PIRATE STORIES
(excerpts from Storytell posts + original research)
(To retell any of the stories listed below, be sure to obtain permission
from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain)

1) Nancy Robert's Blackbeard and Other Pirates of the Atlantic Coast. (1993)
Book Description from a reader
It's one of the best books I've read concerning piracy, and is fairly accurate. The one part I really love about this book, is of course, the one on Blackbeard. Regardless what kind of person he was, anyone can be inspired over the fact, that he was literally fearless. Instead of running from a fight, he would run to them. And when he died, it took a lot of men to bring him down, and even then it was a bloody battle. From Stede Bonnet to Calico Jack, this book brings you the bios of some of the most infamous/ famous pirates ever.

2) The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate (Puffin Picture Story Book) by Margaret Mahy. 1996.
Response: I first heard this told by Pat Peterson, who is one of the featured regional tellers for Bellingham, and I was spellbound. It was the first time I had experienced the trance phenomena.
Response: My absolute favorite pirate book is Margaret Mahy's The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate (Puffin Picture Story Book). The illustrator is Margaret Chamberlain [sure lot of Margarets around here]. It is my fond hope that I grow more and more to look just like the picture of the pirate mother. Margaret in Illinois, who know it is, it is a glorious thing to be a pirate queen. Hurrah for the pirate queen! Hurrah for the pirate queen!

Book Description by School Library Journal
Grade 1-2 Seeking interesting and worthwhile picture books from the past and reissuing them with new illustrations is a welcome idea. However one can only wonder what the impetus was to bring back the little man in "a respectable brown suit" whose pirate mother leads him to the sea. The story is about a timid clerk who puts his mother in a wheelbarrow to take her back to the sea, where we can only surmise that she once led an exciting life. He attains a sort of epiphany upon reaching the ocean, resigns his stultifying job by dropping a note in a bottle, and ships out as a cabin-boy under his mother's rule still. The latest version has a revised text, somewhat shorter, but essentially the same as the first. Published in 1973 by Atheneum, that edition's collages by Brian Froud were described in contemporary reviews as "witty" and "sophisticated." Chamberlain's carefully detailed colored-ink drawings for this edition are very appealing, but again, cannot save the slight plot. Do-your-own-thing would appear to be the message, but our poor little hero simply trades one boss for another, his only improvements being the putative pleasure of living on the sea, and looser clothing. Ruth Semrau, Lovejoy School Library, McKinney, Tex.

3) From Margaret MacDonald's Peace Tales, Music to Soothe the Savage Beast--from Japan--about the musician, Mochimitsu, who wins over marauding pirates with his beautiful playing. (2005 - Ages 9-12)
Book Description:
Maybe it's the king who spills honey, and then says it is not his problem until it causes a war. Or maybe it's some sandpipers and whales who get into a foolish fight that almost destroys their homes. Perhaps it's the man who thinks that a gun makes him strong, or the monkeys who follow their leader into water that's too deep.

4) Edward and the Pirates by David McPhail. Very effective with younger kids. (1997 - Ages 4-8)
Book Description
David McPhail--award-winning author and illustrator of more than 40 books, including Santa's Book of Names--has created another delightful book about Edward, a voracious reader of anything he can get his hands on, even seed catalogs in a pinch. One night, while reading a book about pirates, Edward finds himself surrounded by the salty sailors who think his book might tell them where their treasure is buried. They beg, threaten, and bribe him to no avail, but when Edward's father scares the pirates with a shower of arrows, Edward feels sorry for them and relinquishes the book. As it turns out, the pirates can't read, so Edward reads the book aloud to them. Kids will love the big, dramatic paintings (moody acrylics on canvas) and the rollicking story of how, with a little imagination, a book can come to life.

5) Nancy Robert's Blackbeard and Other Pirates of the Atlantic Coast. The stories are filled with plenty of excitement and many of them have good character-revealing dialogue that is fun to perform. There are a variety of tales, some of them about women pirates, including the story of Ann Bonny.

6) Pirates and piracy home page. Pirate legends and facts:
http://www.piratesinfo.com/

7) One of the best books on the myths of the oceans and other sea stuff. The Ocean Almanac by Robert Hendrickson. (1984)
Book Description
As expansive as the ocean itself, this entertaining, informative almanac offers hundreds of fascinating essays, anecdotes, facts, legends, and mysteries concerning the sea, its amazing inhabitants--both real and apocryphal--and the men and ships who have sailed it through the ages.
Response
Years ago this list recommended the following book and it is one of the best reads I've had on pirates, and the myths of the oceans and a bunch of other sea stuff. (Sorry about the technical jargon.)

8) http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/kidd.html

9) Blackbeard's Ghost from North Carolina, retold by S.E. Schlosser on the American Folklore site.
http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/nc2.html

10) Pirate folklore by Diana Tierney on the Suite101.com site.
http://folktalesmyths.suite101.com/article.cfm/pirates

11) Blackbeard, Drake and O'Malley legends
http://legends.dm.net/pirates/grainne.html

12) Spawn of Evil: The Invisible Empire of Soulless Men Which for a Generation Held the Nation in a Spell of Terror by Paul Iselin Wellman. (1964)
A book about pirates of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century along the Mississippi who would prey on traders and settlers. The book described grizzly murders & cannibalism of pirates who lived in the caves along the river.

