Talk:Griffin Pirate Stories

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Organisation of the Books into Series[edit]

The way I remember these books, there was only one series in which Island of the Mer People and Acrooacree were the last two titles. This kinda worked, because in Island of the Mer People Gregory and Roderik decided to remain with the mer-folk, while Benjamin (who was determined to find the mythical island of Acrooacree) went on alone. In Acrooacree he was attacked by the griffin (or possibly the dragon - I forget) which destroys his ship, but he nevertheless makes it to the island. The final scene has him shipwrecked on Acrooacree wondering what to do next. (What do you do next when you've reached your final goal?) It always seemed quite a fitting finale, and until 5 minutes ago I had no idea there were any further books. Maybe the other books were added later, and Island and Acrooacree moved (for reason of their reading complexity) into the second series?

The way I remember it, "Acrooacree" ended on a cliff hanger. Roderick and Gregory both lost their ships in "The Storm" and were rescued by Benjamin - he's the virtuous hero after all. Gregory stayed with the Mer-people, but Roderick stole Benjamin's ship and marooned him on Acrooacree. The second series deals with Benjamin's escape from the island, which involves breaking a spell ("The Breaking of the Chain") and getting his ship back from Roderick ("The Stolen Ship"). I also agree that this series is notable enough for wikipedia. They're highly collectible today and individual books (which are only about 20 pages long) seem to sell for up to £50 in good condition. 83.104.131.111 (talk)

Dates[edit]

A small point, but I think you need to push back the dates given for this series, since I remember reading these at primary school in the UK in the 1960's - a memory which prompted me to look them up in the first place. Lookstranger (talk) 01:04, 11 October 2008 (UTC) Ditto that - exact same comment. Captain Pedant —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.123.216.55 (talk) 09:49, 19 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. At minimum the first half-dozen titles were in the 'library' of a class of 8/9-year-olds I joined in 1965. By then, the other kids had already read them (and recommended them to me, the new boy) so at least some of them date to the early 60s. I'll try to find out more. Grubstreet (talk) 09:13, 30 March 2010 (UTC) On a quick bookshop search, the only first editions that I can locate are described as not having been dated by the publishers, though I note that one Canadian seller is listing Acrooacree, the 12th of the series, as 'circa 1963'. Grubstreet (talk) 09:50, 30 March 2010 (UTC) On a fresh round-up of bookshops today, early editions (though possibly not firsts) of Acrooacree and Island of the Mer-people are listed by sellers as '1958'. Grubstreet (talk) 16:02, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have a copy (from a thrift store) of book 3, Roderick the Red. it has a copyright date of 1958. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.78.111.108 (talk) 20:36, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Notability[edit]

I can see why there is a notability query flag on this entry, but I advise against anyone deleting this article just because they can't find anything better to do. Three people have bothered to leave notes (we can only guess how many came and departed without leaving their mark) to say that they came here looking for information about these books, which presumably none of us have read for 40 years. This suggests that they are more notable than the current entry makes them appear. I also see from bookshop searches that at least some of them have been repackaged into new editions within the last five years. Again, some indication that they are not simply forgotten 1960s ephemera. Grubstreet (talk) 09:30, 30 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Puppets[edit]

I don't know if this was official or something that the school did, but we were given puppets of the three pirates and everyone else in the class wanted to get to read them. My reading was 3 years behind where it should have been and my parents credited these books with getting my reading up to speed, so hell yeah they are notable. I have a University degree and earn a five figure salary, so I owe a lot to those books! 93.97.25.19 (talk) 00:25, 19 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Notability[edit]

I agree that this article shouldn't be deleted. I was trying to remember what these books were actually called after reading them at school 30 years ago and this article was pretty damn useful even if it has no sources. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.149.3.46 (talk) 12:39, 22 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]