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Book Review of Pirate (DK Eyewitness Books)

Pirate (DK Eyewitness Books)
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DK (Dorling Kindersley) Publishing is my favorite brand of book, bar none. They have a large group of 'Eyewitness' books that seem to be printed for children, but adults love them too. Today, I want to talk about an Eyewitness book about pirates by Richard Platt. This book has a glossary (meanings of words), how to find out more (online or places to visit), plus unsolved pirate mysteries. This copy includes a clip-art CD.

The CD includes hundreds of images for future use. Here's an example (randomly chosen): 'The English captain Edward Low had a reputation as one of the 18th century's cruelest pirates. He was said to have once made a victim eat his own ears.' This description is accompanied by an image of Edward Low. This book is meant for children ages 8 to 12. I can see boys trolling through the book and clip art looking for gruesome images (including how pirates were punished) and stories.

This book provides extraordinarily clear photos of coins, jewels, powder horns, typical clothing, maps, ships, and wild stories to enchant anyone. Pirates in different parts of the world looked and did things differently. This book shows what was important to each group (in regards to clothes, weapons, ships, etc.). Raiders of the North were very different from the Raiders of Malta.

DK proves the point that 'a picture is worth a thousand words' because they offer hundreds along with interesting commentary and explanations. Enjoy.