Caribbean Capers

Rating:
Summary: From a South Carolina Teacher
Review: As former sailors in the Virgin Islands, we found "Caribbean Capers" delightful despite its youthful theme. I was particularly impressed with how well the story related to the familiar geography, topology, and old colonial structures of St. John. It was almost like taking those wonderful hikes again out of Leinster Bay over to Maho, or over the mountain to Coral Bay. Fond memories!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful memories
Review: As former sailors in the Virgin Islands, we found "Caribbean Capers" delightful despite its youthful theme. I was particularly impressed with how well the story related to the familiar geography, topology, and old colonial structures of St. John. It was almost like taking those wonderful hikes again out of Leinster Bay over to Maho, or over the mountain to Coral Bay. Fond memories!

Rating:
Summary: Caribbean Capers, by Joan and Marco Santomenna
Review: For those traveling to the Virgin Islands, or other parts of the Caribbean, this book might be what your kids are looking for. The settings are all real places, and the bits of history and legend tucked inside a pretty decent story will give children say ages 8-11 lots of cool things to think about in the islands.

"Caribbean Capers" actually is two self-standing stories in one, with shared locales and characters. There is nothing we found that could be considered inappropriate for children, and the writing and plot seem right for readers.

But don't take my word for it. Here's what our daughter had to say about "Caribbean Capers" (though I really, really don't like the term "pre-teen"):

A well written story, that describes that characters with detail, and great description, sucks you into the story, and makes it so that it is like you're actually in the story.

During the first summer, Buzz, (a pre-teen boy that lives in St. John, with his Father) teaches Brian (also a pre-teen boy that came to St. John on a vacation) about boats, as a mystery starts to unravel, and as they go along, the boys learn about courage, trust, and not too judge too quickly about other people especially just about how they look. But who stole all the boat motors?

In the second story, Brian comes back for another exciting trip to the Virgin Islands, but when a mysterious boy named Eric who comes from a country called Ergrea, is hiding on the Crystal Blue yacht, it looks like another mystery that needs solving. Eric was almost kidnapped by his body guard, he escaped, but will he be able to escape again?

Think Scooby Doo mysteries, but in a good way. The book reads well, and would be appropriate for a few hour plane ride from the U.S.' East coast to a vacation in the Caribbean.
Rating:
Summary: From a South Carolina Teacher
Review: I read the book and really enjoyed it. It reminded me of the deep sea adventures I once used with remedial kids in the middle grades because of the high interest. I can't wait to read the sequels because I want to know more about the characters.