Sep 5, 2006 3 min read

Being a kid isn’t easy.

Everywhere you go, people tell you what to do and what not to do. Temptation surrounds you and some things are just impossible to resist. It’s hard to heed your elders when you’re a kid.

In the new children’s audio book “Escape from the Carnivale” by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, performed by Jim Dale, it’s doubly hard for Little Scallop and her friends to listen to the grown-ups. There’s adventure to be had, and they don’t want to miss it.

Little Scallop, Princess of the Mollusk tribe, is very envious of her bigger brothers. They get to spy on the Pirates on the other side of Mollusk Island. They have adventures. Little Scallop is only allowed to play in the cove with the mermaids, and while that’s a lot of fun, it’s not very adventurous.

Little Scallop’s two best friends, Surf and Aqua, are mermaids who live in Parrot Cove, but they’ve explored the sea and they know secrets. Beautiful secrets, like the undersea cave where gigantic pearls are there for the taking. Aqua, Surf, and Little Scallop have been warned to never, ever stray from the safety of Parrot Cove, but who can resist the temptation of pearls?

It’s a lovely night for clam hunting, but an unexpected storm arises and Surf and Aqua get lost. Little Scallop thinks maybe this adventure is a bad idea. It’s an even worse idea when Surf is captured in a net, hauled aboard a decrepit ship named The Carnivale, and placed in a tank with strange-looking sea-creatures.

Ebeneezer Crookshank, captain of The Carnivale, is overjoyed to have caught a mermaid, and since this one speaks English, she’ll be the headliner of their show. All Crookshank needs now is a sea-serpent, and he’ll have riches beyond his grandest dreams.

Rushing back to Mollusk Island, Little Scallop runs to Neverland, in search of Peter Pan. Pan is away, but James, being the eldest and in charge of the Lost Boys, agrees to help free Surf from Crookshank and his men.

On the other side of the island, Peter Pan’s old nemesis is hard at work, building a driftwood raft. Captain Hook saw The Carnivale out there on the water. A ship like that could get him off the island and away from the nasty crocodile that wants Hook for his dinner.

But who will reach The Carnivale first?

I’m just a wee bit beyond the age group that “Escape from The Carnivale” is meant for, but I still found it exciting. Jim Dale, who is the performer on this audio book, has won a Grammy, a Tony, and seven Audie Awards, and his reading makes this story one that will keep you sitting in your van in the parking lot, engine running, until the track ends or the next chapter begins.

When you see this audio book on the shelf, go ahead. Be tempted. Grab it and get ready for adventure. “Escape from The Carnivale” is a book you’re going to want to net soon.