The Pirate Company: On the Trail of the Golden Toucan by Susan Cason
Scholastic Australia, 2013. ISBN: 9781742990026. RRP:
$14.99 288p.
(Age: 9-11) Highly recommended. Themes: Pirates;
Adventure; Voyages and Travels. Tom Applecross's life is one of
misadventure, his father Josiah Applecross a famous explorer has
failed to return from his latest expedition. His avaricious
stepmother Evlynne casts him aside and he has to leave Port Pandora
to live with his Great-Aunt Audrey in Boston. Aboard the
Marie-Gallante his life undergoes a radical change. Fearsome pirates
swarm the ship flourishing an armoury of bayonets and pistols,
frightening the passengers and crew with their blood-curdling cries.
They ransack the ship and steal personal possessions, supplies and
the pink pearls.
Later that night Tom is swept overboard in a storm and is washed
ashore on a deserted island. By coincidence this is where the
pirates come ashore to replenish their buried treasure chest. Tom is
captured by Carrot and Mortlock who is meaner than a tubful of
piranhas, and they row him to their ship The Thimblerig. There he
awaits his fate at the hands of Captain Shearwater. Along the way
Captain Shearwater's niece Rosie assists Tom is his myriad of
adventures.
Each chapter is full of rich sensory descriptions, these
sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feelings of the pirates' life at
sea and their life ashore. Susan Cason has beautifully captured the
dramas and dilemmas, the twists and turns of Tom's journey to become
accepted as one of the pirate crew. The pirates' life is a sanitised
one, skimming over their darker pleasures, taverns, women and
mayhem.This is a wonderful fast-paced read; it would make a great
class novel for Years 4-6.
This novel is highly recommended for 9-11 year old confident
readers. Scholastic
teaching notes are available.
Rhyllis Bignell