Kids into books - The Great Bamboozle

Author: Joy Cowley

Publisher: Scholastic, $8.95

Illustrator: Philip Webb

Age group: 7-10 years


The thought of those pearls had put her in an unusually good mood. She ate oatmeal cookies and sang loudly, leaving trails of crumbs for the fish. Everything was going well until the seagull flew over her head, screaming louder than her song, louder than the wind. Griselda closed her mouth and frowned. Was that he name she heard? She held out half an oatmeal cookie and the bird came down to get it.

"No bamboozle for Grizzly!" it yelled in her ear. "No bamboozle for Grizzley!"

That was the end of the good mood. As quick as a sneeze, Griselda had it all worked out. Who had told her about the place where there were pearls as big as cherries? The mayor of Crossbones! Who had come down to the wharf to wave her goodbye with his white silk handkerchief? The miserable mayor of Crossbones!

So the mayor and the pirates of Crossbones were plotting skullduggery, jiggery-pokery and malicious mayhem! They were trying to cut her out of the great bamboozle!

Griselda turned the Bumbucket about. Ropes creaked. Sails flapped. The little ship dipped towards home.

"I'm coming!" Griselda yelled into the wind. "I'm coming, you toads, you maggots, you rotten applies. Just you wait! I'll give you all bamboozle!"

Chapter 3

The mayor of Crossbones jingled his gold chain and swished his velvet robes as he fixed a paper to the wall with his dagger.

"I announce the great bamboozle to be started," he said. "Here is the first clue!"

The pirates gathered around to read the bamboozler. On the paper was written: What did the ocean say to the shore?

"I know that one," cried first mate Jingo Jim. "The ocean didn't say anything. It just waved. That means the next clue is down on the beach."

"Or in the ocean," said Captain Grab.

"Or on a wave," muttered Captain Scuttle.

The pirates turned to the mayor. "Which one is it?"

The mayor twirled his big black moustache. "You have to guess," he said. "You know the rules. It wouldn't be a bamboozle if you weren't bamboozled."

The pirates turned and ran for the beach, which was a very sensible choice because the clue was on the shore. They found it on the sand above the high tide mark, a piece of fluttering paper fixed with a sword.