Read this book to my kindergarten class. They very much enjoyed the characters and quick moving storyline. Great introduction to early chapter books.

Ahoy me hearties! Do you love a pirate story? Then this is a fabulous book for you! It is extremely well written (paperback 160 pages) and includes a wealth of impressive illustrations. Your kids will find this book entertaining, engaging and most amusing. There are some great characters in this story. Matilda is just adorable. Don't be surprised if your kids' are glued to this story - there is an element of "What happens next?" about every chapter. I would suggest that this book is perfect for early readers, of five years and over. However, I'm sure that younger children will be delighted to have this story read to them, with the help of the page by page illustrations. I can fully recommend this book. ( )

Every full moon, a mysterious ship is seen off the coast of Dull-on-Sea. Then, the next day, gold and jewelry are missing from homes, shops, and museums all over town. Matilda needs the Jolley-Rogers' help to investigate. Matilda and Jim Lad head out to go find the lost treasures to see if they can get everything back for the Dull on Sea town. Everyone is in panic believing their treasures and money are going to be stolen right from their own home. Matilda believes that pirates are awesome, but she doesn't like them stealing and it needs to bring her town back to the way it was before! Matilda, Jim Lad and his family, the Jolley-Rogers together with Jim's trusty dog, Bone come up with a cunning plan to rid the village of their mystery and to reclaim the museum's lost treasure. Matilda and Jim may not be able to get their plan started to get the treasure back before they are trapped with the ghost pirates until the next full moon. Eventually their plan works and everyone gets their possessions back.

I think this book is extremely engaging and especially if we are promoting this book to younger students such as 4th grade up to 9th. It keeps you on the edge trying to find out what will happen with the pirates, Matilda, and Jim. You never know what the pirates will do next, and how Matilda and Jim will react to this. It is a chapter book, but has large print. This may be helpful for struggling readers because the larger print will be less words and allow students to still read a chapter book like other students, but be able to read one that is more at their level. The vocab in this chapter book also is at a lower level so students who may not have a huge vocabulary yet can still fully understand the text.

Very cute pirate adventure. Kid friendly with large print and great illustrations. Good book to grab interests for beginner readers.