Pirates Ate Rats

Did you know that 19 September is Talk Like a Pirate Day? Avast there, me hearties! From the Mediterranean sailors who kidnapped Julius Caesar to Blackbeard and Captain Kidd, this 27th book in the It’s True! Series captures the lives of pirates. Often hungry, desperate and brutal, they had their own codes which they swore to on a flag or a cutlass. Some of them were women – the ferocious Ching Shih controlled a pirate army of more than 70 000 and had over 1800 ships at her command. Blackbeard built on his fearsome reputation by lighting hemp coils and tying them to his beard, so that as he boarded a ship, his head smoked like a fire-breathing dragon. And if you want to know about modern piracy, there’s a website showing the well-known pirate hotspots nearest you!