Pirate Diary and What If You Met a Pirate?

I read the book What If You Met a Pirate? with my five-year old son.  We both loved the book.  This was the first book that I read in this pirate unit.  I was very surprised to read some of the facts in this book.  I had no idea that pirate ships were operated as a democracy.  I assumed to that pirates gambled, drank, and fought while out at sea and this book debunked this myth.  I enjoyed reading about the “pirate bazaar,” also.  The illustrations in this book were informative and technical.  I believe that children who were not naturally drawn to non-fiction would like reading this book.  My son’s favorite parts of the book were the maps on pages 8 and 9 and the ship diagrams on pages 10 and 11.  I think that the illustrations keep young children’s interest when reading non-fiction works.

I read Pirate Diary: The Journal of Jake Carpenter after my children had gone to bed.  I wish that we had read this book together.  I think they would have loved having this book read-aloud to them.  This seems like the perfect book to read to school children after lunch.  It would draw them back into the classroom setting, without putting them to sleep.  As I read this book, I thought about the natural introduction of vocabulary.  For example, when the word contraband is introduced it is immediately followed by the definition, “smuggled goods.”  It seamlessly introduces tools of the pirate trade like compasses, knots, map reading skills, and all other parts of a being a pirate.  Pirate lore is discussed in this text, also.  I learned about St. Elmo’s fire and mermaids.  I think the history involved in the story such as American’s not wanting to pay taxes to England is a neat aspect of the story.  My favorite thing about this book is journal writing!  This is a great way to emphasize the importance of keeping a journal!

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