The Giant Rat of Sumatra by Sid Fleischman

The Giant Rat of Sumatra by Sid Fleischman

A swashbuckling tale of thievery and revenge

The Giant Rat of Sumatra is the most notorious pirate ship in the Pacific. Its ferocious figurehead, a rat with crooked teeth and gouged-out eyes, strikes fear in the heart of every seafaring crew. Now the ship has dropped anchor in San Diego. Twelve-year-old cabin boy Shipwreck -- so named after he was rescued from the sea by the pirates -- is anxious to begin his long journey home to Boston. Instead, he finds himself swept up in a treacherous plot. It seems his adventure is only just beginning. . . .

Sid Fleischman published over sixty books for kids, adults, and magicians. The Newbery Medal for his novel The Whipping Boy was one of his many honors. In his memoirs The Abracadabra Child, the author recalled his wasted adolescence as a magician and newspaperman. The Performer and the Dybbuk, a fiction, and three biographies, Sir Charlie: Chaplin, The Funniest Man in the World; The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West; and Escape!, are among his other works.