The Pirate Window and Display, and the New York Times Roundup that Soon Followed.

It started with our galley giveaway. Stacie wanted to build a galley galleon.  It was so good that we decided we should do a pirate* window.

The sun was too glarey to get a good picture, but it looks pretty good from the back too. We decided to do a table as well as a window, since once you get started looking for pirate stuff, you just can't stop.

And argh...just as the display went up, the New York Times did a writeup of new pirate picture books for kids:

--Jonathan and the Big Blue Boat, by Philip Christian Stead
--Pirate Boy, by Eve Bunting, with illustrations by Julie Fortenberry
--Pirates of the Sea, by Bredon Dorman
--Pirates Go to School, by Corinne Deamas, with illustrations by John Manders

We've also been selling such staples as Melinda Long and David Shannon's How I Became a Pirate.  And the sales have not been limited to kids books.  Books such as Under the Black Flag, by David Cordingly, Empire of the Blue Water, by Stephen Talty, and Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean, by Edward Kritzler, have been selling as well.

In fact, we sold more Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean in a week of sale than we did of the hardcover and paperback put together, previous to the display (and we had bough both for stock, so we're not cheating by comparing sales on books we never had.)

It's not Saturday, so I'm not supposed to talk about the pirate stuff...but we have a good amount of pirate stuff, including puzzles and action figures and messenger bags and puppets.

*We do not condone evil pirates.  As the New York Times said, "It's hard for parents not to feel ambivalent about piracy.  We're O.K. if parents want to vicariously experience the pleasures of not bathing, brushing their teeth or speaking proper English. But we also want them to realize that they don't actually want to be anything like Captain HOok or First Mate LaFaargh."  Read the entire story here.