Pocket Pirates 2 – The Great Drain Escape

Chris Mould's The Great Drain Escape is a funny, slightly smelly Pocket Pirates adventure for 8 year olds about a tiny crew who get washed down a drain.

What happens

The Pocket Pirates live in a ship in a bottle, on a dusty shelf in Mr Tooey's junk shop. And right now they're starving. Mr Tooey has moved his dog's basket under their shelf, so they can't get down to look for food. They're living on stale crumbs and a mouldy bit of cheese.

So Button the cabin boy sneaks out. He promises his best friend Lily he won't leave the shelf (with his fingers crossed behind his back). Then he hides in a rubbish bag and gets carried out into the street.

Of course the rest of the crew go after him. Uncle Noggin spots half a sandwich in the rain (with goat's cheese!), dashes for it and gets swept down a drain, clinging to a lollipop. It isn't long before everyone else follows.

Down there it's dark and cold and full of rats. Something big and brown floats past, and it's definitely not a bit of wood. (Your reader will LOVE this bit.) There's an enormous beetle with snapping pincers on the way up, and a hungry ginger cat waiting at the top.

What makes it such fun is the crew. Captain Crabsticks is terribly polite, even to the rat he hires as a boat. Uncle Noggin can't stop telling stories about food, even when he's hanging on for his life. And Button and Lily take turns coming up with the clever idea that saves everyone.

Who knew the story of the gingerbread man would come in so handy?

This is the second Pocket Pirates book, and it's a quick, bouncy read with a proper sense of how enormous the world looks when you're tiny. A single raindrop can soak you. A rainy pavement turns into a river.

If you've got a reader who likes their adventures with plenty of disgusting bits and nobody really getting hurt, this is perfect.

What to read next

If they haven't met the crew yet, go back to The Great Cheese Robbery. Button nearly ends up as the house spider's supper in the very first scene, and it's Lily who pulls him free.