Carly's Cave Box Set: Books 1-3

By Kathi Walker

Join Carly and her bears on their first three adventures! 

Captain Carly

Carly just wanted to play pirates, but her brother Bobby said that everyone knows girls can't be pirates. Carly stomped off, only to find a magical cave where she sails off on her own pirate adventure. But being a pirate is harder than Carly imagined. She’ll have to figure out how to keep her boat afloat, find the treasure, and defeat a rival gang of pirates, all by herself (and a few of her stuffed bears).

Climbing Carly

After sailing the high seas, Carly decides she wants to do something different, so she uses her magical cave to transport her and her bears to a nice mountain. But it’s not all green meadows, singing birds, and fluffy mountain goats. Carly will have to navigate floods, cliffs, and ice to make it safely home again.  Can Carly and her bears protect each other, or will someone get lost along the way?

Undercover Carly

After dodging Bobby and sneaking off to her cave without being seen, Carly decides she would make a great spy! When a local museum is targeted by a thief, Carly and her bears spring into action. But being a spy is harder than it looks, even with cool gadgets and her bears to help her. Can Carly find and capture the art thief, or will she end up being captured herself?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dragon Monkey
• Release date: May 14, 2021

Book preview

Acknowledgments

Captain Carly

Sorry, No Girls Allowed

CARLY SAT at the tea table staring glumly at her bears.

When she got up this morning, a tea party had sounded exactly right. She had dressed herself and her bears in their finest clothes - especially Mr. Cuddlesworth, who looked extra dashing - and set out the special tea set.

The scones and tea were perfect. Even Fuzzy Wumpkins said so, and she knew he didn’t really like tea. But Carly wasn’t in the mood for a tea party anymore.

She would never admit this to any of her bears, especially Barnabus who tended to get grumpy, but this tea party was boring. Carly looked around and caught the expressions on Buttercup and Tuffy’s faces. Maybe they though so, too, and were just too polite to say so.

Carly looked out the window of the playroom. Across the yard, she could see her older brother, Bobby, and two of his friends.

Bobby stood on a stump, clutching a wooden pirate sword and yelling as he jumped off and swung the sword at his friend. The three of them ran off, laughing wildly and shouting about treasure.

That looks fun, Carly thought. She glanced down at her tea party dress and frowned. She couldn’t jump off stumps in that.

Carly raced up the stairs to her bedroom. She found some shorts and a t-shirt. She didn’t have a pirate hat, so she tied a scarf around her head.

Something is missing, she thought. She found another scarf and tied it around her waist.

Perfect! she said to herself, since her bears were downstairs and she was the only one in the room.

Carly clambered down the stairs and ran outside. As she sped toward Bobby, Carly noticed his sword and came to a screeching halt.

I don’t have a sword, she thought sadly. Maybe Bobby has an extra one.

As she thought about going back to the house and checking Bobby’s room, Carly looked at the ground. Lying right in front of her was a tree branch shaped perfectly like a sword.

Carly snatched up the branch and ran full speed toward Bobby.

Bobby and his friends stared at Carly as she stopped in front of them. She stood for a minute, catching her breath.

What do you want? Bobby asked.

It looks like she wants to play, Joey sneered.

Girls can’t be pirates, Kevin said, frowning at her. Everyone knows girls are bad luck on ships.

They are not! Carly exclaimed. Lots of pirate ships had girls!

Name one, Bobby replied. Name one and you can play.

Carly knew she was right. She was absolutely positive. But she thought and thought and couldn’t name any girl pirates. She glared at Bobby, her eyes going to slits.

You’re wrong, Robert Montgomery. You’re wrong…and…you’re just mean. You’re a big meanie. And I don’t want to play with you, anyway!

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With that, Carly jabbed her sword stick at her brother, then turned and flounced off.

She could hear Bobby, Joey and Kevin laughing as she made her way across the yard. As she reached the rocks at the edge of their yard, she turned and took one more look at the boys.

This time Kevin had climbed on the stump. He and Joey were in the middle of a duel, swords swinging and clashing. As she watched, Bobby turned her way, and it almost looked like he was sorry.

For a second, Carly wanted to ask him if she could play one more time. She almost turned around and headed back instead of climbing down the rocks to the beach next to their house. But she was still mad, so she stuck out her tongue at him and stalked away.

Entering the Cave

CARLY SCRAMBLED down the rocks and trudged across the sand toward the water, dragging her stick behind her.

She sat down on a big rock facing the ocean.

I wish I could actually be a pirate, she thought. Everything here is so boring. Being a pirate would never be boring. It would be fun and exciting all the time!

Carly sat on her rock, imagining her pirate life. Then she sighed and stood up. She turned around to go back to her boring playroom and her boring bears.

As Carly started walking back up the beach, she noticed a little cave in the rocks. She crouched down and peered inside.

The cave was really dark, and she couldn’t see much. She got on her hands and knees and crawled inside.

After crawling for a few feet, the cave opened up and Carly could stand. An opening in the rocks above her let in a little light, enough so she could see.

Carly turned in a circle. The cave was small, about the size of her bathroom at home. Near one wall stood a flat rock with another smaller rock beside it, almost like a table and chair.

Carly hugged her arms and jumped up and down. The cave wasn’t much, but no one knew about it so she could make it her very own.

Carly sat down on the chair sized rock, her mind already planning all the things she could do with her very own cave. She rested her arms on the table rock and bumped a sketchbook lying there, sending it to the floor with a crash.

Carly bent over to pick it up. She lifted the front cover, expecting to find drawings, but it was blank.

I wonder who left this here, she thought. "Maybe this isn’t my