Kid Pirates: Their Battles, Shipwrecks, & Narrow Escapes

Ten True Tales

by Allan Zullo

Some volunteered. Others were forced into service. But all ten of these young people sailed with the world's most feared pirates-from the notorious Blackbeard and Captain Kidd to Henry Morgan. Some fought side by side with pirates; others tried to escape. You'll never forget their incredible true stories.

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, History, Survival

147 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Allan Zullo is an American non-fiction writer. He is the author or co-author of more than eighty paperbacks for adults and children.

A native of Rockford, Illinois, Zullo graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1969 with a degree in journalism. His books include The Baseball Hall of Shame and Baseball Confidential (both co-written with Bruce Nash), A Boomer's Guide to Grandparenting (co-written with his wife Kathryn), and the Haunted Kids series. Zullo has also written articles for The National Enquirer, The Christian Science Monitor, Ladies Home Journal, and The Palm Beach Post. His syndicated comic strip "The Ghost Story Club" ran in American newspapers from 1995 to 1998.

Zullo currently lives in Fairview, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love pirates and want to learn more about what it would have been like to be among the crew of some real captains, this is a great read. It's meant for kids, but still shows many of the realities of living at sea and of being a pirate. It's interesting how different each experience was, and the various ways each kid ended up on a pirate ship. I also love how at the end of each story was an epilogue of sorts, telling the facts of what ended up happening to the crew/kid. That's another thing I appreciate about this book, is that the kids were real people as well, rather than just made up in place of real people.

I picked up this book mostly to get a better sense on how to write about a pirate's sea life, and this book certainly didn't disappoint there. If you're a fan of pirates and are wanting to learn more, this is a great overview of many of the important figures while being entertaining to boot.

[Arman Waggoner · Rating 3 out of 5]

YES! FINALLY! I had this book for 7 years and I'm Finally done! my favorite stories in the book was The Littlest Pirate, Outfoxing the Fox and Out of Tune. The Littlest Pirate was hilarious, it was like one of those "Be Careful what you wish for" stories and "Out of Tune" was like forming a band like the Beatles and I like how in "Outfoxing the Fox" had a happy ending. I read this book so I can know stuff about pirates, I'd recommend reading this.

[Dayna Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Zullo's nonfiction True Stories series for young readers. A selection of true stories of pirates and privateers who also happened to be teenagers. A interesting book to tempt younger readers into nonfiction.

[Haley Kilgour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, entertaining, and informative.

While pirating usually ends poorly, I was surprised at how often the kid pirates managed to make it out in once piece.

Certainly an eye opening book.

[Parker K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kid Pirates by Allan Zullo is about a kid who is captured by a ship of pirates and he does not like it. In fact, he was terrified being captured by the pirates. I was even scared about reading it. The pirates were trapping people. It would have been a scary situation if I was in it I would be scared if that happened to me. One of the most action packed parts of the story for them was when the pirates were being attacked by a strong ship of soldiers. They also lost their sail by a cannon ball. The pirates sneek into houses and museums and steal valuables. The text shows adversity because the kid pirates were taken by the adult pirates and they had to fight beside famous other pirates like Blackbeard. They had to live through dangerous situations. The reason why I rated the book 4 stars is because I did love the book especially the part when they told 10 cool facts about the book. The bad parts were when they got captured by pirates and lots of pirates sadly died after the wars and the swords and guns. I would recommend this to anyone interested in pirates and adventures.

[Sandie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book I read from my son's list of book reports this past school year. I didn't love this book, it was slow for me and took me a while to finish it. However, some of the stories were really good, particularly the one written in letter format. Most of the stories were about kids the age of my oldest son, amazing how different things were then in comparison to now. However, I think being about kids and based on real life kids are what makes this book appealing to kids and even to adults. I was intrigued by it strictly because it was true life stories about kids. Ok and the pirate theme didn't hurt any. For the most part, I think it was a fairly good book and I would reccomend it to kids 4th grade and up.

[Stacey Mulholland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the first story. This nonfiction book reads just like fiction. It's fun.

Now done: I liked how the author had a range of types of kid pirates; some of the kids wanted to be pirates while others had it forced on them. I also liked how it had stories from the different nations and from different centuries (the last pirate was from the 1820s). The story I enjoyed the most was that of Philip Ashton Jr who was marooned for several years on an island and survived.

[Scarlet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on true stories of the life of kids that have fought beside some of the most notorious pirates. This book could be used to discuss pirates and also to talk to students about being forced to do something and volunteering to do something.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was pretty interesting.

[LeeAnn G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tales that make you realize the Pirates of the Caribbean are not true accounts of how life was back then. Very informative book and I enjoy the tales.

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it!there were also privateers.

[Noah S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was a good book but the format really brought its level down.

[Sophie]

ok

[Haley Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book

[PJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome book...everyone should read it...