Frankie vs. the Pirate Pillagers Page 3

  The ball bounced off the ship-shaped jungle gym beneath Charlie’s outstretched arm.

  The sun was still above the trees. The park was still empty. Louise was sitting on the ground, and Max was rolling over on the grass, scratching his back.

  “Did anyone else just have the strangest dream?” asked Frankie. He looked down at himself and saw his normal clothes and sneakers.

  Charlie picked up the ball and inspected it. “Um … sort of.”

  Louise held her video game in front of her. “Thank goodness! It’s not broken anymore.”

  Frankie looked over at his pet dog. “Max?”

  Max cocked his head, wagged his tail, but didn’t say anything.

  Frankie noticed something gleaming on the ground beside him. My fifty cents? … But when he picked it up, it was way too heavy. And it wasn’t silver — it was gold!

  A gold coin? Pirate treasure!

  “Definitely not a dream,” said Louise, peering over Frankie’s shoulder.

  “And definitely not the last time we play in the fantasy league!” said Frankie.

  Many thanks to Samantha Smith, Charlie King, Kate Webster, Madeleine Feeny, and everyone at Little, Brown UK; Neil Blair, Zoe King, Daniel Teweles, and all at The Blair Partnership; Mike Jackson for bringing my characters to life; special thanks to Michael Ford for all his wisdom and patience; and to Steve Kutner for being a great friend and for all his help and guidance not just with this book but with everything.

  ALSO BY FRANK LAMPARD

  Frankie vs. the Pirate Pillagers

  Frankie vs. the Rowdy Romans

  Frankie vs. the Cowboy’s Crew

  Frankie vs. the Mummy’s Menace

  Copyright © 2013 by Lamps On Productions. All rights reserved.

  Published by Scholastic Inc., 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  First printing, May 2014

  Cover art by MJ Illustrations

  Cover design by Claire Moore

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-66613-8

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.