At long last, a non-fiction pirate entry. This is part history book, part guidebook and part do-it-yourself pirate handbook. Read cover to cover, this can be a bit slow, unless it’s being read by a true pirate enthusiast. In short bits though, it can be a lot of fun. Chapters range from historical information to how to dress like a pirate, to card games. Throughout the book are call-out boxes with interesting facts or piratey advice. There’s also just about everything you’d need to throw a pirate party, from games to ingredients to costumes. I think a lot of kids will get a kick out of this, and it can also be useful to parents trying to plan some pirate fun for their little ones. In fact, adults are needed to assist with quite a few of the activities, so it can certainly be shared by the whole family.
There were some parts where the text seemed confusing or inconsistent. They mention that there aren’t really known pirates with hooks and follow it up by saying many sailors have hooks. They don’t bother to go the next step and say, hey, since pirates are often sailors, even though we don’t know many with hooks, it’s not strange to think about. In a section featuring flags of various pirate ships, they’ll say oh, well, there aren’t any eyewitnesses so this may not really be this pirate’s flag. Well then why did you say it was?
Great for: Family fun. Whether you’re picking and choosing bits to read aloud to your little pirate in training, or helping your pirate create the perfect pirate gathering, this book has all the information you’ll need. It also has links to websites and advice for visiting real life pirate locations, ghost tours and excursions.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – Sex is handled very oddly in this book. Despite being fairly graphic about pirates violent doings, this book omits any mention of rape. It struck an off note with me, only because the book seemed committed to showing that pirates aren’t just adventurers, they are sometimes violent criminals and yet that aspect of violence is completely ignored, which makes it seem like it didn’t happen. I’m sure the authors were just invested in making it more kid-friendly, but it felt false. What is mentioned: female pirates “plead their bellies” meaning they use the excuse of being pregnant to avoid hanging. A drawing of a mermaid shows the undercurve of her breasts. There’s an oddly sexist aside, where women pirates are mentioned in terms of being strong women who can take care of themselves. The phrasing in the book is such that this is clearly meant to be in opposition of other women, who are clearly helpless. In a pirate vocabulary section we are told that if a pirate calls a woman a prize he is admiring her. In the lyrics to a pirate song, it is explained that a woman’s thin dress is found on a bed and she has been stabbed in the heart. We’re told that when pirates had money they spent it on women.
Profanity – “hell/hellish”, “darned,” “damn,” they mention that pirates use lots of dirty words.
Death, Violence and Gore – I mentioned above that they don’t skimp on the details, right? So. We have hangings, beheadings, missing body parts, killings, real actual skeletons and bloated bodies floating in the water. There are cannibalistic indians, duels, flags that mean “all will be killed”, floggings, slit ears and noses, death by infection, and branding. A myriad of weapons are described, as well as their most deadly use. There is a particularly nasty story of an 8-10 year old who wanted to be a pirate but ended up dead in a shipwreck with his legbone torn from his body before he was thrown across the ship. Icky description of the affect scurvy has on the body.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Plenty of drinking, drunkeness, taverns and rum. There is in fact a whole chapter dedicated to why pirates and sailors drank, with mentions of how children even drank (followed by a disclaimer that you shouldn’t do that yourself!)
Frightening or Intense Things – There are some sea monster tales towards the end of the book.
