economics and math are connections to creativity and friendship and determination. And the fantastically detailed illustrations make it a real possibility for the Caldecott as well.

[Kermit · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8 stars

Got this title from a list of best picture books of 2016.

A young, peg-legged pirate helps his sad friend scrounge up the ingredients to make a new ship to replace the old, worn-out ship. It all begins with the pirate swapping a button for another item. More swapping ensues. With each swap, the elements of the new ship are accumulated. The illustrations show what both the swapper and the swap-ee do with their swapped items.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of swaps leads to a new ship. Cleverly illustrated and interesting to see the little boy with a peg leg instead of the captain.

[Joanne Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple concept book with new perspective. Illustration style invites scrutiny. friendship theme layered in. Art tells tertiary storyline. Begs life to imitate art.

[Franki Sibberson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was fun. Lots in the pictures and definitely some math possibilities!

[Lorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two sailing friends with no money and an old worn out ship make a series of advantageous swaps until they have the things they need to rehabilitate their ship.

Steve Light’s fountain pen drawings animate the visual part of the story as some illustrations are left uncolored and others are filled in with rich ink and gouache. The illustrations filled in with color blue of the water are the biggest visual treat and the other pieces that are in color highlight his main characters and the items swapped. His drawings are so detailed and so crucial to the story line that it is as if text is the supporting material and not the other way around as a usual picture book. It is a true flip of the cannon on how picture books are written and illustrated.

The story works well as a read aloud; the audience will have fun by joining in to say SWAP every time the sailors make a successful swap. It also works well for young children and new readers for reading on their own as well as a great lap read. In both, there would be plenty of time to slowly look at each page before moving on the next.

I would highly recommend this book for purchase by any school or public library.

[Dimity Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black and white line drawings mingle enticingly beside gay bursts of colour in this book of counting and thing spotting. The notion of trade is artfully applied in an atmosphere bristling with pirates and buccaneers. Older readers will delight in keeping track of the all 'swapped' items as one captain and his best mate endeavour to turn a situation of nothingness around to something of great personal value whilst younger ones will find the illustrations pure joy. A clever way of depicting making the most of out of nothing and turning a situation on its head with a mere idea.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the grand tradition of Radar O'Reilly, Swap starts with a ship in need of everything and a button. From that button, two people start their trading and eventually end up with what they need to revitalize the ship.

From a math perspective, it would be fun to diagram out the trades to show what they had left. You could also write equations showing 1 button = 2 tea cups, etc. Of course, the more interesting equations would be the one not explicitly on the page. For example, how many anchors was that button worth?

[Larissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is everything I'm looking for in a picture book. It's a cute story with fantastic illustrations and some fun hidden patterns. There are few enough words on each page that I can read it in 2 minutes if I want, but enough detail in the illustrations that I can explain them and make it a 10 minute story. I was still finding new details like 2 weeks into reading it almost daily, and anyone who's memorized a picture book knows that's not easy!

[Gervy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My almost-six-year-old boy (learning to read at school) finds this very engaging for a few reasons I think: (1) There's a map of a sea journey at the front; (2) mathematical concepts involved (3) simple language with lots of repetition of the word "swap" (4) great illustrations with an interesting juxtaposition of detailed black & white drawing with a few full-colour elements on every page.

[Urbandale Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

BEAUTIFUL. I adore the illustrations in this book. It's fantastically detailed and sparsely colored. The text is simple which makes it a great book to focus on the wonderful pen and ink illustrations. This book will transport you to a beautiful fantasy world and a story about friendship and ingenuity.

[Lisseth C · Rating 5 out of 5]

My personal reaction to this book is that its cute because in the ending it shows how the captain made a new friend because he helped him fix his ship. I think children will like this story because it can be a good prediction book since it has a monkey in each page that gives hints on what they are going to swap next.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Richard Scarry, Rowan is pretty big into counting right now. So Swap! is a fun way for him to practice his numbers, while getting to enjoy boats and other delightful objects he can add to his vocabulary. A friendly and nice story where we learn how to barter, be resourceful, and help out our friends. We dig it immensely.

[H Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illustration I. This book is fun and with tons of details. Like the idea of teaching kids counting and the concept of exchange. Only if everything is real life is always like what happened in this book. Chances are like that in many cases, people exchange big for small.

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sparsely worded story about a young crew member helping a sad friend turn his beat-up old boat into something better through a series of swaps.

Lovely illustrations. Liked they way the artists uses color.

[Tina Hoggatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful and clever story of how a button is swapped for two teacups and the subsequent swaps lead to a fully restored pirate ship. Everybody wins! The illustrations are especially pleasing and filled with details for the young reader to discover.

[Jailen Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the work was very cute and that the colors were fun and eye-catching in the illustrations. This book was about a pirate and his friend trying to build a ship. They traded and bartered until they had everything they needed.

[Shiann Ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The message was about friendship and kindness. The pirate boy sees that his friend's ship is in disrepair, so he encourages him to trade a button for two teacups, which are then traded for rope, and so on, until the bartering leads to a happy pirate and a happy ending.

[Abbigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great illustrations. Starts with a button and trades that lead to all sorts of new things for a new ship. This book has simple text, but I think it would still be best followed by older kids. I'm personally off-put by the friend being happy now that they having something new (a ship).

[Liz Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

So fun! Pictures mostly tell the story. Beautiful, interesting.. unique. Love.

[Susanne Davison · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great illustrations, but story is uninteresting.

[Shayna R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's nothing wrong with it, but I found it too simplistic with not enough actual content to keep me engaged. The premise is cute though.

[Cecilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really clever book that introduces the concept of solving problems and bartering. I don't think I've ever read a children's book about this before.