You Wouldn't Want to Be a Pirate's Prisoner

Title: You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Pirate’s Prisoner:
Horrible Things You’d Rather Not Know

Author: John Malam

Illustrator: David Antram
Non-Fiction #2

Right off the back I liked how this book put the reader in the role of the main character of the story. Instead of saying “the captain” it says “you” as if you are the captain of the pirate ship throughout the story. I loved this aspect of the book and know kids would be thrilled by it too. The book itself is very interesting and I learned a lot. Being someone who likes and has researched pirates before, this book presented a wealth of new information to me.  I think all children can learn a lot from reading this book and have a good time while doing so. The information is presented in a way that is both thrilling and funny. I particularly enjoyed the “Handy Hints” at the top corner of each page that help the reader as he or she is traveling through the story.

As I previously stated, so much information is in this book. Not only can children learn about the different components of a ship including the supplies and crew but they also get a history lesson because they learn about some of the wars that were going on at the time. I think my favorite page was the one about diseases. Children can read and learn about scurvy, yellow fever, dysentery, and gangrene. The information is truly fascinating. I also liked how in the back of the book there is a glossary. An entire unit of study could be planned around pirates and the glossary could be used to create vocabulary lessons. All in all, I enjoyed the book very much and would recommend it to any classroom teacher looking to include some literature about pirates in their library.