This book is a middle grades version of Pirates of the Caribbean mixed with some Indiana Jones. It is a chapter book for middle grade children who love adventure, pirates, with some supernatural mixed in.

On Ocracoke Island in South Carolina we meet our heroes and their mentor/friend Mrs. McNemmish, who is a descendant of Blackbeard. She makes the children, Stefanie, Mark, Billy and Daniel promise to bury her at sea. They will then get a key to unlock Blackbeard's treasure. Of course they comply with this request but not with their parents agreement. They break into the church, steal her coffin, accidentally set fire to the church, fall of the bellfry almost drown and that is just the beginning of their adventure. Finding secret tunnels, skeletons, bats, getting bit by spiders and finding treasure chests are all part of the adventure. It is told in a way that catches your attention and you want to keep reading to see what happens. While all this is going on, we meet up with Blackbeard and his crew on the Queen Anne's Revenge as ghosts on a ghost ship. There is a fun sequence in the book where they actually get to attack another boat but I will let the reader find out about that part.

The reason why I did not give this book 5 stars were the character of Stefanie. She was whiny, actually rather mean to the boys and they placated her and constantly told her how brave she was. It really gave the one female character in the book a rather sad personality which gave me a bad taste.

There were not a lot of illustrations in this book but the ones that were in it were black and white and contained just enough detail and information to support the story and give people some vision of the characters and their situation. I recommend this book to elementary school libraries as well as junior classroom libraries. A fun, adventurous read.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

When you have pirates,treasure,ghosts and hidden tunnels and then add 4 children to the mix you get a fun-filled and whimsical story. Widow Nemmish asks the children to bury her at sea when the times comes and they agree thus sending the children on a wondrous ans at times dangerous adventure.

I would recommend this book to young and old readers. The characters are well-written and believable, and the legends and folk-lore were well researched and quite interesting. Although this is a children's book I truly enjoyed reading it.

Thank s to Net Galley and Tanglewood publishers for letting me read this entertaining book. ( )

As juvenile fiction goes, this book would be on the top of my list for recommendations. It’s a great story that would entertain boys, girls, young and old. The tale centers around four children – Stephanie, Mark, Daniel, and Billy. They are not exactly the best of friends, more like family. Their favorite pastime is visiting with Mrs. McNemmish. Theodora McNemmish is descended from Blackbeard the pirate and loves to fill her visits with stories of plunder and treasure. Theodora is quite elderly and, one day, asks the children to bury her at sea and in return she will give them treasure.
When Mrs. McNemmish does pass away, the children set out to fulfill their promise. Theodora is buried at sea so she might join Blackbeard on his ghost ship. However, finding the treasure was harder than it looked. Not only did they have to search but against a cunning, evil man who wants the treasure for himself. Theodora hasn’t left the children without help. She and Blackbeard assist from the beyond. The result is a thrilling humorous tale.
Audrey Penn has written a fun story steeped in history. Readers won’t feel lectured, nor do the lessons interfere with the tale. I do think there were bits of the story that dragged on slightly and places where the information given was far too much but that had less to do with the history and more to do with trying to tie up too many loose ends. I did enjoy this story and I will warn for juvenile – it’s 350 plus pages. ( )