These books are like literary PIXAR movies, with an appealing storyline for kids and side comments that make adults chuckle.

Traction Man is Here! Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog! 'Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs: Missing Treasure!' is another favorite, in which Flinn and his friends must save Rumblebelly’s grandson, Gordon Gurgleguts (try to say that without laughing), before he’s squirted with ketchup and eaten by a pirate T-Rex. If this wasn’t enticing enough for my kids by playing into their constant power fantasies, Flinn must step into the role of captain and save the day, since the actual captain would rather be the cook. He and his pals – Pearl, Tom, and Violet – are swept into an adventure helping Captain Rufus Rumblebelly find his stolen ship. In this story, Flinn stumbles through the back of a closet into an imaginary world. Here are some age-appropriate, non-branded, nonviolent titles for the preschool and kindergarten set that still feed my kids’ desire for excitement, power, and fantastic possibility. My kids have always loved stories and imaginative play, so I knew we just needed a quick rejuvenation of our reading material to remind them that books offer plenty of adventure kicks, too.

However, when their pirate play took an unsavory turn – “No, you can’t drag your baby brother to the pirate ship by the neck, even if you’re Captain Hook” – and I found myself chasing them through the stacks of the otherwise quiet library as they loudly pretended to be Chase and Zuma on a mission with the pups, it began to feel like TV was encroaching a bit too much on our lives. I’m at peace with letting them zone out in front of the screen once in a while. Whether it’s “Paw Patrol,” “Nella the Princess Knight,” or “Jake and the Never Land Pirates,” they don’t discriminate. My three-year-old and five-year-old love a good adventure cartoon.

CookieBot! by Katie Van Camp