In Charles River Editors’ History for Kids series, your children can learn about history’s most important people and events in an easy, entertaining, and educational way. This concise but comprehensive audiobook will keep your kid’s attention all the way to the end.

It would be an understatement to say that pop culture's perception of piracy and pirates has been primarily influenced by Captain Edward Teach, known to the world as Blackbeard, the most famous pirate of all time. An English pirate who terrorized the high seas near the Carolinas in the early 18th century, a period often referred to as the Golden Age of Piracy, Blackbeard was the gold standard, and in the 300 years since his death he has inspired legends that have spanned books like Treasure Island, movies, and even theme park rides.

Of course, like any legendary figure, Blackbeard is remembered today based more on myths than reality. People continue to let their imaginations go when it comes to Blackbeard, picturing a pirate who captured more booty than any other pirate, hid buried treasure, and lit his hair on fire before battle. People have long claimed that his ghost still haunts the Atlantic Ocean, and his contemporaries were so scared of him that they claimed to have seen his headless body swim around his pirate boat three times.

The myths and legends surrounding Blackbeard tend to obscure the life he really lived, but his piracy was also notorious enough to capture headlines during his time. The British Crown put a higher price on his head than any other pirate of the era, and when an author writing under the pseudonym Charles Johnson wrote about Blackbeard in A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, a legend was born.

History for Kids: An Illustrated Biography of Blackbeard for Children looks at the mysterious life and death of Blackbeard, separating fact from fiction while analyzing his lasting legacy.