Milton Meltzer has a wonderful dissertation on piracy, making a valiant effort to expose the many misconceptions and myths and imparting the brutal truths. The sections are brief and to the point, easy reading for the target juvenile audience. Waldman's illustrations are striking and dark and very appropriate for the harsh content that Meltzer presents. The topics covered include: types and origins of pirates, pirate tactics, a few biographical sketches on some of the big names like Morgan, Read, Ching Shih, among others, slavery and a selected bibliography of additional sources.
While I found the book interesting, I could not help but keep thinking that Meltzer had targeted the wrong audience. The content speaks of rape, slavery and the violence and brutality of pirates, hardly the subject matter for a juvenile reader. At 86 pages, the book is too short to be very meaningful as other than a long essay to the older adolescent or adult reader who might benefit from the clarity of the author's prose.
My bottom line is to recommend staying with the Eyewitness type of books on Pirates or perhaps Angus Konstam's History of Pirates if looking for something longer.
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Piracy and Plunder: A Murderous Business Books In Print, Audio Books.