13) The Jane Yolen story about Grainne O'Malley,The Pirate Queen. Grainne O'Malley was another female pirate (from the 16th century) she managed to convince Elizabeth I to return all of her lands, flocks, and ships. She was an excellent navigator and sailor. The crew of her father's ship elected her captain after his death.

• The Ballad of the Pirate Queens by Jane Yolen with David Shannon (illus). (1998 - Ages 9-12)
Book Description from School Library Journal
Grade 3-6 "And silver the coins and silver the moon,/Silver the waves on the top of the sea..." Yolen writes a most unusual ballad of pirate adventure that sings the history of Anne Bonney and Mary Reade, the only 2 women of the 12 pirates aboard the Vanity. They defend the ship from the men of the governor's man-o'-war, Albion, while their captain and the rest of the crew are below drinking rum and playing cards. The females are absolutely the best and bravest of this bad lot. The Vanity is taken; all are brought to trial, but Anne and Mary escape hanging by "pleading their bellies" (claiming they are pregnant), a page taken from history for which Yolen provides notes. Shannon's acrylics are rich, dark, and realistic, and expand upon the story. Faces glow as they did in his work for Rafe Martin's Rough-Face Girl (Putnam, 1992). The depth of the art is reminiscent of great classic illustrators working in oil, especially N.C. Wyeth. This is not for the faint of heart?no good pirate story is?as pirates are not a God-fearing lot. But it is for those who crave high adventure, death-defying acts, and an unflinching glimpse into history. A rousing read-aloud.
Helen Gregory, Grosse Pointe Public Library, MI

• Sea Queens: Women Pirates Around the World by Jane Yolen with Christine Joy Pratt (illus) (2008)
Book Description from Booklist
Much has been discovered about pirates since Yolen wrote her first book on the subject, Pirates in petticoats, in 1963. This new volume builds on those revelations in 12 portraits of sword-swinging, seafaring women throughout history, from Artemisia, in 500 B.C.E. Persia, to Madame Ching, an early nineteenth-century Chinese woman and named here as "the most successful pirate in the world." A long bibliography is appended, but there are no chapter notes to separate fact from folklore, and Yolen's conclusion further moves her subjects into the territory of legend: "There is so much storytelling, exaggeration, and just plain lying about the pirate trade that it's hard to say with absolute certainty that all the women pirates on these pages are real." . . . Still, the book is filled with fascinating, dramatically told stories and sidebars, and they could serve as a good starting point for further research, as well as discussions about historic accuracy and bias. --Booklist
From Kirkus Reviews
Piracy wasn't pretty, but sometimes it was sanctioned. It was always bloody and sometimes lucrative. Yolen tells the tales of 13 female pirates, from Persia to China, from 500 years before the Common Era to the 19th century. Not only does she tell them vividly, she also strives to untangle fact from fiction, history from legend, highlighting the telling details that will draw kids in. Alfhild of Denmark, for instance, kept a pet viper to ward off would-be suitors. Jeanne the Lioness of Brittany sold her castles and lands, outfitted three ships and attacked French vessels along the coast of Normandy to avenge her murdered husband. Rachel Wall was the last woman to be hanged on Boston Common, in 1789. A concluding roundup includes a list of women pirates about whom only a few sentences are known. This volume is very prettily produced, with Pratt's gorgeous pen-and-ink-on-scratchboard illustrations and tailpieces. Sidebars with further tidbits, definitions, legends and historical records embellish the pages. Young pirate princesses (and princes) will be dazzled. --Kirkus Reviews

14) There's a children's book by Emily Arnold McCully called The Pirate Queen about Grainne. (1995 - Ages 4-8)
Book Description
Grania O'Malley was born with the mark of a sailor and the light of the sea in her eye. As she grew, tales of her courage and heroic deeds traveled across Ireland. But when she came up against a ruthless governor, even fearless Grania was stymied. So she turns to a woman more powerful than she in this heart-stopping tale that's as big as the Irish Sea. "McCully writes with great flair and her sweeping watercolors capitalize on the historical drama....What a woman, what a tale." - Publishers Weekly, starred review "McCully introduces a 16th-century heroine who will offer educators an alternative to what is traditionally presented as a male 'occupation.'" - School Library Journal, starred review "Children intrigued by pirates will enjoy McCully's unusual picture book, which offers some insight into the history behind the legend and illuminates more than the life of Grania O'Malley." - Booklist Emily Arnold McCully lives in New York City and Chatham, New York.

15) Captain Abdul's Pirate School by Colin McNaughton. (2004 - Ages 4-8)
Book Description
The incorrigible Colin McNaughton sets sail with a hilarious high-seas, high-time adventure for every swashbuckling young matey. Ahoy!

