Melinda Long used to play pirate. She buried her mom’s earrings and drew a pirate map to find them!
Although the inspiration for How I Became A Pirate came from Long’s childhood pirate games, the seed for the story came from a conversation she had in Barnes & Noble with an acquaintance who mentioned that pirate books were hard to find. Long based Jeremy Jacob, the main character, on her childhood self. “It’s my voice,” she says, “and I really love him.” But illustrator David Shannon created another of Long’s favorite characters—the pirate with two eye patches. “He’s always lifting one up to see. I just think he’s hilarious. He’s perfectly visual and is all [Shannon’s] creation.” In Long’s third pirate book still in production, she had to think of a compelling reason for the pirates to return for their treasure; consequently, she researched what might have happened to their ship that would have required an expensive repair [excerpted from my Melinda Long profile].
You also might be interested in
In the Trees, Honey Bees! was inspired by Lori Mortensen’s (@lamortensen)[...]
Although Pinkwater used to illustrate his own books, his wife,[...]
Read Carolyn Crimi’s gut-busting assessment of celebrities who write children’s books:[...]
Author Visits
Post Categories:
Blog Archive
Top Posts
Recent Comments
-
Great post, Jessica! I love the way the "I notice"…
-
Lisa L. Owens on LitLinks: 4 ways Pluto can supercharge imagination Thanks for hosting me, Patricia!
-
Danna Smith on LitLinks: Did you know goats can teach children about homonyms? I love this series of books!
Leave a Reply
Your email is safe with me.