Could you be Captain of a whaling ship if all the crew around you died in a tragedy? Would you even want to? And what would you do if the cook on board has plans of his own and wants to kill you? This and much more is what poor fifteen year old Dick Sands has to deal with as the only surviving crew member.

Everything seems to be going according to plan. That is until the cook sabotages the ship and rather than arriving in South America, the group ends up in Africa. The evil cook’s plan is to sell everyone on board into slavery. Will they survive all the obstacles and unexpected occurrences or will they fall victims to the African slave trade?

'Dick Sands, the Boy Captain' is an adventure novel which not only keeps you on the edge until the very end, but it also depicts the widespread condemnation of slavery. Jules Verne (1828-1905) was a French novelist who mostly wrote adventure fiction inspired by the scientific advances of the 19th century. With the help of editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel he wrote a series of books called 'Extraordinary Travels', which includes 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' (1864), 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea' (1870) and 'Around the World in Eighty Days' (1873). There have been many film adaptations of Jules Verne’s books with the most notable being 'Journey to the Center of The Earth' (2008) starring Brendan Fraser and Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games), 'Around the World in 80 Days' (1956) and 'Journey 2: The Mysterious Island' (2012) starring Dwayne Johnson. Widely popular with both children and adults, Verne is one of the most translated authors of all time, and still inspires people the world over.