Captain Abdul's Pirate School finds a reluctant pirate pupil stuck on a ship with Captain Abdul, a scary scoundrel with more missing pieces than a secondhand jigsaw puzzle. Will there be a mutiny? Or will this junior pirate end up having more fun than any kid could imagine?

16) Pigs & Pirates from the picture book by Barbara Walker, a synopsis/variant of the Captain Abdul story. (out of print)

17) Bill Harley's Pirate Song from Blah Blah Blah: Stories About Clams, Swamp Monsters, Pirates & Dogs (Unabridged) (Audio download)

18) The Ballad of the Pirate Queens by Jane Yolen is about Mary Reade and Anne Bonney, who sailed with Calico Jack Rackham aboard the Vanity in the Caribbean in the late 18th century. Calico Jack and his men hanged for their piracy. Mary and Anne got off on a technicality--it was against English law to kill an unborn child and they were both pregnant.

19) Granuaile, A Notorious Woman: the life and times of Grace O'Malley, c. 1530-1603 by Anne Chambers, Wolfhound Press, 68 Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1; 1979, 1986. This contains about all that is known (and surmised) about the pirate queen of the West of Ireland, who was received by Queen Elizabeth as an equal.
ISBN: 0 86327 007 7 pbk.

20) One-Eyed Jake by Pat Hutchins is a delightful pirate story just right for young children.

21) Growltiger's Last Stand from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S.Eliot

22) A good quasi-pirate story is Jack London's The Lost Poacher. It's about Seal hunters in the Bering Sea, who are caught by a Russian ship. Then of course there's The Sea Wolf.

23) There's an older movie, 1970's era, called Ice Pirates. It's directed by Terry Jones, of Monty Python, who also did 12 Monkeys, Time Bandits, and Children of the Lost City. It's a futuristic space movie, pretty good in a Pythonistic kind of way, a bit bizarre and worth a look.

24) Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, the best pirate story of all time.

25) Haunted New England: A Devilish View of the Yankee Past by Mary Bolte.
ISBN 85699-034-5. Contains good pirate stories.

26) The Ghost Pirate by Julianna Bethlen. Dial Books NY 1995.

27) There's some real stuff. The Golden Vanity could be sung by substituting of "the Pirate Enemy" instead of "The Spanish/Turkish Enemy." It affected me greatly, as a child. The ballad Captain Kidd is strong, and has some good sing-along chorus lines. The story isn't bad either, though it would take some piecing together-- both are in Body Boots and Britches. There is always "High Barbary," also with good singalong chorus lines. Strong stuff, but we used to sing two of them in grade school, with the pre-K kids present along with everybody else.

Maybe a story about pirate treasure might be the way to go. There are many "local" legends of pirate treasure, including almost certainly one in your neck of the woods, and there have been periodic crazes of people going nuts (in that conspiracy theory kind of way) and digging all the hell over the place, going broke in the process. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormanism, is said by non-Morman historians to have begun his career as a seer specialising in the location (not finding-- something always happened, a spirit would take it away at the last second) of buried treasure. But you'd better not touch that one, if you don't want to get in trouble.

28) Just once I'd personally like to hear a pirate story which contained a pirate character that had two good eyes, two good legs, and was never so frustrated as to have to say, ARRRRGH! or to be so chummy as to call everyone, Matey! I'm not suggesting an alternative lifestyle pirate per se, Well.....there is Pirates of the Carribbean......
Response: Have you ever seen The Pirates Penzance--a musical about a young many who ended up as a pirate--accidentally!
Response: Yes -- I love it. He can't leave until his 21st birthday, and he was born 2/29.
Response: My mom used to "tell" us Gilbert and Sullivan operettas on long car rides, singing the songs lustily in her unreliable but enthusiastic voice. She had been a regular pick for major-general Stanley, Lord Chancellor, Lord High Executioner, Sir Joseph Porter KCB patter-song roles, all through high school and college.

For those unfamiliar with the plot of The Pirates of Penzance: sometime in the 1800s the young hero, Frederick, had been apprenticed to the pirates until his 19th birthday. When he is nineteen, and preparing to leave, the pirates point out to him that he was born on leap day, so, as Frederick sings in an anguished recitative, "that birthday will not be reached by me till 1940!" Let's see. 2004-1940= 64. Sixty-four divided by 4 is 16. So, Sixteen plus nineteen, Frederick has just turned 35. My god, he could still be playing pro baseball!

29) There's a rousing poem called The Pirate Don Dirk of Dundee that's fun to recite. All thumping rhymes and stereotyped images...
Response: Here's the text:
Ho, for the Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee!
He was as wicked as wicked could be,
But oh, he was perfectly gorgeous to see!
The Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.

His conscience, of course, was as black as a bat,
But he had a floppety plume on his hat
And when he went walking it jiggled - like that!
The plume of the Pirate Dowdee.

His coat it was crimson and cut with a slash,
And often as ever he twirled his mustache
Deep down in the ocean the mermaids went splash,
Because of Don Durk of Dowdee.

Moreover, Dowdee had a purple tattoo,
And stuck in his belt where he buckled it through
Were a dagger, a dirk, and a squizzarmaroo,
For fierce was the Pirate Dowdee.

