Blackbeard's Lost Treasure by Craig Venezia
What happens when your great-great-
Blackbeard’s Lost Treasure: H .G. Doyle, The Greatest Detective of All Time follows the adventures of Herbert George Doyle, H.G. for short, and his best friend Agatha as they travel back to the year 1718 to help Blackbeard find a treasure that he’s buried but now can’t find. Full of twists, turns and full-on belly laughs, this entertaining audio CD contains 36 minutes of animated narration and live-action sound effects that bring the story to life.
“When I originally wrote the story, I assumed it would come out as a traditional children’s chapter book,” admits Craig Venezia. “But after hearing Steve Anderson’s fantastic narration paired with the live action sound effects, it really made more sense to release it first as an audio book.”
Geared for kids six years and up, Blackbeard’s Lost Treasure: H.G. Doyle, The Greatest Detective of All Time is built on the premise of H.G. and Agatha not quite knowing how to fly the time machine. That leads to a series of mishaps, such as overshooting the year 1718 by tens of millions of years, only to end up face-to-face with a T rex. “I knew we should have turned left at the end of the 19th century,” Agatha says.
Upon reaching their destination, the whimsical pair gets off on the wrong foot with Blackbeard – literally. H.G. actually lands the time machine on Blackbeard’s foot. “YEOW! What are ye trying to do, turn me into a peg-legged pirate?” Blackbeard cries out. Eventually, H.G. and Agatha find themselves in Blackbeard’s good graces and even teach him how to give time-outs to his cutthroat crew. “That’s harsh punishment, even for a pirate,” Blackbeard says. But as events unfold, H.G. and Agatha find themselves on the wrong end of a cutlass and high-tail it out of there.
Just when you think their adventure can’t get any crazier, H.G. and Agatha end up in Philadelphia in the year 1776. They stumble across Ben Franklin, who isn’t at all too happy with them. ”You two are in big trouble,” Ben Franklin exclaims. “Wait until George Washington hears about this little incident.” Turns out, H.G. and Agatha arrived in Philadelphia exactly 15 minutes after they were there the last time, which was when Stanley, H.G.’s five-year-old brother, cracked the Liberty Bell.
When asked if being chased by a T. rex, Blackbeard and Ben Franklin all in one story seems a bit whacky, Venezia just shakes his head and laughs. “It is. That’s what makes the story so much fun,” he says. “Besides, what’s wrong with whacky? Isn’t that what being a kid is all about?”
A children’s audio book is certainly a departure from Venezia’s other book, the recently released second edition of Buying a Second Home: Income, Getaway or Retirement (Nolo, Feb. 2009). Asked where he got the inspiration to write the H.G. Doyle series, Venezia adds, “Kids are under so much pressure these days to grow up fast. I think they can stand to have a little more fun. If H.G. Doyle does nothing more than make a kid laugh, I’ve accomplished my goal. ”
Blackbeard’s Lost Treasure: H.G. Doyle, The Greatest Detective of All Time is available on audio CD through Amazon.com. To listen to a clip, visit http:// www.kidscornerpress.com
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