Written in diary form, this is the story of reluctant pirate pupil Pickles, packed off to pirate school. At Captain Abdul's awful academy she is taught such essential pirate topics as treasure, how to make cannon balls and the correct way to say, Ooh arrgh! Then she discovers a staffroom plot to kidnap the pupils and hold them to ransom! So she leads a mutiny, following which she and her fellow pupils set sail in the Golden Behind and have a great life robbing other pirates. Pickles (revealed on the last page to be a girl called Maisy) is happy because she has plenty of time to paint!