So fearful he was he would shoot at a puff,
And always at sea when the weather grew rough
He drank from a bottle and wrote on his cuff,
Did Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.

Oh, he had a cutlass that swung at his thigh
And he had a parrot called Pepperkin Pye,
And a zigzaggy scar at the end of his eye,
Had Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.

He kept in a cavern, this buccaneer bold,
A curious chest that was covered with mold,
And all of his pockets were jingly with gold!
Oh jing! went the gold of Dowdee.

His conscience, of course, it was crook'd like a squash,
But both of his boots made a slickery slosh,
And he went through the world with a wonderful swash,
Did Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.

It's true he was wicked as wicked could be,
His sins they outnumbered a hundred and three,
But oh, he was perfectly gorgeous to see,
The Pirate don Durk of Dowdee.

Poem was written by Mildred Plew Merryman and it appeared in LET'S ENJOY POETRY selected by Rosalind Hughes, Houghton Mifflin, 1961. (Permission to print in 1961came from M.P.Ruckel from CHILD LIFE MAGAZINE, 1923, Rand McNally.)

30) Haunted New England - A Devilish View of the Yankee Past by Mary Bolte.
ISBN 85699-034-5.
This was posted this last time we were looking for pirate stories. Someone suggested telling The Ghost of the Pirate with One Black Eye Ogden Nash wrote a poem about Custard the Dragon that has him eat a pirate. (The dragon).

How about doing a version of the pirate in Peter Pan. Hook loses a hand to the crocodile. You could tell it from Hook's point of view or the crocodile's! See the movie Hook for some ideas. Although you probably want to move away from the Disney versions and come up with a version of your own. How about a crocodile who has developed a taste for pirate--yummy stuff but it is not on the menu at his favorite restaurant! So he goes in search of it. In fact, he craves one particular pirate. This crocodile could end up being the "connection" between all of your stories as he hunts down as many pirates as he can find. Along the way he would discover that treasure has a metalic taste and other interesting facts about pirates. Clocks are hard on the digestive system--rather alarming, in fact! At the end of the program, of course, this crocodile would still be hungry but optomistic and leave in search of that one particular yummy pirate!

Don't forget that old finger play:
Five little monkeys sitting in a tree
Teasing Mr. Crocodile,
You can't catch me. You can't catch me. You can't catch me.
Slowly Mr. Crocodile snapped!
Then there are 4 monkeys and then 3, etc. It ends with
Now, Mr. Crocodile is sleeping, just as full as he can be.

Of course, it was Mr. Alligator but I made a few changes. There are hand motions that go with it also.
Yo ho, yo he , it's a pirate's life for me.
Yo ho, yo yo - did you want to do a few yo yo tricks by any chance?

31) Here are a few links, some with stories, others with trivia. They might spark something.

Click here: Bimini Ring - History & Folklore
http://www.biminiring.com/history.html

Pirates, Privateers and Buccaneers - Suite101.com
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/1071/20488

LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE
http://mw.k12.ny.us/schools/middle/hudson1/HudRiver/legends.html

Ocean-Born Mary Fulton--A Family Folktale - Suite101.com
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/folklore/9264

Calico Jack John Rackam Pirate Captain Mary Read Anne Bonney Pirates
http://www.geocities.com/jack_calico/

The Legend Of Anne Bonney and Mary Read
http://www.bonney-readkrewe.com/legend.html

32) Do you know the song The Golden Vanity? It's really about privateers and has parts the audience can join in on. I love to sing it, and for the age group you describe it would work, I think. I believe you can find it on contemplator.com

33) Here's a 'story' I post every couple of pirate-tale cycles. It's a humorous opener or transition tale to lighten the mood after a more dramatic story. It seems to appeal to most all age-groups. As I read it just now, I thought of contexts in which it could be used to illustrate more substantive points. Interesting, how Story perspectives and applications can change over time,while the story remains the same. Guess there are "Rorschach" aspects to most Stories
Captain Red Shirt
Long ago, when sailing ships ruled the waves, a captain and his crew were in danger of being boarded by a pirate ship. As the crew became frantic, the captain bellowed to his First Mate, "Bring me my red shirt!". The First Mate quickly retrieved the captain's red shirt, which the captain put on and lead the crew to battle the pirate boarding party. Although some casualties occurred among the crew, the pirates were repelled. Later that day, the lookout screamed that there were two pirate vessels sending boarding parties. The crew cowered in fear, but the captain calm as ever bellowed, "Bring me my red shirt!". The battle was on, and once again the Captain and his crew repelled both boarding parties, although this time more casualties occurred. Weary from the battles, the men sat around on deck that night recounting the day's occurrences when an ensign looked to the Captain and asked, "Sir, why did you call for your red shirt before the battle?". The Captain, giving the ensign a look that only a captain can give, exhorted, "If I am wounded in battle, the red shirt does not show the wound and thus, you men will continue to fight unafraid". The men sat in silence marvelling at the courage of such a man. As dawn came the next morning, the lookout screamed that there were pirate ships, 10 of them, all with boarding parties on their way. The men became silent and looked to their Captain for his usual command. The Captain, calm as ever, bellowed, "Bring me my brown pants!"

