Jane Yolen’s Sea Queens is no romanticized yarn about the joys of pirating, but rather a sea shanty to the women who followed the sea as buccaneers. A pirates life was no picnic, more so the lives of women sailors. Cramped quarters, rotten food, next to no sanitation and any number of people ready to kill you, from those you robbed, to governments and of course other pirates.
Despite all the danger and privation, not to mention criminal activity, there is something that stirs us in tales of treasure and daring. The stories include women fighters like Artemisia, a fleet commander whose career included teaming up with the Persians to attack a fleet of Greek ships. In 500 BC Greece was not a unified country, but rather a collection of warring city states and Artemisia took advantage of any she could, and thought nothing of siding with the Persians against her own countrymen at one point. In order to escape a blockade during that battle she rammed an enemy ship and was allowed to get away as the Greeks assumed she was with them!
This beautifully turned out hardcover book, by award winning author Jane Yolen, is engaging and eye-opening. From Lady Killigrew, who ran a family pirating business in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, to Madame Ching, who successfully battled the fleet of the emperor of China in the 1800s, women pirates are shown to be knowledgeable and seasoned leaders, some as cutthroat as any of their male counterparts and ready to risk all for the chance to take the helm. The nifty woodcut style illustrations by Christine Joy Pratt are perfect for this book and a reason alone to own it.
The final pages include a roundup list of other women pirates, bibliography, list of website resources and an index. A great book for learning about what women have done, empowering and sobering by turns.
Read on!
Amanda Lorenzo
Tooth is stirring up a poultice, but who will need it? Cletus has ordered up his favorite dish, and it’s going to get him into no end of hot water. Find out more when my new book series comes out this year.
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