If you haven’t discovered Angie Sage’s marvellous Araminta Spook series yet you are in for a treat. Araminta is a feisty character, fond of bats and ghosts, and there’s always a spooky element to her adventures. In this story, the young ladies of Gargoyle Hall boarding school are off to Skeleton Island, haunted, rumour has it, by the ghosts of pirates. Araminta sees a chance to scare her enemy Nosy Nora, but instead she and Wanda get stranded with the ghostly pirates. All ends well and one of the skeleton pirate ghosts joins the school as a new girl! As ever, the story is inventive, funny and expertly plotted, exceptionally good for newly fluent readers. ~ Andrea Reece
When Araminta and her best friend Wanda go on a school trip to Skeleton Island, they don't expect to get stranded there overnight. And they certainly don't expect the island to be haunted by ghostly skeletons of pirates!
It certainly makes for a spooky sleepover. Luckily these ghoulish pirates just want someone to help them find their lost treasure, then they'll happily set sail on their ghost ship once more. But someone else wants the treasure for themselves - can Araminta find what is lurking in the depths before it's too late?
Angie Sage grew up in the Thames Valley, London and Kent. She went to Art School in Leicester where she studied Graphic Design and Illustration. After college she started illustrating books and then progressed to writing, first toddler books, later chapter books and now, Septimus Heap. She lives overlooking a creek in Cornwall and loves sailing her boat, Muriel, and all things to do with the sea. She has two grown up daughters. Read a Q&A with the author here.
