Written in diary form, this is the swashbuckling story of reluctant pirate pupil Pickles, packed off by her parents to pirate school, when she would much rather spend her days painting. At the academy she is taught such essential pirate topics as treasure, how to make cannon balls, the correct way to say Ooh Arrgh and so on. Then she discovers a staffroom plot to kidnap the pupils and hold them to ransom. So she leads a mutiny, following which she and her fellow pupils set sail in The Golden Behind and have a great life robbing pirates. Pickles (revealed on the last page to be a girl called Maisy is happy because she has plenty of time to paint.