Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Arrr, me hearties, and a lovely Talk Like a Pirate Day to you! What? Yeah, it's a real thing. Who would make this up? If you love a good drum of grog or a fine plunder of gold, then step up and claim all the goodies coming to you. Here are some of my favorites from around the web:

Tom Mason & the Blue Buccaneers Exhort You to Talk Like a Pirate!

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts will give you a free doughnut or a FREE DOZEN DOUGHNUTS if you follow the Pirate Code outlined here. (I know--they're really more guidelines.)

Here are 50 PIRATE MOVIES to screen today. In my mind, you can't beat Johnny Depp in the very first Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The full list is here.

Love PIRATE BOOKS? Try these:

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson: The classic original story of Long John Silver and the young boy who sailed with him
Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy by L.A. Meyer : First of a fantastic, fun YA/MG adventure series about a girl turned pirate (well, she's pretty moral, for a pirate); plenty of boys in this story too
Magic Marks the Spot by Caroline Carlson: The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates has a new member: Hilary Westfield, who neglects to tell the league that she's a girl! Great magical adventure fun for middle-grade readers. Continued in The Terror of the Southlands.
Pirates! by Celia Rees: Another girl-turned-pirate yarn--a multi-award-winner
Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates by David Cordingly: a nonfiction account of pirate history--nicely done and easy reading (but written for the adult market)
The Pirate Primer: Mastering the Language of Swashbucklers & Rogues by George Choundas: All you'll need to talk like a pirate (nonfiction)!

Finally, be sure to visit the original Talk Like a Pirate Day website, which has loads more fun stuff for buccaneers old and young!


Why am I all up in your face about pirates, anyway? Because my next book, The Wand & the Sea, features a fine band of pirate ruffians! Coming to you from Margaret K. McElderry Books in 2015.