Lost Treasures of the Pirates of the Caribbean Book

You may think you know all about the pirates of the Caribbean, but there's more....

During the golden age of the pirates in the eighteenth century, a family of mapmakers was entrusted with all of the greatest pirates' secrets. The McGees were commissioned by buccaneers to draw maps to their buried treasure. But the family had a secret of its own: The McGees hid clues in their maps to lead others to the pirates' loot! These maps have been lost for hundreds of years--until now.

The brothers Owen have recreated thirteen of the original McGee maps--along with clues that may reveal a long-missing fourteenth map. As you read the history, legends, and lore of the pirates of the Caribbean, look for the clues to help you discover the missing treasure map.

Children's Literature

Although no one disputes the existence of pirates, their colorful histories are embellished with so many legends that the truth of their adventures cannot be fully known. That pirates hid some of their loot and made maps to get back to it is considered factual. Three generations of silversmiths, the McGees, are credited with drawing treasure maps to the pirates' specifications. These purported maps were recently sold at auction and acquired by the Owen brothers. Illustrations of thirteen of these maps are featured in the book, appearing in bright red-and-black lettering and accents. The maps are historically accurate for the time period, but do not include the X's marking buried treasures. The brief text facing the maps on each page presents the history of pirating and some black line drawings of the best known pirates. It is not clear why the page that describes the most infamous pirate, Blackbeard, has a picture of Captain Charles Vane who is not mentioned anywhere in the text; no picture of Blackbeard appears in the book. Keys of different shapes with two letters of the alphabet written near them appear under each page of text. These, combined with clues within the maps themselves, supposedly lead to the discovery of the fourteenth map which is not in the book, but claimed to be found at the Simon and Schuster web site. The web site information given for entering the answer to the riddle was not operative at the time of this review. The book may be of possible interest to young readers who want to explore areas of pirating activities.