Walker Captain Abduls Pirate School

A swashbuckling follow-up to the award-winning pirate romp "Jolly Roger". This is the story (in diary form) of reluctant pirate pupil, Pickles. At Captain Abdul's awful academy she is taught such essential pirate topics as how to make cannon balls and the correct way to say, "Ooh arrgh!" Discovering a plot to kidnap the pupils and hold them to ransom, she leads a mutiny. Following this, she and her fellow pupils set sail in the "Golden Behind" and have a great life robbing other pirates. Pickles (revealed on the last page to be a girl called Maisy) is happy because she has plenty of time to paint! Editorial Reviews From School Library Journal Kindergarten-Grade 3?Maisie Pickles's parents hustle her off to Captain Abdul's Pirate School to toughen her up because she likes writing poems and painting pictures. She learns her lessons so well that when she overhears a plot to kidnap the students and hold them for ransom, she deftly organizes a mutiny. After subduing the teaching staff, the youngsters set sail for the West Indies and live a boisterously adventurous life, stealing from pirates and sending the treasure home. Captain Abdul reckons his school a success to have graduated such a crew, and Maisie herself is free to pursue her artistic interests. McNaughton's bold cartoons are well suited to the subject. His pirates convey just the right robust exaggeration; bold lines express exuberant movement and attitude. The text, written in the form of Maisie's diary, gives the impression of hand lettering on parchment and is spiced with lusty dialogue. The book is rife with broad humor. The student body, while multiethnic, is definitely not P.C. While the characters' stereotypical identities play no real part in the story, librarians should be alerted to the fact that there are visual and verbal jokes and plays on words at the expense of everyone. Chop is a "person of size," Ching Yih has slanted eyes and large white teeth, and Rosemary Lavender is crudely masculine.?Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Booklist Ages 6-9. Fresh from their appearance in Jolly Roger (1988), that scalawag Captain Abdul and his motley pirate crew are back, this time operating a school designed to toughen kids up. Diary entries penned by unwilling pupil Pickles reveal the skewed school philosophy, which promotes bad manners, untidiness, cheating, and all manner of things that children know very well they're not supposed to do. As in the first book, much of the humor is in McNaughton's busy, zany pictures. The scruffy pop-eyed pirates are an engaging lot, to be sure, and the students, less individualized than their mentors, are easy to spot in their polka-dot bandannas. The story takes a clever turn at the close, but the words seem more an afterthought than a sturdy companion to the robust art. It's good fun all the same--a sort of dream come true for young pirate fanciers, boys and girls. Stephanie Zvirin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.