Sara Lorimer

(Goodreads is showing me a Target ad I can't get rid of. This is a change I disapprove of!!)So this is a children's book about girl pirates. Arr!It covers a good span in time. I think from the 16th century right up until the 19th (maybe the 20th?). Some of the pirates are in the Americas, some are around England, and there's one in India and a couple in China. So there's a fairly good range of pirates in here.What I liked was at the start of telling us about a pirate, there'd be a map, showing their range. From Boston to Cuba for example. It helped me get a sense of their location. Especially in parts of the world that I can't picture in my head.Despite being a children's book, this isn't a book I could read in one sitting. I'd read one or two entries and then stop for the day. It's kind of dense, information-wise. That's what happens when you try to cover one pirate's life in about 3 pages.I did learn things, certainly. In a general sense, I discovered there were more female pirates than I would've thought. And the range of piracy is broader than what might traditionally come to mind. Some of them dressed as men at times, or all the time. Others didn't. Some got into piracy because of their fathers, or their husbands. Some, likely just because they felt like it. I didn't hear any tales of female pirates becoming pirates because their mothers were. (Though at least one son in here did.)Overall, a good overview of female pirates. And a good jumping-off place for picking one or two you want to know more about.It even mentioned how you'd go to the bathroom on a ship and how a woman might be able to hide her female attributes relatively easily. More easily than you'd think, given they're all living on this small ship together.The info in the back on shipboard life -- food, pirate punishments -- is worth the price of admission by itself.… (meer)