Interview with Melinda Long and David Shannon
creators of Pirates Don't Change Diapers

Q: Pirates Don’t Change Diapers is Jeremy Jacob’s second adventure with Braid Beard and his crew, following the popular How I Became a Pirate. How did you get the idea to make the pirates babysitters?
Melinda Long: One day my two teenagers, Cathy and Bryan, came into the den pretending to flip eye patches up and down over their eyes. They were saying, “Look, Mama, it’s pirate peekaboo!” That was all it took. I knew then the pirates would have to become babysitters; it opened up so many possibilities for confusion and fun, I just couldn’t resist.

Q: Jeremy Jacob’s baby sister, Bonney Anne, plays a big role in the new book. There was a real-life pirate named Anne Bonney . . . is she any relation to your wee heroine?
ML: Absolutely, Anne Bonney and Mary Read were notorious female pirates who sailed together. I had to name J. J.’s baby sister after one of them because she’s a true pirate at heart.

Q: Because of the first book, you knew the characters before you started writing Pirates Don’t Change Diapers. Did that make the second story easier to write?
ML: Yes, I already had a feel for what the pirates and J. J. would and wouldn’t do, so I just had to work a little on Bonney Anne’s personality. I had a wonderful time helping her stress-out the pirates.

Q: What inspired you to pick up a pen in the first place? Did you always want to be a writer?
ML: My father passed down the storytelling gene, but my mother was the first person to encourage me to write. Back in the dark ages when I was six years old, we didn’t have video games or cable TV. One day my mother got tired of hearing how bored I was, so she pulled out a set of rubber stamps with cartoon characters on them and a stamp pad. She told me to write a story about those characters and to use the stamps for illustrations. I was all for using the stamps, but holding a pencil required work. Mama wasn’t easily discouraged, though. She pulled out her old typewriter and showed me how to use it. I wrote my first story that day—and I liked it! After that, wonderful teachers, friends, and a particular professor at Furman University (thanks, Nelly!) inspired me to write, along with my husband and kids, who inspire me daily.

Q: Okay, fess up: Do you ever slip into pirate slang in real life? After all, you’ve spent a lot of time imagining life with pirates.
ML: Shiver me timbers! It’s a sad day when a pirate phrase or two doesn’t pop out! Aargh!

Q: Can we look forward to more adventures with Jeremy Jacob and the pirates?
ML: I think our guys have some more adventures waiting for them. Maybe they’ll head off to the high seas in search of treasure!

Q: The illustrations for Pirates Don’t Change Diapers are as energetic, humorous, and clever in detail as those in How I Became a Pirate. How do you keep the new ideas flowing?
David Shannon: Illustrating this book was easy—Melinda’s story was full of great stuff to work with. I just sort of let the pirates tell me what they would do. It was a lot of fun to spend more time with them and see their personalities continue to develop.

Q: You’ve fused silliness and realism in the illustrations for these pirate books. When you read a manuscript for the first time, do you immediately know the “personality” of the art, or do you have to think about the story for a while before that becomes clear?
DS: It varies from book to book. With the pirate books, I started out with less realism than I ended up with. I wanted the pirates to be silly, but I also wanted them to be believable and cool-looking, which called for a little more realism and detail than I originally intended.

Q: You spent a lot of time drafting the many characters in How I Became a Pirate and figuring out all the colors. How was illustrating the sequel different?
DS: I already knew what the pirates looked like and what they were wearing, so that part was easier. I still had to construct each piece according to those things, though. Another challenge was matching individual pirates to the various activities, which pirate would be doing what.

Q: You researched pirates for the first book. Did you have to research anything for the second book? Do tidbits from your own life ever end up in your illustrations?
DS: I had to research diapers! My daughter’s eight, so it had been a while. Luckily, some very good friends of mine just had a baby, and I was able to borrow a diaper from them. My part of the dedication is to their baby, which worked out very well because the first book is dedicated to them.

Q: You and your daughter named Braid Beard’s pirates. Will you share any of those names, or should readers make up their own?
DS: Well, we had a lot of fun making up our own. I think readers should, too.

Q: Like Jeremy Jacob, many children enjoy imagining themselves as pirates. What did you pretend to be when you were little? Is there any imaginary swashbuckling in your past?
DS: I pretended to be lots things, from a rock star to an escaped prisoner! I do remember a particular incident when I was playing a pirate. An older kid made fun of me, so I gave his shins a good thrashing with my wooden sword—it really made him mad!