Pirate Obsession, Perhaps?

I don’t know about your kids, but my best friend’s little ones are obsessed with pirates.  And have been for the last 2 years.  That’s saying a lot since the twins are 4 1/2 and their younger brother is 2 1/2 years old.  “Doubloons” and “Arrrggh” might even have been his first words!  Just to prove it, here are 2 adorable pictures taken on this very Halloween night of 2012.

It’s not just kids…my sister-in-law has been obsessed with pirates ever since Pirates of the Caribbean came out.  Wait, hers is actually a Johnny Depp obsession.  Never mind.

But really, I have to agree with Philip Yates, a local Austin author, who explains his own fascination with pirates and his inspiration for his two picture books, A Pirate’s Night Before Christmas and A Pirate’s Twelve Days of Christmas.

“Who didn’t dream of being a pirate when they were a kid? It’s a dream-come-true for a child. No parents hanging around, stay up as long as you wanted to, dig for buried treasure on the weekends, don’t worry about brushing your teeth, capture and burn ships, kidnap men and women and make them walk the plank. Look at Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and their overwhelming desire to be pirates. It’s the ultimate kid fantasy.”  [full interview found at http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2008/11/author-interview-philip-yates-on.html]

Philip Yates at the Texas Book Festival
in Austin on Oct. 27, 2012.

By asking himself questions, Philip Yates created a new take on two well-loved Christmas poems.

“What would a pirate ask for at Christmas? Well, a plank, of course. How would pirates celebrate Christmas? Surely they would not be visited by St. Nicholas, no, not these robbers and murderers, unless he left coal in their stockings. The idea continued to haunt me until I came up with the solution that if pirates were to celebrate their own Christmas, they had to have their very own pirate Santa Claus and that’s when Sir Peggedy was born.”

This buccaneer spent the majority of his time researching pirate history, the parts of the ship, and more. “I also wanted the language to be authentic in every way, so that when you read it out loud, you would sound like a pirate.”

And every parent knows how important that is, especially on September 19^th each year.  http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html.

If pirates don’t float your boat, Philip’s humor will.  It’s no surprise that he actually got his start writing joke books.  After co-writing nearly 10 joke books in 8 years, he then wrote his debut picture book called 10 Little Mummies. This counting book is jam-packed with silly explorations inspired by his mummy riddles:

“What do you do when a mummy rolls his eyes at you? You roll them right back.”
“What kind of underwear do mummies wear? Fruit of the Tomb.”
[full interview at http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2005/10/author-interview-philip-yates-on-ten.html]

Always on the lookout for ideas around him, Philip tells of the inspiration for his next picture book.  It’s based on a seemingly irreverent statement he overhead at an Austin public library.

“A little girl came into the library once and told her mom, ‘I love you so much I want to throw up.’ I thought this was hilarious and touching because a moment later the girl hugged her mom and added, ‘Throw up my arms and hug you and kiss you.’ This later became a picture book about how much a child can love a parent or guardian.”

You know the drill.  Halloween’s over now, so Christmas will soon be upon us (if not already in a store near you). So get out there and purchase two special pirate poem Christmas books for your own buccaneers.  I already got my autographed copy for my best friend’s 3 pirates.

Author Interview Links:

http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2008/11/author-interview-philip-yates-on.html

http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2005/10/author-interview-philip-yates-on-ten.html

http://www.austinscbwi.com/mt/members/archives/2005/04/post_1.html