Friends of Montclair Library

Detail from A Pirate's Night Before Christmas by Phillip Yates, illustrated by Sebastiá Serra

Argh! Sunday, September 19th be International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Here are a few of our favorite pirate books available at the Montclair Library (and a few you can request from other branches, marked with a *):

Picture Books:

1. How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long (instant classic about a boy who — temporarily — joins a band of pirates)
2. Captain Flinn & the Pirate Dinosaurs by Giles Andreae (pirates + dinosaurs – what more do we need to say?)
3. Do Pirates Take Baths? by Kathy Tucker (amusing poems about pirates)
4. A Pirate’s Night Before Christmas by Phillip Yates (a funny take on the traditional tale)
5. The Night Pirates by Peter Harris* (featuring fabulous girl pirates)
6. Shiver Me Letters by June Sobel* (a pirate alphabet)
7. This Little Pirate by Philemon Sturges* (a tale of swashbuckling teamwork)
8. Edward & the Pirates by David McPhail* (in which Edward uses his new reading skills)

Chapter Books:

1. Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt by Megan McDonald (grades 1-3)
2. The Not-So-Jolly Roger (Time Warp Trio) by Jon Scieszka (grades 3-7)
3. Pirates Past Noon (Magic Treehouse book #4) by Mary Pope Osborne (grades 4-6)
4. How to Be a Pirate by Cressida Cowell (the sequel to “How to Train Your Dragon”) (grades 4-6)
5. The Giant Rat of Sumatra: or, Pirates Galore by Sid Fleischman (grades 5-8)
6. Vampirates by Justin Somper (grades 5-8)
7. Piratica: Being a Daring Tale of a Singular Girl’s Adventure Upon the High Seas presented most handsomely by the notorious Tanith Lee (grades 6-9)*
8. Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy by L.A. Meyer (grades 7+)

And of course there are classics featuring pirates, like Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie* and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

P.S. If you should find yourself in San Francisco and in need of pirate supplies, there’s no finer purveyor of peg legs, glass eyes and lard than 826 Valencia (despite what the scurvy dogs at Captain Rick’s would have you believe), and your purchases help support students ages 6-18 (and their teachers) with writing workshops, tutoring and more.