William Kidd and the Pirates of the Indian Ocean

written and illustrated by John Malam

Black Rabbit Books, 2008

Genre: Children's nonfiction; picture book

Reading Level: Ages 7-9

32 pages

This pirate picture book is a book about different famous pirates and the life of a pirate. The first page talks about William Kidd, man who went out to hunt pirates and became a pirate himself and in 1698 after attacking the Quedah Merchant ship seized the greatest prize of his career, $13000 and the ship. On page two it talks about the Pirates of the Indian Ocean from 1690-1720. Pirates sailed this particular ocean because it offered them many chances of getting rich by attacking merchant ships who crossed it to get to Europe. It goes on to say that pirates who sailed the Indian Ocean made $2000 after an attack, while pirates in other places only got about $40. On the next page this topic continues explaining that the most attacked ship was the East Indiaman ships on their way home because they were heavy and slow moving full of goods worth as much as $100,000 (today's money=1million) The next page talks about the story of William Kidd and his conversion to a pirate and his end in 1701 when he was arrested and sentenced to death. On the next page we learn about William Kidd's ship that had sails for sailing but if their was no wind there was also oars to keep it going. It weighed 285 tons, was 125 feet and had 34 cannons. However it was leaky and William Kidd removed all the cargo and lit it on fire and let it sink. On the next page the author talks about what happens when someone becomes a pirate. They have to sign their name to a list of rules they have to follow and if they don't they're killed. The next few pages talk about some famous specific pirates; Thomas Cew from Rhode Island, Henry Every a very successful pirate, The Angrias a family of pirates, and Edward England a kind-hearted pirate. Finally, the last page talked about how most pirates came to terrible ends. Either murdered for breaking the law, murdered by other pirates or lost at sea.

I would recommend this to any young child; especially those interested in pirates.

The only controversy i can think of is parents getting upset by all the horrible deaths that are talked about, particularly the drownings.

I thought this book was creative, and well put together to intrigue a child. WHile it was enjoyable and unique i wasn't hugely impressed, and really didn't see too many differences between this pirate book and any others.

My rating: 3 out of 5