It's 1740 . . .
The Firefly is taken in the night by pirates who sail the Caribbean. The ship's boy and a handful of men are set adrift in a jolly-boat. Without food or water the half-starved men eye up the young boy.
Astonishingly, a mysterious Mr Wicker saves the boy by turning him into an unearthly creature — an invisible flying boy with beautiful emerald-green wings.
When the boy is drawn to a ghost ship sailed by Captain Bass, he learns of the dangerous power of a magical astrolabe which Mr Wicker desperately seeks — and why Wicker must never find it.
The boy cannot trust Wicker . . . but is there anyone he can trust? Captain Bass? Sophie Blade, the pirate's daughter? And who can return him to himself?
Jake has always dreamed of flying, and he knows that he can - it's just a matter of how.
What he needs is:
1. a GREAT plan;
2. the right stuff;
3. his friend Jonah
With everything in place, will Jake get his BIG dream off the ground?
"Matilda Mudpuddle rose from her chair. Not to brush her teeth, feed the cant or go out to play. She rose much more than that!
Matilda Mudpuddle is amazing in everything she does, but never more than when she eats the beans her grandfather has brought back from a trekking tour in Tibet. She floats to the tops of trees; she flies as fast as the birds; she performs a high wire circus act; she zooms to the top of the harbour bridge and she takes the part of Mary Poppins in the school play. Her big test comes when her friend Stephen Ko is captured by car thieves. Saving him is a serious test of her new powers.
Summary: Isobel and Nicholas find a magical flying sailing boat and, during their voyage around the world, they rescue some new friends from the problems of prejudice, pollution, child labour and war. Suggested level: junior.
