DK Readers: Pirates: Raiders of the High Seas (Level 4: Proficient Readers)

Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 * ARGGHHH, MATIES! A Treasure of Pirate Information
Review: Once again, Dorling Kindersley swabs the decks of other publishing houses with its high quality production, style, and storehouse of sidebars, illustrations, and tidbits of information. This book is recommended for children in grades 2-4, although they caution that these are rough guidelines.

After a brief introduction, there are fictional first-person narratives of adventures with famous pirates from many places and eras, including a slave of Julius Caesar, both of whom are captured by pirates (and eventually freed); Henry "Long Ben" Avery, a British pirate of the late 17th century, Henry Morgan's pillaging, looting, and torture in Jamaica, the exploits of Captain Kidd and Blackbeard.

Along with illustrations of such pirate essentials as guns and swords, ships and navigational instruments, food and flags, there is a drawing of a gallows and a man hanging from one, a man placed on the torture instrument, "the rack," several pictures illustrating a hangman's noose, a hanging body and a severed head tied to a ship. These pictures are not graphic or detailed, but they may be frightening to some children. 48 pages, with a brief glossary, and lots of pictures. The historical angle would have been more complete if an afterward had been written to explain the demise of the piracy.