Christine wrote:I'm a great fan of Michael Morpurgo's children's books, and he's added a modern version to her story, The Ghost of Grania O'Malley, though probably more for 10-year olds.
http://www.michaelmorpurgo.org/books_ghost_grania.html

yeah, that's a good one. we read it to our older two last year (they were 7 & 9), and they hung on every chapter.

I'm a great fan of Michael Morpurgo's children's books, and he's added a modern version to her story, The Ghost of Grania O'Malley, though probably more for 10-year olds.
http://www.michaelmorpurgo.org/books_ghost_grania.html

... and we musn't forget it's the name of my youngest, now 3 1/2. well, it's "grania", the english spelling of "grainne" which is the modern version of "granuaile". there are "grace" 's on both sides of our family, so our parents get to pretend we picked a family name.

she was named after grace o'malley the pirate queen of connaught, and seems to think she IS a pirate, which suits me. i'm hoping to retire in her clare island castle someday.

i stole a copy of the kids' book "the pirate queen" by Emily Arnold McCully from some yuppie kids store back when i was courtin' my now-wife (already mother of 2 then). we were all taken with the story, so when she was pregnant, we all agreed that it would be "grania" if it was a girl.

"The Pirate Queen" by Emily Arnold McCully, by the way, is a great book with lovely watercolours and i encourage you all to check it out, kids or not! it's on amazon.

meanwhile, MY grania HATES it when i sing "granuaile" to her (to be fair, it's probably my singing).

philipchevron wrote:And possibly the best/worst news of all is that Grace O'Malley is the subject of an upcoming Broadway musical The Pirate Queen from the writers of Les Miserables and the producers of Riverdance.

...

...

AAAAAARARARRRArraararRRRRRGGGHHH!
I'm just after reading "Pirate Queen" by some Irish lady writer, and a fine read it is too. And here I was thinking to meself, "Hmm, the 'real' story here would make a fine movie (or two even)..." and now THIS...THIS....potential travesty. Bollocks! A pre-emptive poxing plague on all their houses! Can they NOT leave a decent story alone, without feeling the need to Disneyfy it for jaded audiences. I may be hysterically pre-overreacting (it HAS been known to happen) but I feels in me waters that I be right. YARR!

slugz wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love this song on Across The Broad Atlantic, but I can't find a traditional version of it... does anyone know the name of a CD its on or anything? thanks!

frank harte and donal lunny do a cracking version of "granuaile"on there double c.d. called"my name is napoleon bonaparte" you can get the thing from "the living tradition" p.o. box 1026 kilmarnock ka2olg telephone 01563 571220, or from amazon also anne chambers book "granuaile"irelands pirate queen 1530-1603 is well worth the pennys ,there is a section in the book that has nine poems and songs old and new about the lady of sweet mayo grace o"malley

And possibly the best/worst news of all is that Grace O'Malley is the subject of an upcoming Broadway musical The Pirate Queen from the writers of Les Miserables and the producers of Riverdance.

Anonymous wrote:I love this song on Across The Broad Atlantic, but I can't find a traditional version of it... does anyone know the name of a CD its on or anything? thanks!

frank harte and donal lunny do a cracking version of "granuaile"on there double c.d. called"my name is napoleon bonaparte" you can get the thing from "the living tradition" p.o. box 1026 kilmarnock ka2olg telephone 01563 571220, or from amazon also anne chambers book "granuaile"irelands pirate queen 1530-1603 is well worth the pennys ,there is a section in the book that has nine poems and songs old and new about the lady of sweet mayo grace o"malley

I love this song on Across The Broad Atlantic, but I can't find a traditional version of it... does anyone know the name of a CD its on or anything? thanks!