Pirates! Arrg, it must be for girls!

My teen-age child checked out a book from the Library called
Pirates! by Celia Rees. He checked it out mainly because he knew I was doing some pirate research. Over the 4th of July Holiday, I picked it up and read it. He ended up not reading it after I read it. I told him the target audience was probably mainly girls, grades 6 - 8.

The book is the fictional autobiography of a woman named Nancy in the 1700's, who tells about her life. I think it was a bit superficial in some areas with very little sea action. The story is a little slow at first -- the pirate action doesn't even happen until mid-way through the book. The inclusion of some of the crueler aspects of slavery, and some details of murders may preclude this for being for the fainter younger readers. There is a small section about a man caged in a gibbet being eaten alive by ravens. This situation even makes Nancy sick.

Narrator Nancy joins a pirate crew to escape an arranged marriage to Bartholomew, an evil former pirate. She takes along Minerva, a slave. They dress up as boys and become pirates. Girls who dress up as boys and seek their fortune in the world is based on history (Anne Bonny and Mary Read come to mind immediately in the world of pirates).

The book does have the elements of adventure, history, greed, loyalty, danger, murder, romance, and sisterhood. If you love pirates, you will like this book.