Sea Queens tells the stories of thirteen infamous female pirates in an enlightening manner with sidebar clarifications and added tidbits that are perfect for your pirate’s collection, something the kids are clamoring for since pirates went Disney.
Jane Yolen gives us girl villains and treachery that can stand up to their male counterparts. She does a good job separating what we know and what must be left to speculation with regard to the sketchy details of pirating. The sidebar additions of geography, history, facts and rumor add depth and spark further interest. Illustrator Christine Joy Pratt’s woodcut style illustrations add much delight.
It’s especially helpful that the pirates are depicted in chronological order lending reference to the historical context of piracy. The end features a bibliography, as well as websites for further research. The large text is fairly simple and, though I’ve not completed a readability count, I suspect it would work well with the early independent reader while meeting the interest level for an older student with an interest in pirate lore.
Jane Yolan has written two additional pirate themed books which might work well in a compare and contrast context:The Ballad of the Pirate Queens & Pirates In Petticoats.

A stunning addition to Yolen’s fantastic body of work and a must for pirate book collector’s Sea Queens is a book you’ll want to check out.

Review first published on Reading Rumpus
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Beautiful presentation - the pages are thick and the information presented well - made me curious...I have to say the subject just turns me off -- geez weren't they murdering thieving thugs, the lot ot them?? ( )