Captain No Beard Takes to High Seas and Faces Terrifying Storm! Carole P. Roman Brings Everybody Home! A Personal Favorite for 2016...

Captain No Beard was listening to music about the pirates' life and thinking about what his next adventure would be. Then he had it! They would take a trip to Dew Rite Volcano! 

Captain No Beard scanned the horizon. A storm wouldn't match well with his plans. He needed to get to Dew Rite Volcano by dark. It was straight ahead. He pulled out his spyglass and looked at the sky.
"I don't see storm clouds, Mongo. Those are cumulus clouds. They don't mean anything," he commented, dismissing the white clouds in the sky. "They are fluffy and white, like great balls of cotton. Everybody knows those clouds don't bring rain."
~~~

All of his mates were soon on board and headed straight ahead! They were all in their positions, working hard on the ship when the Captain declared that they were ready to go...The clouds were white and fluffy and they should have a good day for sailing.

Being A Captain
  Is Hard Work

By Carole P. Roman

Illustrated by Bonnie Lemaire

The crew was working diligently to get the Flying Dragon shipshape while the Captain looked on...

Mongo was up in the mainmast; Hallie was swabbing the deck, and Polly was bringing pretzels to the crew while Cayla was stuffing holes with rags, and young Zachary was preparing to raise the flat. It had the promise of a great day, Captain No Beard thought proudly.

Captain No Beard shook his head. "I don't believe so,
Mongo. I know my clouds, and these don't mean rain.
I think we're good to go. Come down from the mast
and prepare to set sail."
!!!

But when the captain asked Mongo how things looked from the top of the mast, Mongo told him that there was rough seas ahead. He explained he'd seen dark clouds and the wind coming up...

The Captain looked at the skies again and declared it looked fine, again referring to the clouds as cumulus.

Mongo was concerned and hesitantly said that the clouds were pretty dark and dense and that he thought they were stratocumulus.

"I'm the captain, and I think I know
what's best for my ship."
~~~

What to do??? Members of the crew, starting with Mongo's warning about the high winds and dark clouds began to look toward the sky. And, soon, Fribbet questioned the Captain's orders as the ship rocked so high that he hit his head!

But the Captain told Fribbet he was just overreacting... He even threatened Fribbet for talking back to him.

Well, I don't know about you, but I've been in this situations lots of time. With parents, teachers, or even friends! Sometimes somebody wants to do something that you know could lead to trouble or even danger, such as it did as the ship headed into a terrible storm...

But, what could the crew do? The Captain seemed too proud whenever one of his crew suggested not following the Captain's orders! 

Worse, the crew had never seen the Captain like this. Normally he listened to his crew and then they worked out things together.  

But the Captain yelled out full speed ahead...to the volcano in the north!

The crew were all unhappy... And worse, worried. And then, it really did happened, one of them was in danger!

I think this is my favorite of the Captain No Beard series. We can look at the story in two ways...from the standpoint of the Captain, who was upset with him feeling disrespect of his command. Were they planning a mutiny?!!!

But there is also the other side...that member of the crew who felt he just had to speak out, knowing he was right. Sometimes that's very hard to do! Especially with your friends or even family members... There is much to learn from this book for all of us...children and adults! I've added it to my personal favorites...It's a great reminder of what we really know is the right thing to do... Kudos to both the author and to the illustrator, whose work on the high seas helped produce a thrilling story! 

Oh, and there's an extra "Cloud Key" to teach readers all the different kinds of clouds. Cool!


GABixlerReviews

Being A Captain Is Hard Work - Awards:

• Back to Homeschool Resource Award winner!
• NABE Pinnacle Award Winner
• New York Book Festival 2016 - Honorable Mention
• Foreword Review - Five Stars
• IAN Book of the Year Awards 2016 - "Children's Fiction Illustrated" Finalist