Class Three At Sea

Class Three at Sea

From School Library JournalPre-S-Grade 2-Following the recipe for their well-received Class Two at the Zoo (Carolrhoda, 2007), Jarman and Chapman cook up another field-trip fiasco, this one full of high jinks on the high seas. As soon as Class Three boards its boat, a pirate ship appears on the horizon, but the students are too busy untangling an octopus "tied up in knots" to notice. Before long, goggle-eyed pirates with appropriately icky names like Fish Breath Frank and Booger Nose overtake and board the ship, wreaking havoc as they manhandle children, force Lenny to walk the plank, and threaten death to all if Captain Keith doesn't take them straight to Treasure Island. Meanwhile, their teacher is busy receiving amorous overtures from one of the buccaneers. By story's end, Octopus has repaid the children's kindness by recruiting his big brother to help him vanquish the bad guys, the teacher is engaged to Pirate Pip, and Class Three is happily unearthing some buried treasure. The bright, Caribbean-colored pastel cartoons are a standout, redeeming a somewhat choppy and nonsensical rhyming text. Intrepid youngsters will thrill to the pirates' slapstick antics and will appreciate the amusing visual details, such as a seagull "plop, plop, plopping" on a sea lion's head. Use this for a swashbuckling storytime.-Amy Rowland, Guggenheim Elementary School, Port Washington, NYCopyright