Well “Shiver me timbers” and “Hoist the mainsail” it’s International Talk Like a Pirate day on Tuesday the 19th of September! So how good is your pirate language? Ever wanted to learn how to speak pirate? Well now you can through Mango Languages! If you go to My Gateway on the Library website: www.wcl.govt.nz/mygateway then select Mango Languages on the database, put in your library card number and surname, then select Pirate you’ll come up with the “Booty”! Soon you’ll be confounding your teachers and classmates by asking them to “Belay yer carsouin’ and haul wind smartly”. So try introducing yourself on Tuesday as “A fine gentleman of fortune, I may tell ye plainly” and see how many people turn tail and run before they have to walk the plank!
Want to find out more about the real pirates who sailed the seven seas? We have loads of books with information about what really happened on the high seas. There were many famous pirates such as Captain Kid and Blackbeard who I most definitely would not want to have met! But did you know that there were female pirates as well? Anne Bonny was one of the most famous and could handle a cutlass as well as any man. Lots of interesting facts to find out about pirates in this book, “The Everything Pirate book: A swashbuckling history of adventure on the high seas” by Barb Karg and Arjean Spaite.
Have you ever read “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson? “When young Jim Hawkins is left a treasure map by the dying buccaneer Billy Bones, he sets sail on the Hispaniola in search of the island. Among the crew, the one-legged Long John Silver becomes his greatest friend, but Silver has a shocking secret in store, and when they reach their destination, Jim faces danger and adventure greater than he could ever have imagined.” A truly great read!
And of course can’t forget one of my favourite pirates Captain Hook from “Peter Pan” by JM Barrie. I always keep an ear out for crocodiles that tick it means Captain Hook is about and it’s time to run the other way! Really enjoy the way Peter Pan manages to trick the pirates at the end, “Cock-a-doodle-do”. Try listening to it on an audio book for a change!
No blog about pirates would be complete with out mentioning “The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate” by Margaret Mahy. A man takes his mother in a wheelbarrow to the sea on a holiday and along the way the song of the sea is calling to them. What would happen if you went to the sea with your Mum? This story still makes me laugh and long to go on adventures on the high seas.
So grab an eye patch, put the parrot on it’s perch, and set sail for International Talk Like a Pirate day! Arrgggg….