Title: Captain Orkle's Treasure
Author: Harriet Micocci
Illustrator: Dora
Publisher: Astor / Obolensky / McLeod
Length: 153 pages
Quote: “Joby, the boat's moving, and
nobody knows we're here!”
Joseph and Sandra, or Joby and Sandy,
are old enough to know better than to board a peculiar-looking old
boat they find tied to a dock, just around a corner from their
uncle's yacht. Possibly they're acting out some emotions about “Uncle
Richard and Aunt Margaret being so rich and not really liking
children.”
What happens next is much more pleasant
than the usual consequences of such stupid behavior in real life.
It's a typical adventure fantasy for primary school readers. As was
typical of the period when this book was published, the story can be
read two ways. Maybe the children “really” just hide on an
abandoned boat overnight and dream they've had a delightful, goofy
adventure with two feuding pirates (both of whom are remarkably
polite to children), a “super-giant” macaw, and a friendly sea
serpent who helps them fight a many-headed dragon. Maybe the fictive
reality of the story is that the adventure really happened; when the
children get home they do find the “treasure” of beautiful,
colorful shells still in their pockets.
What's not to love? If I'd written this
story it would have taken one of two directions different from the
one it does take. Either the kids would have boarded the abandoned
boat and had a realistically unpleasant adventure that reinforced the idea
that nothing good comes from unauthorized meddling with other
people's property, or else they would have met the lovable Pirate
Captain Orkle in some legitimate way and been invited to
take a little cruise on the boat. Probably the latter.
As
written, Captain Orkle's Treasure is
a nice, silly, funny adventure story in which courage, perseverance,
loyalty, kindness to monsters, and trespassing get rewarded with
excitement, friendship, and some pretty seashells. It ought to be a
challenging read for first or second grade students who are familiar
with yachts, or an easy read for grades three through five.
Harriet Micocci lived to the age of 101, but she no longer has any use for a dollar, so this is not a Fair Trade Book. It can, however, be added to a package along with one or more Fair Trade Books for a total shipping fee of $5. I think I'll put off specifying a price per copy of this book until someone orders it, or I have access to Amazon again, whichever comes first.
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