YA novel "Pirates!" by Celia Rees

Hello everybody,

has anyone out there taught Celia Rees' YA novel "Pirates" before and can share some of her/his experiences? I need to come up with an alternate novel study unit (FAST!!) since the copies of the original title I had prepared for my students have falling victim to a broken water pipe in the school....  There is a class set of Celia Rees' historical novel "Pirates!" available, though. I am familiar with the novel but have never taught it before. 

.. to buy myself some time to prepare the unit, my grade 8 English students will research the historical setting of the novel, London and the Caribbean Seas during the 1720-1730 which is the  'golden age' of piracy. They will research 'pirates' using a web quest.   

I intend to use a literature circle format to read and discuss the novel. Formative assessment will be around the topi of vocabulary, reading comprehension (study guide questions, journal entries reflecting on character analysis and inherent themes).

The author, Celia Rees, has a fabulous website set up for this particular novel with excellent background information. 

So far, I am thinking of having students create character boxes as the summative assignment.(you guessed it; this is a format that I am familiar with!) However, I would like my students to use some form of digital presentation of their lit. circle discussion and research findings. Hopefully, someone out there in cyberspace can give me some pointers, or advice.

thank-you, Dita