A Near Thing for Captain Najork

Sloppy illustration, a silly protagonist, awesomely named characters, and a fun experience to read, A NEAR THING FOR CAPTAIN NAJORK continues the story of Tom, a boy extraordinary gifted at fooling around. This time Tom and his jam powered frog are called to aid Captain Najork, whos gotten himself mired in some pretty serious woman trouble. Delightful to read, this was one of my favorite books as a boy, and one that I've made it a point to own and read to my nephew, who loves it as much as I do. While neither of us is quite as good as Tom at fooling around, (after all "tom foolery" was named after Tom!) we certainly can appreciate a good story.

Tom and His Aunt Bundlejoy Cozysweet have an adventure in his frog and Aunt Fidget Wonkham Strong Najork arm wrestles the Headmistress for good Captain Najork. This is indeed a very fun and visually enjoyable book to read either quietly to yourself or out loud. I brought it in to share with my preschool group, and those that loved the story, love to hear it over and over again or to just sit and look at the pictures. I've shared both this book and How Tom Beat Captain Najork and his hired sportsmen with the children several times and will need to purchase a new copy, this one is falling apart now from the love. Highly recommended for it's unique enjoyable and fun flare.

The infamous Captain Najork, now married to Tom's hideous Aunt Fidget, is in trouble. Aunt Fidget believes that he is canoodling with the strong-armed headmistress of the local girls' school. Tom, his new aunt Bundlejoy Cosysweet, and the jam-powered frog are instrumental in the clash-of-the-titans arm wrestling contest which decides the Captain's fate -- one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in children's literature. As good as it is for silent reading, this book is a delirious treat to read out loud.