DOUBLOON!

In Rougraff’s debut children’s novel, a young boy visiting a Florida island discovers a centuries-old, cursed doubloon that once belonged to a Spanish pirate.

Nine-year-old Tommy is a curious, compassionate, and precocious kid who dislikes English class. One day, he digs a hole in the sand as a fun beach activity, and he stumbles upon a Spanish coin minted in 1756. The back of it is inscribed with the initials “JG,” which, he soon discovers, stand for José Gasparilla, a Spanish national hero-turned-pirate. Ed, an elderly, kindly neighbor, guides Tommy to Marco, an island old-timer who slowly helps the boy unravel the doubloon’s cursed history. A series of unfortunate events ensues after Tommy finds the coin—his father gets in a fender bender, his brother breaks an arm, his sister inadvertently poisons a tortoise, his other brother becomes trapped underneath a boat, and Marco stops catching any fish. Tommy is left to resolve the mystery of the coin himself, and Rougraff weaves in bits and pieces of the boy’s family life along the way; he does this so subtly that readers might miss how they infuse the book with depth and emotional weight. Readers see the family vacation unfold through Tommy’s eyes, and Rougraff handles the boy’s point of view adeptly. Tommy’s reactions range from the unconcealed enthusiasm of youth—“Corndogs for dinner—awesome!”—to the instinctual insight of a child; for example, regarding a coin dealer, he thinks: “I didn’t like this guy….He didn’t look at us when he spoke. It seemed like he was working a shady deal.” Especially memorable is a description of a young osprey taking first flight, and how Tommy and his siblings bond while getting themselves into and out of trouble.

An endearing and poignant vacation read for young readers.