CAPTAIN PUGWASH by JOHN RYAN

Ahoy there me hearties!

Captain Pugwash first set sail over 50 years ago and I can certainly remember, as a child growing up in England watching a 10 minute cartoon of him .

Captain Pugwash is the most unlikely of pirates; he's big, fat, greedy and a total coward. His ship, 'The Black Pig' is crewed by an equally useless bunch of lazy pirates except for Tom , the cabin boy. In the adventures, Pugwash is pursued over the Seven seas by a ruthless villan called Cut-Throat Jake. Jake's attempts to capture Pugwash are always humourously thwarted by the loyal, sharp minded Tom .

These stories are ideal for young readers, especially boys; my 6 year old son giggles away as he devours story after story.

Tintin

Thundering Typhoons, Tintin the intrepid reporter characterised by his quiff and faithful dog, Snowy has hit the news recently. The controversy focuses on the earlier Tintin adventures and the issue of racism. Herge, who created Tintin over 60 years ago has expressed his views on this in New Zealand's own elsewhere on-line magazine.

Matamata library has a whole collection of Tintin books and videos. They are well worth reading and as you journey through the adventures you'll meet the idiotic, bowler hatted detectives Thompson and Thomson, the short fused, dipsomaniac called Captain Haddock, the absent minded, short-sighted professor and lots of villans.

For those who are hooked on Tintin, and there is no age restriction, you might like to peruse two very important websites: Tintin and Tintinologist . Both have fantastic images and contain a wealth of information. It helps to be a bit 'nerdy'.

So as Captain Haddock would say, "Thundering Typhoons! Buccaneers! Filibusters!" Happy reading.