Brew,
Jim Pirates Scholastic/ Childrens Press 24p $21.95
978-0-531-20781-9 elem Series:
History's Greatest Warriors (Scholastic/Childrens) Average
This short nonfiction selection
presents basic information about pirates.
Included are a brief description of pirate ships and a history of
piracy.
There are three positive and two negative
sides to this book. On the positive
side, the pictures are lively and interesting, and the glossary is a nice feature
that supports younger readers. In addition,
the writer has not "dumbed down" his vocabulary; the words he has chosen
are authentic terms, useful for vocabulary acquisition. On the other hand, a negative feature is that
the sentences describing pirates and their job are overly simple, making the
book suitable only for younger elementary-school children. But even more important on the negative side,
the book is just not that interesting.
Children want exciting stories about
pirates, not a how-to book that describes their equipment and their ships. The author’s purpose is only to present the
basics, and if the classroom teacher hopes to introduce the topic to his/her
class, then the book is acceptable.
However, if the teacher hopes to inspire literacy, this book misses the
boat.
At the end, there is a glossary and a
list of resources, followed by a short index.
All in all, this book does not meet expectations as one in the series History’s
Greatest Warriors, which includes books about many of the world’s famous
"tough guys". Aztecs,
Comanches, Mongols, Samurai and Spartans are just a few of the topics in the
series. Each book presents basics about
the history of each group, the materials they used to accomplish the job, and
the targets of their wrath. -- Martha
Squaresky
