Victricia Malicia
Book-Loving Buccaneer
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Victricia Malicia Calamity Barrett may have been born on her family's pirate ship, but this mild-mannered young lady is sick of the sea: she'd much rather be ashore with her nose permanently buried in a book. But when Scylla the Serpent—the scourge of the sea—appears, quick-thinking Vic saves the ship by thunking the serpent on the head with her trunk full of books. For her bravery she is rewarded with the thing she wants most: a home on a little island. She opens a bookstore, and Landlubber Books becomes the pirates' favorite port in a storm. As Carrie Clickard's nimble, jaunty rhymes roll off the tongue like waves onto shore, children will delight in Victricia's adventures while parents will relate to her family's attempts to understand their unusual daughter. Victricia may not be a typical pirate hero, but she is the captain of her own destiny in this rollicking tale of self-determination, sticking to your dreams, and the joy of reading.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Clickard's debut, a pirate tale in verse, heroine Victricia would rather read than swashbuckle. Her bookishness isn't her only problem; it's part of a bigger package of nerdy, out-of-place feelings (she makes a shirt that reads "I Heart Dry Land"). To her credit, Clickard takes rhyme and meter seriously, achieving, at her best, a Gilbert and Sullivan like patter as she imagines the pirates mulling disciplinary measures ("Let's ground her awhile " "For a week " "Maybe two..." "On a boring old island, with nothing to do." " 'Twill heighten her gratitude." "Fix her pirattitude!"). Although Victricia redeems herself, she knows her heart isn't at sea, opting for a life as a bookseller and bringing about a career change among her former shipmates, who become "the world's first seafaring librarians!" In full-bleed spreads, Meyers (the Ballpark Mysteries series) provides lots of pirate detail and even an ironic moment or two (Victricia's baby cradle mobile features a fish skeleton and a dagger, presumably to encourage early pirate development). Rollicking, sea-chantey verse and slapstick humor make this a promising readaloud. Ages 4 8.
