Under the Black Flag

Rating:
Summary: An interesting book about ships and history in 1776
Review:

Under the Black Flag is about a boy named William Bernard who was sent off by his father from Jamaica to England in 1716 to get his education, but on the way, the ship he was sailing on had an encounter with some pirates whose leader was Captain Teach, more commonly known as Blackbeard. William was taken prisoner by the pirates.

On the voyage, Captain Teach meets up with another pirate ship and invites its captain, Major Bonnet on board and lets someone from his crew take charge of Bonnet's boat. Major Bonnet has a son named Sam, whom he uses as a slave because Sam's mother was a black slave. Sam and Will very quickly become friends and dream about escaping together.

In the year William spends on the ship, he goes through many adventures with the pirates. William knows Captain Teach is vicious and inhuman, but he never does anything wrong to William, who he calls Princeling. William has mixed feelings about Blackbeard. He likes him, but he knows that Captain Teach is a bad man.

Finally, Captain Teach abandons William but he is rescued by Major Bonnet. Soon, William and Sam get their chance to escape. Bonnet has captured a small boat called a cutter, and one night, the two boys sneak away taking the cutter.

Using their navigational skills, Sam, William, and their new guest Costanza (who they rescue from a shipwrecked pirate ship) make it home to Jamaica.

The book was interesting, and there's a lot to learn from it about ships and history. I think it's a bit advanced for the average fifth grader and I recommend it for sixth graders and up. There was a pretty hard vocabulary and it would be hard to understand without an adult to explain some things.

Eli Schulman age 10

Palo Alto, California

Rating:
Summary: From Jake Cohen, Age 9
Review: It is about a boy, William Bernard, who gets kidnapped by Blackbeard the pirate,also known as Captain Teach of "The Queen Anne's Revenge". This is a great book if you want to have great entertainment and exciting dreams!