Treasure thieves on the high seas Pirates, privateers, and plunder

Avast! Prolific author-illustrator Monro pivots from her usual, gentler themes to tackle a collective biography of notable pirates and plunderers from history. This litany of cruelty and destruction boasts 12 four-page biographies of many famous (Sir Francis Drake and Blackbeard) and some lesser-known (Edward England and Henry Avery) pirates, and Munro busts the stereotype of male exclusivity in the field by featuring several women pirates, such as China's Ching Shih and the strategic Grace O'Malley. Biographical tidbits concede much conjecture, and basic facts are shared in a frank tone: "Calico Jack gave up without much of a fight. He went on trial in Jamaica and was hanged at Gallows Point." The book's artwork is a captivating mix of full-page and detailed spot illustrations and includes menacing portraits, overflowing treasure chests, maps, and elaborate back matter on ship designs. Back matter also includes a survey of "The Pirate Life," an index, and an author's note (source material is cited in the front matter). This bracing collection will fare best among scallywags with some basic understanding of seafaring and piracy.

A gallery of romanticized buccaneer all-stars, from the Elizabethan era's Sir Francis Drake to 19th-century pirate queen Ching Shih. Most of the seven men and four women portrayed here, from John "Black Bart" Roberts, the "best dressed pirate ever," to Anne Bonny and Mary Read, are renowned enough to be generally familiar. Still, Munro follows up her colorful (if likely unproveable) claim that Drake was "the second-highest earning pirate of all time" with an introduction to her candidate for the richest--Henry Avery, a one-time slave trader about whom almost nothing is known except that he came away fantastically rich after taking a treasure ship owned by the Grand Moghul of India. The book closes with a thumbnail history of piracy in general up to the present day that explodes at least a few myths--Viking ships were mostly rowed by enslaved thralls, not warriors, and there is only one documented instance of anyone being made to walk the plank--and includes a gallery of common types of ships sailed during piracy's "Golden Age." A portrait of Captain Morgan posed like the image on a popular rum bottle label may be a misstep, but elsewhere, along with rousing views of piratical loot and flamboyant garb, the illustrations offer images of rakish sailing ships and mildly dangerous-looking swashbucklers of both sexes. Skin tones vary. A glittering hoardlet of pirate legend and lore. (index, bibliography)(Informational picture book. 7-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.