Title: Captain Butcher’s Body
Author: Scott Corbett
Date: 1976
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press / Little Brown & Company
Length: 170 pages
Illustrations: drawings by Geff Gerlach
Quote: “Captain Butcher’s body shall never lie at rest; doomed is he each century to repeat his bloody jest.”
Ghosts, in the traditional sense are not part of the reality of this novel for middle school boys. George and Leo are twentieth-century guys and know that ghosts are, as on Scooby Doo, usually pranks, often pranks designed to distract attention from criminal activity. In fact, George and his sisters once fabricated a ghost in order to show Leo, their cousin, that his spending the summer with their family was none of their idea.
Time warps, however, are part of the reality of Captain Butcher’s Body. In July 1746, a pirate known as Captain Butcher foully murdered one of his partners in crime. It was foretold that he would be seen reenacting the murder once every hundred years. It’s now 1946, and George and Leo just might have a chance to see the time warp, if they can work out the correct date to look for it.
Readers who find much challenge in working out the difference between “old” and “new style” calendars ought to be younger than George, who is eleven, and Leo, who is fourteen. I liked Scott Corbett and Scooby Doo when I was eight years old. That might be about the right age for this book.
Scott Corbett no longer needs a dollar. However, if you buy Captain Butcher's Body here (by sending $5 per book + $5 per package shipped to salolianigodagewi @ yahoo.com) you can probably fit one or more Fair Trade Books into the package, support one or more living writers, and consider the shipping "free."
No comments:
Post a Comment