34) I have a joke:
Do you know what a pirate gets charged when he has his ears pierced?
Answer:
He gets charged a buck an ear (buccaneer).

35) From Diana Waite:
This is my original adaptation of an old Louisianna legend. You know, in Louisiana today, people still believe that there is treasure buried in the bayous. You see around the time of the war of 1812, there was a notorious pirate by the name of Jean Laffitte. It’s said that Laffitte and his men stole more treasure than any ten men could spend in an entire lifetime. They stuffed the cannons on the ships they raided full of treasure and threw them over the sides of the boat. It is said that all the way from Galveston Bay to the port of New Orleans, they hid treasure. Old Gibout, he was a trapper, a fisherman, a guide. He knew the louisiana bayous better than anyone. If you wanted to find anything you went to Gibout. And Gibout he knew, he knew that he was gonna be the one. He was gonna be the one to find Laffittes treasure. His friends said Gibout you crazy man. There’s no treasure Gibout. You been listenin to too many of you mama’s stories gibout. But Gibout knew that he was gonna find the treasure. He set out early one morning.in his little poirot, that’s a small boat like a canoe. The Bayou was hot and still. A strange mist seemed to cover the water. Gibout got very sleepy. He lay down in the bottom of his poirot and fell asleep. When he woke up he was somewhere that he had never been before. His poirot was stuck on a small sandbar. He got out and began to cross the sandbar. He saw a path and headed for it. The path was made of bricks layed just so, like artwork. On either side of the path were beautiful gardens full of the scent of Magnolias and Mimosa. As he rounded a curve he saw a beautiful house. The house had a gallerie, a porch that surrounded the housae on three sides. The terrace was held up by tall thick white columns. The windows glistened in the sunlight. The Red front door opened as gibout approached and a man stepped out. A strange looking man. He had lace on his collar and at his cuffs, short pants and jewels at his neck and on his arms. He wore a pointed hat with a feather draping over the side. The man did not speak but motioned Gibout to follow him. Gibout did. Each room that he passed through was more splendid than the one before, there were crystal chandeleirs, velvet couches tables of oak set with crystal and ivory. They got to the back of the house and the strange man led Gibout into a small storage room with a trap door on the floor. The man spoke, “I am the Ghost of Jean Laffitte” he reached down and opened the trap door. “all of this treasure is yours, but you must tell no one” “Sacre Deaux “ cried Gibout it was more treasure than he had ever seen he reached out and the Ghost disappeared and the door began to shut Gibout grabbed the handle but it came off in his hand. NOOOOOO cried Gibout. No, what am I gonna do? Gibout tried and tried to open the door. He scratched and he clawed until his fingers were bloody and his knuckles were raw, but he could not open it. He fell to the floor exhausted. He worked at a piece of the floor until he was able to loosen a plank he pulled with all of his strength, but it broke off in his hand. Just one small hole. Gibout was able to fit his hand into the hole. He stretched his fingers until he was able to reach something. He grasped it and pulled it out of the hole. It was one gold dubloon. What good will this do Gigout thought,. But he put it into his pocket. He lay on the floor off that rooom all night sleeping fitfully . In the morning he had decided. He would get his friends. They would help him. Gibout found his way quickly back to his poirot and paddled back to his camp. He knew thew way now. When he tried to get his friends to come with him they all laughed. Oh Gibout you crazy man Gibout you are a fool. Gibout there’s no treasure, no. Gibout you been at the bottom of that bottle again. Gibout tried everything finally there was nothing left to do he stuck his hands into his pockets and started to walk away then he felt that coin. He pulled it out of his pocket and he told his friends. Well you know they were all ready to go then. They followed gibout back through the Bayou. They got to that sand bar. As they climbed toward the path stickers and burrs got caught in their pants. The path was cracked and broken the gardens surrounding the path were full of cudzue, that’s a weed that grows in the southern US. As they scame around a bend in the path they saw the house it was the worst house they had ever seen. The paint was peeling and chipping columns were fallen and the gallerie had big holes. The door hung on one side and three men had to work to open it enough to enter. They went into the house and each room was worse than the one before. The furniture was torn and shredded small animals had made nests in the frames. The chandeliers were broken and dangling dangerously from the drooping ceiling. Each room they went into was worse than the one before. When they got to the store room Gibout pointed to the trap door and cried there there his friends set to work with their hatchetts and crowbars. When they opened that door all they found were bones and all they heard was the erie laughter of the Ghost Of Jean Laffitte.

36) I tell several of the pirate stories found in Nancy Roberts' Blackbeard and Other Pirates of the Atlantic Coast. The stories are filled with plenty of excitement and many of them have good character-revealing dialogue that is fun to perform. There are a variety of tales, some of them about women pirates. My particular favorite is the story of Ann Bonny.

