Title: Jack Plank Tells Tales
Author: Natalie Babbitt
Illustrator/Artist: Natalie Babbitt
Genre: Children's Fiction / Fantasy / Adventure & Pirates.
Edition: First Edition, Second Printing, 2007.
Publisher: Michael Di Capua Books, an imprint of Scholastic.
Chapter I
How It All Began
"Jack Plank was an out-of-work pirate. He'd had a job, and a good job, too, on a lovely ship called the Avarice. But the thing is, Jack wasn't good at plundering. There's only one way to plunder: You have to yell and make faces and rattle your sword, and once you've got people scared, you take things away from them. That's what pirates do. But Jack didn't seem to have the knack for it."
Billed as the author's first novel in 25 years, this whimsical and richly illustrated maritime story introduces readers to Jack Plank, an out-of-work pirate who has just left his shipmates on a lovely vessel named the Avarice. Despite the expectations of a life on the high seas, Jack lacks the essential knack for plundering. Realizing his career on the water has run its course, he goes ashore to the coastal Caribbean town of Saltwash, taking refuge in Mrs. DelFresno’s lively boardinghouse while he figures out his next move.
Each evening at the boardinghouse, Jack explains why suggested onshore professions won't work by sharing colorful tall tales of pirate life, including warnings about trolls and music-loving crocodiles. At 144 pages, this illustrated story is an ideal family read-aloud.
Author/Illustrator Natalie Babbitt (1932 - 2016): Studied at Smith College and married Samuel Fisher Babbitt, with whom she collaborated on her first book, The Forty-Ninth Magician, in 1966. She wrote and illustrated many great children's books, including Knee-Knock Rise, The Search for Delicious, Goodie Hall, Herbert Rowbarge, and Tuck Everlasting. Tuck Everlasting was adapted into two movies and a Broadway musical. She received the Newbery Honor, the Christopher Award, and the E.B. White award, and was nominated for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award for lifetime achievement.
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Condition: Near Fine/Near Fine. Dust jacket: Light shelf wear; small dent on front cover, top left corner. Red quarter-bound cloth cover boards. "Wisdom" written on front fly leaf else pages are clean, undamaged, and complete.
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