"Being a captain is hard work," is one of Captain No Beard's favorite sayings. And in this adventure his crew is pretty large, so there are a lot of tasks to keep straight. He has Zach raising the flag, Polly at work in the galley, Hallie is swabbing the deck; everyone is doing something. They are a good crew and follow orders, but whenever they try to share a concern with the captain, he refuses to listen. Captain No Beard is so intent on making the trip to Dew Rite Volcano that he won't admit there are storm clouds on the horizon, that the wind is really gusting, or that the seas are too rough. Because of his stubbornness, he almost loses a crew member. Can he learn from his mistakes before it is too late?
Everyone can agree that being a leader is hard work, but it can be even harder when you won't listen to anyone else. Smart leaders surround themselves with capable people, just as First Mate Hallie reminds Captain No Beard. Even if you are just playing a game of make-believe, everyone wants it to succeed, so a leader should listen to advice when it is given. That is a lesson that the Captain and readers can learn from this adventure. Mongo the monkey is on lookout and spots what he thinks are storm clouds. He and the captain disagree about whether they are cumulus or stratocumulus. For readers who are not well versed in cloud types, there is a Cloud Key at the end of the story with names, pictures, and descriptions of ten different types. That would make this a nice story to tie in with a unit on weather for the early grades.
I received a copy from the author for review purposes. For more information about the author and her books, please visit http://caroleproman.com/ .
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