37) I've just been doing a couple of speech and drama classes with a pirate theme. I have a great verse which I use, it goes like this.
The pirate's big
The pirate's fat
He wears black boots
And a great big hat
When he speaks
His voice is low
What does he say?
YO HO HO

The pirate's bad
The pirate's bold
He sails the seas
Stealing silver and gold
He's the wickedest man
You'll ever know
What does he say?
YO HO HO
(Sorry I can't remember who wrote this,but I do remember that I changed it a bit)

All good rousing stuff, which goes down a treat with the pre-schoolers. In fact I think their regular teachers must get fed up with all the YO Ho Hoing that goes on after my classes.I also play a game in which the children sit around in a circle (the pirates cave), with one child as the pirate in the middle with a 'treasure chest.' The children in the circle hold hands and say the following:
A treasure chest of silver and gold
Is what the pirate guards I'm told
When at night he goes to sleep
To steal his treasure
I'll creep, creep, creep.

On the word sleep the 'pirate" has to lie down and close his eyes. The teacher then points to a child in the circle who gets up and "steals' the treasure. This child then runs clockwise around the circle. Meanwhile as soon as the treasure is stolen the rest of the group shout Yo Ho Ho to wake up the pirate. The pirate then pursues the thief around the circle with the aim of touching him before he reaches his place and sits down again.

38) This just comes to mind, but you could have the older children write a reader's theater script for a scene from Treasure Island, the best pirate story of all time. I'd compress the scenes about finding the map and looking for the treasure trunk on the island. The 9 and 10 year olds could do this, and everybody could perform it. Of course, they'll need eye patches, tri-corner hats, and at least one peg-leg, shoulder parrot and arm-hook, which they could make themselves.

Face-painting scars and mustaches would be fun. How about a treasure hunt complete with treasure trunk and a map-making contest? Oh, and they need swords. They're easy: cardboard and aluminum foil. I've got a couple of rubber ones I bought at a garage sale for a quarter. You also need a skull and crossbones flag. Lots of this stuff could be made by the kids themselves.

T.S. Eliot wrote a children's book about a pirate. Can't remember what it's called. It's available in paperback. I have it somewhere. It may even be from his Cats poem.

39) There's a craft of making a treasure map with crayons on brown paper, burn the edges with a match to get them old and like torn and then it's a mixture of shellac and something that goes over it, or by spraying shiny kryolon clear may work also, but the shellac turns different colors of brown makes it old.
Response: Right. Some of my students came up with a strategy for making the paper look old if they didn't want children to fool around with matches. They used wet tea bags on the torn paper.

40) Website contains:
Pirate Stories Lafitte’s men captured our imagination for many years
Treasure: Treasure tale keyed digging in East Texas Piney Woods
Pavell's Island: Shellbank, Louisiana: The Legend of Pavell's Island Jean Baptiste: A Tale of Jean Baptiste's Brass Cannon
James Campbell: A Buccaneer Family in Spanish East Texas
Charlie Cronea: "Uncle Charlie" Cronea: The Last of Lafitte's Pirates
Ben Dollivar: "Crazy Ben" Dollivar's Secret Gold Cache John Fletcher: The Legend of John Fletcher's Buried Treasure
Hotspur: The Last Voyage of the Hotspur
Jean Lafitte: The Legacy of Jean Lafitte in Southwest Louisiana
Calcasieu Parish: Two Treasure Sites of Imperial Calcasieu Parish
John McGaffey: The Legend of John McGaffey's Gold
Yocum's Inn: The Devil's Own Lodging House
Seth Carey's Escape from the Murderous Yocum Gang
http://block.dynip.com/wtblockjr/pirate.htm

