from National Geographic Kids May 2007 magazine

Here are a few “At World’s End” mini-spoilers from their preview:

“In the new movie, Jack has ended up trapped in a bleak, mystical desert with no water in sight, certain his pirate pals will never find him. Jack is finally rescued by a band of pirates led by Captain Barbossa, but now there are too many captains. Jack and Barbossa have a heated battle over the wheel, each climbing onto the wheel to try and claim it. Lord Cutler Beckett and the East India Company — a shipping company set up to bring spices to England — want to end piracy forever. So a group of pirates called the Brethren meets on Shipwreck Island to figure out how to fight them. The Brethren begin gathering on Shipwreck Island when they hear the song “Hoist the Colours.” The song allows the pirates to communicate so that other people don’t know what’d going on, says screen writer Terry Rossio. Blacksmith-turned-pirate Will Turner attempts to lure another ship to the Black Pearl by tossing dead bodies — left from a battle – over the side to create a gruesome trail. Will’s fiancee, Elizabeth, is captured by Chinese pirate Sao Feng. But she’s not a prisoner for long — Sao Feng not only releases her, but he considers her a fellow pirate by befriending her and giving her a special pendant.”

In June, a National Geographic traveling exhibit opens at the Cincinnati Museum Center in Ohio, featuring artifacts from the Whydah a former slave ship that became a pirate ship before it sank in 1717. Weapons, gold coins and the ship’s bell — all of which were discovered by explorer Barry Clifford when he discovered the wreck in 1984 — will be on display.