Jack Plank Tells Tales

Author:  Babbitt, Natalie

Main Characters:   Jack Plank, Mrs. DelFresno, Nina, Miss Withers, Miss Wither's Uncle.

Setting:  The island of Jamaica, 1720.

Summary:  The story takes place on the island of Jamaica around 1720.  Jack had been a pirate, but was not good at plundering.  Finally he was told he could no longer stay on the ship the Avarice.  So he came ashore at a town called Saltwash.  He found a boarding house to stay in while he looked for work.  Each night he told about his effort to find work and why he did not suceed.  After about 9 days he wanted to go find work on a ship, but they convinced him to stay and be a storyteller.

 Questions:Please list three questions and answers.  Read what has been written already.  Do not duplicate an question.  Please correct or add information to an answer.

1.  Who is Jack Plank?  He is an out of work pirate.  He was not good at plundering, so he stayed on the ship the Avarice tending the soup.  When they could not afford to keep him without him earning any money, they put him ashore in a town called Saltwash.

2.  Why couldn't Jack work in the sugarcane fields?  He would have had to cross a bridge and he was afraid there might be a troll at the bridge.

3.  Why couldn't Jack work in the baker's shop?  It would have made him think about Spooner, a man in a washtub who was trying to take a molasses cake to a mermaid on the Half Moon Reef.

4.  What did Victor Mack have that he thought was valuable?  He thought he had the hand of the mummy King Amemsees.  He paid 5 gold florians for it.  When the ghost came to get it he found that it was just a twig inside of linen wrapping.

5.  Why wouldn't Jack Plank eat octopus?  He was afraid it might be Simon Figley, who Stonehouse the cook had seen change into an  octopus under a full moon and go into the sea.  He came  back out.  On another full moon an octopus rescued Stonehouse from a shark. At that point Figley was never seen again.                                                                    

6.  Why did Boris Bilski have to shave off his beard? A crab got stuck in it and then a guinea pig.

7.  What became of the guinea pig in Boris' beard?  Boris kept it as a pet.

8.  What was the pendant that Snipe wore around his neck?  It was a frog standing on its hind legs.  The pendant was 2 " tall and solid good. 

9.  What did Plank say about being an actor?  He said not just anyone can do it.  You have to know how to make people believe you are somebody else.

10.  Who raised the girl Flotsam Flora that they found on the island?  She was raised by seagulls.  Then Chesstrees grandmother took her in.

11.  What talent did Waddy have that Jack Plank did not have an ear for? Waddy was a musician.  Waddy played his music for an old alligator and it changed his life.

12, How was the problem of finding a job solved?  Mrs. DelFresno and her daughter Nina, and Miss Withers and her Unlce all loved Jack Plank's stories.  So they thought he could tell stories 3 days a week and they would serve tea.  They could charge guests 3 shillings for tea and stories, and split the money between Jack and Mrs. Delfresno.  Jack Plank was a storyteller.