41) Pirate Stories for 1st - 3rd graders
Pirate Stories for 1st - 3rd graders
Fiction:
Amoss, Berthe. Old Hasdrubal and the Pirates (Ej Am)
Burningham, John. Come Away from the Water, Shirley (Ej Bu)
Cole, Babette. The Trouble with Uncle (Ej Co)
Deedy, Carmen. The Secret of Old Zeb (J De)
Denman, Cherry. Pirates (Ej De)
Dupasquier, Philippe Andy's Pirate Ship (A Spot the Difference Book) (Ej Du)
Fox, Mem. Tough Boris (Ej Fo)
Gliori, Debi. The Princess and the Pirate King (Ej Gl)
Hooks, William. Lo-Jack and the Pirates (Ready-to-Read book) (J-ER Ho)
Hutchins, Pat. One-Eyed Jake (Ej Hu)
Isadora, Rachel. Pirates of Bedford Street (Ej Is)
Kimmel, Eric Robin Hook: Pirate Hunter (Ej Ki) Rescued as a baby and raised by the wicked
Captain Hook, Robin Hook is too kindhearted to be a pirate. Abandoned as a boy on an island, he
eads a band of lost children who set out to bring pirates everywhere to justice.
Lofgren, Ulf Alvin the Pirate (Ej Lo)
Lloyd, David. Grandma and the Pirate (Ej Ll)
Lourie, Peter. The Lost Treasure of Captain Kidd (J Lo)
Mahy, Margaret. The Great Piratical Rumbustification & the Librarian and the Robbers (J Ma)
Mahy, Margaret The Horrendous Hullabaloo (Ej Ma)
Marston, Elsa. Cynthia and the Runaway Gazebo (Ej Ma)
McFarland, Lyn. The Pirate's Parrot (Ej Ma) Captain Cur's crew attempt to train the talking teddy bear they mistakenly give their captain as a substitute for a parrot.
McNaughton, Colin. Captain Abdul's Pirate School (Ej Ma)
McPhail, D. Edward and the Pirates (Ej Ma)
Monjo, F.N. Pirates in Panama (J Mo)
Peppe, Rodney. The Kettleship Pirates (Ej Pe)
Priest, R. The Old Pirate of Central Park (Ej Pr)
Ross, Tony. The Treasure of Cozy Cove (Ej Ro)
Ryan, John. Captain Pugwash and the
Mutiny (Ej Ry)
  Pugwash Aloft
  Pugwash and the Fancy Dress Party
  Pugwash and the Ghost Ship
  Pugwash and the Midnight Feast
Scarry, Richard. Pie Rats Ahoy! (Step into Reading) (J-ER Sc)
Sharratt, Nick. Mrs. Pirate (beginning reader book) (Ej Sh)
Stephens, Nicholas. Disney's Climb Aboard if You Dare: Stories from the Pirates of the Caribbean (J St)
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island (J Classics - St)
Stroud, Jonathon. The Lost Treasure of Captain Blood (J St)
Taylor, Mark. Bobby Shafto's Gone to Sea (Ej Ta)
Trez, Denise and Alain. The Smallest Pirate (Ej Tr)
Tucker, Kathy. Do Pirates Take Baths? (Ej Tu)
Woychuk, Denis. Pirates! (Mimi and Gustav in Pirates!) (Ej Wo)
Longer Book on Cassette that 3rd graders may enjoy:
The Pirates Mixed up Voyage by Mahy, Margaret
Nonfiction:
Walker, Richard. The Barefoot Book of Pirates (J 398.208 Wa)
Bulloch, Ivan. I Wish I Were a Pirate (J 745.5 Bu)
Wright, Rachel. Pirates: Facts, Things to Make, Activities (J 745.5 Wr)
Yolen, Jane. The Ballad of the Pirate Queens (J 811 Yo)
Donnelly, Judy. True-Life Treasure Hunts (A Step-into Reading book) (J 910.45 Do)
Finney, Fred. Mystery History of a Pirate Galleon (J 910.4 Fi)
Gibbons, Gail. Pirates: Robbers of the High Seas (J 910.4 Gi)
Lincoln, Margarette. The Pirate's Handbook (J 910.4 Li)
Nickles, Greg. Pirates (J 910.4 Li)
Platt, Richard. Pirate (Eyewitness Book) (J 910.4 Pl)
Ross, Stewart. Pirates - Fact or Fiction (J 910.4 Ro)
Steedman, Scott. Pirates (J 910.4 St)
Dewey, Ariane. Laffite the Pirate (J 921 Laf)
McCully, Emily Arnold. The Pirate Queen (J 921 Oma) For more fact and fancy on pirates and
piracy, see: Pirates! at National Geographic

Compiled by L. Champelli for MCPL Children's Services (3/96)

42) Pirates!
Pirate Stories and Legends
I am a teller of pirate stories and for about twenty years, have been featuring performances with the title, "Yo! Ho! Ho! Pirate Tales!" In that time, the presentation has undergone several changes. More recently, I have been performing as ‘Master Spells, Pirate Tale-Teller’; concentrating on the stories, with just a minimum of magical illustration to add a little variety to the performance. This was the presentation that I took to the 2002 Lancaster Easter Maritime Festival.
PIRATE BOOKS.
Over the years I have read many books on the subject of pirates. Some are now out of print and are difficult to obtain. Of those that are currently available, I can recommend:
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pirates by Captain Charles Johnson, The Pirates Own Book , by the Marine Research Society and Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates .
More detailed observations on these books can be found by CLICKING HERE Here are a few of the stories that I tell. I have omitted the obvious BLACKBEARD, CAPTAIN KIDD and HENRY MORGAN yarns. They are well documented on other web-sites. ANNE BONNEY and MARY READ are also left out for the same reason. I have begun with the less known but true story of a female who was abducted by a pirate and how she resolved her situation! This story always produces strong reaction from the women in my audiences – I can’t think why!
FULL TEXT STORIES:
The Revenge of Emmy Tot!
The Pirates Curse!
Captain Daniel and the Priest
The Unfortunate Sea Cook
The Legend of the Bell Rock
Jack Warrender and the Standing Stones
The Treasure of Tortuga!
http://www.thestorytelling-resource-centre.com/Pirates.html

43) Emma-Lindsay Squier's Pirate Stories
Jessica Amanda Salmonson
Emma-Lindsay Squier's niece Aileen Block told me in our correspondence: "Emma-Lindsay's fascination with Pirate tales may have begun when she learned that her great-great grandfather, Noble Squier, had been a Privateer during part of the Revolutionary war. She never mentioned it, that I recall, but she must have heard the story from her father, who would surely have heard it from†his own father or grandfather. A few years ago, I obtained copies of Noble Squier's pension papers. He had served during the Revolution in several capacities -- soldier, sailor, Indian scout. He had spent several months aboard the Privateering vessel Randolph, whose crew had captured 8 ships. One of the xeroxed papers I have lists his occupation as 'Privateer.' Just a surmise, but that's just the sort of thing that would catch her wonderful imagination & set it afire."...
For more info and stories, go to:
http://www.violetbooks.com/squier4.html

