BlackBeard's Last Fight   Eric Kimmel

This is a very gory, detailed historical fiction.  It is about the pirate BlackBeard and his last fight before he was killed.  It begins with a young man named Jeremy Hobbs, he begins to fight with the British on their ship in search of BlackBeard and his mean pirate comrades.  Lieutenant Maynard is in charge of this operation and sets out on the open sea to find BlackBeard and stop him from looting and killing many of the trading ships on the sea.  Each memeber of Maynard's troops take guard duty late at night and wait for BlackBeard's ship to pass.   Soon their worst nightmare occurs and they are face to face with BlackBeard and his deadly crew.  There are fist fights, cannon shootings, and the death of BlackBeard from none other than little Jeremy Hobbs.  BlackBeard is killed and Hobbs will have the story of how he killed BlackBeard and became a hero for the rest of his life.  This is a great read, but suited for older children only.  There is beheadings in this book, many fights with cannons and swords and death and dispair.  4th grade and up would enjoy this action book and it would be great to use during history when discussing the British trade and even about the sea during social studies.