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Synopsis
There's a mile-long word for the fear (and magic) of the number thirteen-triskaidekaphobia. In this comic fireworks of a novel, newly orphaned Buddy Stebbins stumbles onto the 13th floor of a shabby old building and finds himself transported aboard a leaking pirate ship in a howling storm--300 years in the past! Cast adrift, he washes up in New England where his plucky ancestor, ten-year-old Abigail, is caught up in the witchcraft mania and is about to be hanged. Firing off surprises like Roman candles from almost every page, award-winning novelist Sid Fleischman tells a many-mirrored tale of ghosts, witchcraft, razzle-dazzle treasure, and the mischief of illusion and delusion.
Publishers Weekly
Hold on to your hats-there's never a dull moment when Fleischman (The Whipping Boy) is at the helm. A rollicking ride, this tale by the Newbery Medalist casts off into comic adventure with the young orphan Buddy, his lawyer sister, and a magical elevator that whisks them 300 years into the past. Fleischman deftly juggles several equally entertaining story lines, one involving a pirate ship and a hidden treasure, another focused on a 10-year-old girl accused of witchcraft in Puritan Boston, and a third revolving around Buddy and his sister's present-day struggle to pay off their recently deceased parents' debts and keep the family home. Liberally laced with dry wit and thoroughly satisfying-in Fleischman's world, villains always get their just deserts and endings are as happy as they are unexpected-readers could hardly ask for more. Ages 8-up. (Oct.)