Nonfiction Monday: Sir Francis Drake by Roy Gerrard, reviewed by Squirt

Miss Ami is working on our Summer Reading Program right now, and I have been reading over her shoulder. Apparently, one whole week is going to be devoted to pirates and shipwrecks, and she has unearthed some older treasures worth sharing for Nonfiction Monday:



Sir Francis Drake may have been knighted, but that just made him a legal sort of pirate! He mostly attacked and stole from the Spaniards, which made it politics and not piracy, you see. He also experienced his share of shipwrecks (and near wrecks), which puts him quite fairly into this category.

This book is a fun read because it is all in sing-songy poetry (in fact, you might challenge older readers to put it to a tune.) It does treat him as more of a hero than a pirate (who also captured and sold slaves), focusing on the adventurous spirit. The pictures have a lot of detail (including some bare bums in a couple scenes) that children will enjoy.