In the Mind Garden - "On a Pirate Ship"

Alannah has just compleyed her first term of 'pre-school". She goes to a Kindergarten Union Pre-school two days a week Next year, when she is four, she will attend three days per week. The year she turns five - 2015 - she will go to 'big school", which will be Castle Cove Primary School. All that by way of introduction. She has finally realised that boys are okay to play with, too. In fact, they play games based on "super-heroes", and they play another game about "pirates". So, I figured she might like to know more about the lore of pirates. Not the reality of pirates, just the romance of pirates.

Perhaps all young children do this, but Alannah chooses a character in a book, and that becomes HER. I guess she "identifies". The little girl in this book is nameless, which makes it easier to identify. The book starts and ends in the little girl's bedroom, where she is playing "pirates". The illustrations are cartoonish. The pirates are heroes, and the stuff dreams are made of.

This book has been read quite a few times. It is not the best book in the world. The text requires a tough edit. But, it serves a purpose. It gives Alannah an insight into the popular image of pirates. It gives her the language of pirates, "Ship Ahoy!" She knows about treasure, she knows about gold doubloons, she knows about hot, spicy drinks. And, the story inclues a parrot, a monkey AND a cat. She loves hearing the story. She loves looking at the pictures. And, above all, she loves discussing what the story is on about.