Little pirates visit Austintown library

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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Julianna Horniker (left) attended the pirate event with her grandpa, Gary Orosz. Horniker's outfit is a copy of Johnny Depp's character in Pirates of the Caribbean, and was sewn by her grandmother. Horniker is a life-long fan of pirate stories.

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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Brothers Sam Wogan (left) and Nick Wogan modeled the pirate hats they crafted at the Austintown library on July 26.

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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Travis Laneve (left) and Caleb Laneve colored and decorated parrots worthy of sitting on a brave pirate's shoulders.

By SARAH FOOR

sfoor@vindy.com

A group of guests visiting the Austintown library on July 26 were happy to exclaim, “Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!”

Library hosts Judy Sluss and Kathe Orr wore their best hooks, eye patches and tricorner hats to welcome a group of local kids onto their global pirate crew.

As first mate, Sluss explained that she found all her information on pirates right in the library. Sluss used her research to give each child a name tag with their special name, all based on real fearsome historical pirates.

Then, captain Orr arrived to tell her pirates the rules of her ship.

“You belong to me now, because I’m the captain. Keep your weapons clean, follow orders and always answer my commands with ‘aye, aye, captain,’” Orr demanded, though she couldn’t hide a smile.

After reading a pirate adventure book together, the group split up to enjoy pirate fun throughout the library’s activity room.

Kids at the event walked the plank, decorated pirate crafts, pinned the patch on the pirate, browsed pirate books available at the library and received temporary tattoos during the story time.

Julianna Horniker was excited to visit the event with her grandpa, Gary Orosz.

“Julianna is a big pirate fan – the biggest,” explained Orosz. “She loves the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and we’ve even visited the attraction at Disney World. ‘Talk like a Pirate Day’ is a holiday at our house. It seemed obvious that we should come join the pirate crew.”