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What is it about kids and pirates? I think it comes down to one word: costumes. Just like princesses, fire-fighters and other perennial preschool favourites, pirates have great gear for playing dress-up. At my three-year-old son's pirate party, his friends loaded up with beaded necklaces, rings, eye patches and hooks and were as happy as if they'd found real buried treasure. Maybe it'll be different when they get older, but none of them seem interested in the fighting or stealing aspects of pirate hood; they like digging in sandboxes, pretending they're looking for treasure. Publishers have caught on to the passion for all things piratical, and there's been a shipload of picture books about pirates in the past few years. Happily, most of them focus on pirates' funny language, cool costumes and freedom from rules, rather than weapons and theft. One of the earliest is still one of the best-in fact, one of my favourite picture books of all time: How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long, with illustrations by David Shannon. It tells the tale of Jeremy Jacob, who was taken from the beach by a crew of unsavoury but somehow jolly-looking pirates. Jeremy's adventures include
learning words like "landlubber" and "scurvy dog," and
eating with his mouth full. But when bedtime arrives and he discovers that
pirates don't read stories and don't tuck people in, Jeremy realizes that he'd
rather go home. And he even makes it in time for soccer practice! (Harcourt,
ages 4-8). —LAT/WP
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