The Giant Rat of Sumatra
or Pirates Galore
By Sid Fleischman; John Hendrix (Illustrator)
(Greenwillow Books, Library Binding, 9780060742393, 208pp.)
Publication Date: February 2005
Other Editions of This Title: Paperback
Categories: Humorous Stories
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A swashbuckling pirate ship cuts through the early morning fog. Crouching like a tiger about to spring, her figurehead is a huge and ferocious rat with crooked teeth and gouged-out eyes.
When the daring Giant Rat of Sumatra drops anchor in San Diego, twelve-year-old cabin boy Shipwreck only wants to begin his long journey home to Boston. Instead he encounters:
snarling mutineers
barefoot bandits
hairbreadth escapes
duels
cunning barkeeps
simmering revenge
secret identities
scrappy orphans
betrayals
lost loves
old enemies
new villains
heroic last stands
and razzle-dazzle treasure so well hidden that only someone as quick and clever as Shipwreck could keep up with it.
Plucked from the sea by the most notorious pirate in the Pacific, Shipwreck discovers his adventure is only beginning.
Sid Fleischman wrote more than sixty books for children, adults, and magicians. Among his many awards was the Newbery Medal for his novel The Whipping Boy. The author described his wasted youth as a magician and newspaperman in his autobiography The Abracadabra Kid. His other titles include The Entertainer and the Dybbuk, a novel, and three biographies, Sir Charlie: Chaplin, The Funniest Man in the World; The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West; and Escape! The Story of The Great Houdini.
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