The Book of Pirates

by Howard Pyle
Overall: 2 out of 5 stars

Category: Of Interest to Boys

Personal Evaluation: I had this one on Playaway so was tricked into assuming it was new. On listening to it, it struck me as a bit boring and it was only in doing a little research in my library catalog and on Amazon.com that I realized it was written over 100 years ago. I also had a hard time figuring out if this book was fiction or non-fiction. I guess most libraries have latched onto the fact that it’s not all strictly true, so it goes into the fiction section. It probably circulates better there, actually.

What might interest children: I’m feeling like a broken record, but there is plenty of adventure, and facts (if you can pick them out of the fiction) for learning, as well as historical context. Overall, though, I probably wouldn’t recommend this book to a kid.