A book that makes you learn about the world of pirates.

Pirates is a creative masterpiece sure to engage young readers in a topic that likely already excites them. Inside its well-designed pages are beautiful illustrations, maps, and attachments of recreations of original historical documents. Behind one wax seal a young reader will find an invitation to join a pirate vessel and behind another there will be a list of the rules these wild characters lived by. Fact is rarely confused with fiction in these pages, and Pirates does a good job of distinguishing the two, giving readers an accurate depiction of who pirates were, what they wanted, and how the lived. ( )

This all-about pirates book would make a great addition to any collection! Matthews begins his text with a short historical note to prepare readers for his book since most of what we think we know about pirates is "pure fantasy." Following an extremely abbreviated history of the first pirates (it's a survey book; we're not going to get a substantial amount of historical depth), Matthews introduces the reader to the golden age of pirates, and this is the era he so carefully details in the following pages. Beginning with Pirate dress code, Matthews catalogues topics of interest for the audience. Topics include: Ships and Flags, Pirate Gallery, Pirate Lore, Pirate Attacks, Treasure, Life on Land, Capture and Trial, Punishment, and Fiction. Each topic receives two pages of explanation and visual embellishments, such as pictures, maps, fold-outs, and an interactive aspect for the reader (e.g.: playing cards and invitations). Matthews concludes his text with a timeline of piracy, beginning with 700 and concluding with present-day activities, and a glossary of nautical terms for land-lubbers who may be unacquainted with these terms used in the text.

This whimsical book has several practical classroom applications. First, it could supplement the teaching of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and allow students to compare and contrast the novel to the survey book to see how much of RLS's book is embellished. I could also see using Pirates as a supplemental text in American and British Literature to help create accurate historical contexts for a reader. Finally, this text could serve as a model to help students write their own survey books about a topic of their choice. Using Pirates and other survey books, we could discuss how authors make decisions about what to include in their final product (from the bulk of the text to a glossary and index) and how to organize the final edition. ( )

"They have many names: pirates, buccaneers, corsairs, Brethren of the Coast. Hook-handed, peg-legged, eye-patched, they stalk our dreams like ghosts, swinging cutlasses and roaring out rousing choruses of 'Fifteen men on the Dead Man's chest'! We know them and we love them...and yet almost all of the above is pure fantasy." I loved the way this book began- right away it dispells many myths about pirates and puts Hollywood in its rightful place- that of fantasy. This book begins with the history of pirates, and continues with detailed illustrations of subjects such as a pirate's clothing, speech(slang, with definitions), ships, flags, weapons, behaviors and what life was like aboard a pirate ship. The book also covers treasure, capture and punishment, as well as the end of piracy (at least in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries). Famous men AND women pirates are detailed with pictures and short biographies. A special section is dedicated to fictional pirates such as Captain Jack Sparrow and Billy Bones. Lastly, a beautifully illustrated timeline completes the book. A glossary of nautical terms is included as well. Throughout the book, interactive minibooks, flaps and hands-on things to manipulate maintain even the most reluctant reader's attention. This is an attractive book- especially to boys- with many primary sources and factual information. The writing is easy to understand, although at times a bit hard to read when written in script (as was done with some re-created primary sources). The author extends his thanks to many individuals who assisted him in his research and to the staff at the National Maritime Museum in London. This is a well-thought out book that doesn't glorify pirates, but instead tells the true story of piracy.

Really a pretty fascinating look at a pretty bloody and immoral group. It is told with a nice balance of factual information and anecdotal asides. I liked that it did not only focus on the biographies of the pirates, but presented additional information on related topics. The layout was appealing; each page contained a text box with facts in the upper left hand corner, and provided a nice balance of images with captions, essays, and shorter text, as well as pull out materials. While there is a lot of content in the book it is not overwhelming; the reader can peruse as much or as little at a time as they wish. This book may be a bit intense for younger readers, some of the illustrations and stories were quite graphic. However, the subject matter itself is “graphic” so in a realistic representation this may be unavoidable.