Cappy West in Madagascar

Cappy West was sure he could cross the "little island" by lunchtime. He could not.

Meet Cappy West — a friendly capybara with a brass compass, a sage-green bandana, and absolutely no sense of direction. He never sets out to learn anything. The learning just keeps finding him.

In Book 6 of Cappy West: The Global Explorer, Cappy washes up on Madagascar and gets everything delightfully wrong. He mistakes sunbathing lemurs for stray cats. He's sure the indri's loud song is a fire alarm. He nearly eats a chameleon small enough to sit on a fingernail, and reaches for a bright red "tomato" that turns out to be a frog with a very sticky surprise.

Along the way, young readers discover real, verified facts about Madagascar: the fourth-largest island in the world, nicknamed the Great Red Island for its iron-rich soil; over a hundred kinds of lemur found nowhere else; the siren-song of the giant indri; about half the world's chameleons, including the tiny Brookesia nana; vanilla flowers pollinated by hand; baobab trees that look planted upside down; and the razor-sharp limestone forests of the Tsingy, whose name means "where you cannot walk barefoot."

Every short chapter pairs a funny blunder with a true discovery, a Fun Fact, and a gentle Cappy Tip about kindness, curiosity, and slowing down to notice the world. The book closes with a Travel Scrapbook, a fact recap, and a quiz to share.

Perfect for ages 6–8 (grades 2–3), confident new readers, bedtime read-alouds, and homeschool trips around the globe. Each book stands on its own — or collect the whole around-the-world series.

"I wasn't lost — I was just taking the scenic route to this fact!"