"When Magnolia's family prepares to meet Santa at the local mall, she befriends a mischievous pirate and tries to get him taken off Santa's 'naughty list'"--
Text and bird's-eye-view illustrations follow the action on a pirate ship throughout the year, from loading cargo, to setting sail, through an island idyll, to shipwreck. Includes challenges for readers.
Tank is a clumsy, outgoing Great Dane, and Haggis is a bored, curmudgeonly Scottie--so one afternoon Tank suggests they turn the wagon in the backyard into a ship and play pirate.
While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map that leads them to a pirate's fortune as well as great danger.
Captain Cutlass runs into trouble when his refusal to wear the glasses he so obviously needs nearly causes him to miss out on finding a hidden treasure.
After Frank and Joe's friend Jason wins a map to the buried treasure of Captain Scurvydog, they investigate when Jason claims the ghost of the pirate has been haunting him and warning him not to dig up the treasure.