This book provides a thorough history of pirates and piracy, from the ancient Greeks to Jean Lafitte. As with other Eyewitness books, the focus is on the details of the story and the images. The author has done a great job of telling the true, not- so- glamorous story of the pirate throughout history, while retaining a sense of derring-do to pull the reader along. There are stories about female pirates, the privateers, and famous pirates from literature and film. I recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about real pirates, not just Jack Sparrow. ( )

Very informative, but younger kids and squeamish adults like me will wish there were much fewer details about the pirates' cruel behavior to captives and to each other (no matter how true to history that is). There are tons of pictures, so many so that I wish there were sometimes fewer images but larger ones -- though in case of some of the gruesome tortures, that's just as well. I did learn a lot, though, and appreciate that the author goes behind the romance to the reality of the pirate life, as ugly and violent as it can be sometimes. ( )

Summary:
This book is a typical example of the "DK Eyewitness Books". It is an excellent resource of the history of pirates. It contains accurate information and realistic photographs to illustrate the points being reviewed.

Personal Reflection:
I pulled this book as part of an assignment to build a unit on any subject of interest to my target age group. This book has a great deal of information that is easy for a younger reader to understand and contains a great deal of valuable information. It also comes with a clip-art CD that would be incredibly useful it building content for a unit on pirates.

Classroom Extension:
-This book has real photos and solid information that would assist in shifting children away from the fictional representation of pirates that they are accustomed to and gain an accurate view of what pirates really were.
-The clip art CD is a valuable tool in creation of engaging media to help engage students.

Like all DK Eyewitness books this book covers a broad range of topics related to pirates in a logical, easy-to-understand format. Kids will love looking through this book to see the pictures and pick of quick facts.

910.4