The day Nell becomes a pirate she thinks that all her dreams have come true, but her curmudgeonly Captain brings her crashing down to earth with a bang. Nell loves to read swashbuckling stories but Captain Gnash says there’s no time for reading on his ship. He takes one look at her most treasured possession – The Pirate’s Almanac – and he laughs in her face. He doesn’t believe in all this book nonsense!

Nell decides to keep out of the nasty Captain’s way so she spends her days scrubbing the ship clean and regaling the other pirates with fabulous tales of buried chests and daring rescues. But then one day she finds a treasure map sealed in a little bottle bobbing on the waves and she realises that adventure is just over the horizon.