How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen Paperback – October 1, 2006

This is simply one of the funniest, cleverest children's books ever written. I know, I now -- that's saying a lot, but I have two generations of kids -- daughters and grandchildren, nieces and nephews -- who would agree. Hoban's tale of a slightly errant Tom, who lived "with his maiden Aunt Miss Fidget Wonkham Strong" (and who not incidentally, "wore an iron hat and took no nonsense from anyone"), is a sheer joy to read aloud, and a delight to the adult reader as well as the lucky kid getting read to. The cheeky story of how Tom bests Captain Najork (not to mention his entire crew of hired sportsmen), sent to teach Tom a lesson, is perfectly complemented by Quentin Blake's whimsical illustrations. Every kid worth his salt will relate to Tom taking on the stiff-collared adult world, and beating the lot of them. (Spoiler alert: Captain Najork inexplicably falls for Aunt F W-S, and they all live happily ever after. Except for the hired sportsmen, alas, who have to learn pages of the Nautical Almanac every night after dinner. )

One of my faves of all time. The story, the language--what a clever, funny, imaginative book.

Will be giving this to our granddaughter for Christmas. Couldn’t find our original copy. I’m sure she will love it

This is a really great children's book. It's the story of a boy who spends a lot of time fooling around and the straight laced Aunt who decides to teach him a lesson by bringing in the 'hired sportsmen.' They play a number of games and Tom's fooling around is vindicated as he excels at the challenges. In the end everyone gets what they want, including the Aunt and Captain Najork himself!The story is great, the art is great - the whole book is great! The background message is that its ok to be independent and follow your interests, but this certainly isn't put in the young readers face. From their perspective it will simply be a fun, entertaining, and extremely well drawn story.

This was my favorite book as a child. The concept of a boy beating a gang of "hired sportsmen," because of his exceptional ability for fooling around appealed to me on the primordial level. Additional details such as Tom being forced to eat the disgustingly awesome meal of "Greasy Bloaters and Potato Slog," captured my imagination, and still are referenced from time-to-time by my siblings and I. This is simply an awesome book, and deserves to be republished, although there are reasonably priced used copies available if you know where to look. This is a 'Grade A' childrens book that is especially appealing to naughty little boys.

I was very pleased to find something new for my children from the author of the "Francis the Badger" stories - and to have it illustrated by Quentin Blake, too, made it irresistible.I'm glad I didn't resist. The story is wonderful, the characters amusing, and the ending very satisfying. Witty, whimsical a great book.

I bought this for my daughter for her baby shower. It was my children's favorite bedtime book when they were small. We got it out of the library frequently. It used to crack me up to read it. My younger daughter loved the pictures and now she will be able to carry on the tradition of reading it to her child - and so will I.

Tom is serious about playing. The captain takes himself seriously. Guess who wins - that's right, it's in the title.