The Daredevil Desperados of Destiny (Charlie Small Series #4)

by Charlie Small, Nick Ward

Overview

The fourth amazing, astonishing, all-action adventure journal of Charlie Small!

Having escaped the clutches of the evil Puppet Master, Charlie joins Wild Bob France’s gang, the Daredevil Desperados of Destiny, whose sole aim is to get rid of the outrageous outlaw Horatio Ham and his band of hired gunslingers. Charlie, aka the Lariat Kid, brings down Ham’s posse of gunslingers, takes part in a daring bank raid, is caught up in a ferocious gunfight, lands up in jail, and is about to be sacrificed to the Great Bird of Death.

Will Charlie escape? Will Ham be defeated? Only by reading Charlie’s extraordinary diaries will you find out!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385751414
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	05/26/2009
Series:	Charlie Small Series , #4
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Charlie Small is a keen amateur explorer. His interests include swinging through jungles, cooking for pirates, and puppet skills. He is also rather handy with a cutlass, and can swim underwater without oxygen. Charlie’s current whereabouts are a matter of some speculation; however, his mother assures us that he will be home in time for tea.

Editorial Reviews

In this fourth entry in the purported journals of Charlie Small, following Gorilla City, The Perfumed Pirates of Perfidy, and The Puppet Master, the British 400-year-old (who somehow still looks only eight) finds himself in the Wild West. He is "staring down the barrel of a Colt 45" wielded by the outlaw Wild Bob, who challenges him to a fight. When Charlie's inadvertent luck with a lasso saves Wild Bob from a grizzly, the two become friends, and Charlie learns about Bob's enemy, the land-grabbing bully Horatio Ham. Charlie joins up with Bob and the other Daredevil Desperados of Destiny to defeat Ham, but there is still time for side adventures, like battling a cougar with a brolly (the British slang here isn't likely to deter more sophisticated American readers) and meeting Nagachak, the son of the mighty Rapakwar chief, Sitting Pretty, while in jail. Charlie and Nagachak are supposed to be sacrificed to a two-headed vulture, but once again, a clever plan helps Charlie narrowly escape sure death. A bison stampede turns out to be an opportunity to meet Jakeman, inventor of automated animals, who promises to show Charlie the way home but then vanishes underground. Adventure fans will race through this spirited story, and its cliffhanger ending will have them eager to discover where Charlie will find himself next. Like the others in the series, this fast-moving, indeed breathless, action tale is enhanced by many black-and-white sketches and line drawings labeled with captions like "How I built my rope ladder up the jail bars." Because of frequent references to other titles, this is probably best read in the context of the series, but a motivated reader could startwith this one. It manages to cheerfully incorporate just about every cliche about the Old West, from a rattler attack to smoking a peace pipe to the effects of too many baked beans, and the illustrations add greatly to the fun. "A Desperado Dictionary" is appended. Reviewer: Paula Rohrlick

Children's Literature - Paula Rohrlick