44) Pirate merchandise for sale:
http://www.deadmentellnotales.com/locker.shtml

45) All kinds of wonderful information about pirates:
http://www.pibburns.com/pirates.htm

46) Join the Pirate Webring:
http://A.webring.com/hub?ring=buccaneerring

47) Debbie's Unit Factory Pirate Links
Lesson Plans
Pirate Links
Famous Pirates
Pirate Stories & Songs
Women Pirates
http://www.themeunits.com/Pirates_c.html

48) Pirates of Penzance premiered on December 31, 1879, so Fredrick was twenty-three but only had a few months to go to reach his sixth birthday. IIRC, it was staged in New York before London, because the previous G&S operetta, HMS Pinafore, had been pirated by an American producer though a copyright technicality. Hence their next production featured pirates.
Response: And he will not reach his twenty-first birthday until 1940! [You do the math] 1940-(21*4)=1856 Pirates of Penzance premiered on December 31, 1879, so Fredrick was twenty-three but only had a few months to go to reach his sixth birthday.

My absolute favorite pirate book is Margaret Mahy's The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate (Puffin Picture Story Book). The illustrator is Margaret Chamberlain [sure lot of Margarets around here]. It is my fond hope that I grow more and more to look just like the picture of the pirate mother. Margaret in Illinois, who know it is, it is a glorious thing to be a pirate queen. Hurrah for the pirate queen! Hurrah for the pirate queen!

49) Go to this page
http://www.storybug.net/pdf/stories_a_to_z.pdf
on my website and look at these two titles:
Legends
The Storytelling Resource Center (in the section called Pirates, Stories and Legends)

Also, in 2005 I listed this site in Storytelling Magazine so if you want to add some music to your programming, take a look.
Shanties and Sea Songs
Well, shiver me timbers! This site offers a boatload of shanties, pilot verses and sea songs. There is also a treasure chest full of CD and book recommendations, and information on tall ships, pirates, and sailing books. You'll be singing and sailing the seven seas in no time at all!
http://shanty.rendance.org/index.php
Karen C. 9/10/06
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50) Dover has Howard Pyle's The Book of Pirates.
Here it is, the complete text online. Published in 1921, it is in the public domain now.
Howard Pyle's The Book of Pirates : fiction, fact & fancy concerning the buccaneers & marooners of the Spanish Main
http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PylPira.html
Karen C. 9/10/06
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51) Captain Kidd, the pirate, is mentioned in the first paragraph of The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving.

A few miles from Boston, in Massachusetts, there is a deep inlet winding several miles into the interior of the country from Charles Bay, and terminating in a thickly wooded swamp, or morass. On one side of this inlet is a beautiful dark grove; on the opposite side the land rises abruptly from the water's edge, into a high ridge on which grow a few scattered oaks of great age and immense size. Under one of these gigantic trees, according to old stories, there was a great amount of treasure buried by Kidd the pirate. The inlet allowed a facility to bring the money in a boat secretly and at night to the very foot of the hill. The elevation of the place permitted a good look out to be kept that no one was at hand, while the remarkable trees formed good landmarks by which the place might easily be found again. The old stories add, moreover, that the devil presided at the hiding of the money, and took it under his guardianship; but this, it is well known, he always does with buried treasure, particularly when it has been ill gotten. Be that as it may, Kidd never returned to recover his wealth; being shortly after seized at Boston, sent out to England, and there hanged for a pirate.

It was a great story to teach! It allows for the inclusion of the ballad The Farmer's Curst Wife and is an excellent companion piece to Benet's The Devil and Daniel Webster.

Of course you can include the ballad of Captain Kidd as part of this teaching also. In fact, if you want to study pirates, you can use JUST the first paragraph if you like. Although students found Irving's vocabulary and sentence structure hard to read, I got around this by reading at least a part of the story aloud. Anyway, it worked for me.
Sylvia O. 9/10/06
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52) A couple of the most famous pirates were women. One of our tellers in River and Prairie Storyweavers, Jim "Two Crows" Wallen is doing a new "Pirate" program which he tried out on the group at our last meeting and he has some fascinating research on the women Pirates. His address is
http://www.storyteller.net/tellers/jwallen/
•••••

53) Stories From Papi—Here's a contemporary blogger who has written 50 short children's stories in a year, one of which is a delightful four-part pirate story: The Red Map of Captain Gato, The Marooned Cat, The Privateer Mouse, The Long Lost Shark. There are also stories about squirrels, elephants, wolves, ants, storks and ducks. You can listen to most of them as well. Check it out!
http://papistories.blogspot.com/


(This web page updated 3/30/04; 9/12/06; 10/26/06; 8/12/07; 8/13/08)