What Is a Pirate? Creators Melinda Beatty and Stefano Tambellini Hash It Out

A bookseller and an illustrator walk into a bar…

So there was this book out in 2024 that, in my own personal opinion, didn’t really get enough attention. It was one of those Halloween-adjacent picture books that definitely invoke a season without explicitly discussing it. The title? The Witch’s Table by Melinda Beatty (a bookseller for Curious Iguana in Frederick, MD) and illustrated by Stefano Tambellini. I dunno, it was just a charmer. This odd, funny, weird little book about a table with issues and the witch who almost inadvertently befriends it.

The book was so charming, in fact, that when I was offered the chance to host a talk between its creators on this site, I was inclined to say yes. Not that they’ll be talking about The Witch’s Table, though. Not entirely. Instead, they’ll be discussing their upcoming picture book What Is a Pirate? (out October 6th). The book’s publisher describes it in this way:

The crew aboard the Leaky Sneaker is filled with the piratey-est pirates ever to sail the seven seas. Which is why Captain Bogbrush has no idea what to do with Montague Frippington von Fancypants. Montague wears petticoats while sailing, takes pearl necklaces as booty, and politely plunders on raids. Pirates don’t do that! Or can Montague help the captain understand that there is more to being a pirate than what he might believe?

Get it? Got it? Good. Cause Melinda and Stefano are now in conversation about Edward Gorey, Muppet Treasure Island, and how you go about making a book of this sort:

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Melinda Beatty: Hey, Stefano! I’m glad we’re getting this chance to chat! I guess my first question is: What was the first thing that you remember seeing that made you think, “I want to be an artist?”

Stefano Tambellini: I’m not really sure about this, because I think I never set out to be an artist. I just loved doing things, and drawing always took up most of my time, even before going to art school. I guess watching a lot of fantastic genre films and reading tons of comics and books as a kid pushed me into wanting to do something in that field.

Melinda: It was the same for me. I never set out to be a writer, although I’ve always written. I guess it just never occurred to me that ‘writer’ was a real thing that real people did!

Speaking of real things that real people do, you’re also a filmmaker—working on projects with your sister, Alice, who you founded your stop-motion animation company with. Did the two of you like to collaborate on projects when you were growing up?

Stefano: Oh yes, we always collaborated on any sort of things, not just art-related. When we were kids, we founded an Ecology association with a friend; we organized days to clean up the woods and little water streams in our village, we took care of small animals, and we made a news magazine with comics for the subscribers. During our teenage years, we founded an underground culture fanzine which lasted just two issues, because then we discovered how stop-motion was made and we went head over heels for animation!

What about you—in what form does an idea come to you and how do you go about developing it?

Melinda: As I like to tell kids in school presentations, ideas can come from absolutely anywhere, so you always need to stash ‘story seeds’ away when they present themselves! The last book we worked on together, The Witch’s Table, came from a photo that I came across on social media of a dinner table with carved human feet for legs. Immediately, I could imagine it creating havoc under magical circumstances and what kind of mischief it could get up to if it were owned by a witch, which you depicted beautifully!

I think we were originally matched because, when asked what I was looking for in an illustrator for The Witch’s Table, one of the artist comparisons I made was “Edward Gorey,” who you’ve told me before was a big influence on your art style! What do you like about Gorey’s style, and who are some of the other artists you draw from for inspiration?

Stefano: Gorey has been absolutely a huge influence on me. I remember that when I first saw one of his works, I was about 20, and I had the feeling I had known him for all my life. It spoke to me on some unconscious level. I would love to live inside one of Gorey’s drawings! Besides him, too many artists in each field inspired me; for this book in particular I would say the illustrations of Mervyn Peake, director/animator Terry Gilliam, and the French cartoonist David B.

What influenced you to write about pirates? Were you a fan of a particular pirate movie, book or TV series?

Melinda: Muppet Treasure Island is, in my opinion, one of the best pirate films ever made, what with all the talented Henson performers and Tim Curry. The roll call scene where we get, “Old Tom? Real Old Tom? Dead Tom? Big-Fat-Ugly-Bug-Face-Baby-Eating O’Brien?” will never not be funny and was an inspiration for the silly names in the book. But the idea for What is a Pirate? definitely came from HBO’s Our Flag Means Death—a very silly, fictional retelling of the relationship between real pirates Blackbeard (Edward Teach) and The Gentleman Pirate (Stede Bonnet). Along with the comedy, the themes running through the show were found family and accepting yourself for who you are—which I wanted to translate into something accessible to children. It’s okay to do things your own way!

I loved the unique color scheme you used for the book—how did you go about choosing it?

Stefano: Thanks, I’m glad you like it. Actually, I’m always insecure about colors; I’m never satisfied, as I generally prefer (and mostly work in) black and white. I tried to do something more pop using bright flat colors, as I thought it would work best with the ironic tone of this, compared to The Witch’s Table, where the warmer feeling needed more nuanced and shaded tones.

Melinda: It came out beautifully! I think my favorite page is the wonderful cross-section of the Leaky Sneaker. It reminds me of the Richard Scarry books I used to love as a child, where there were loads of things going on that were fun to search for!

Which one’s your favorite?

Stefano: I think the opening one. I love Muddy Mathais running away from the havoc with a pile of clothes!

If you were a famous pirate, who would you be?

Melinda: There were lots of legendary women pirates, but probably Zheng Yi Sao, the Chinese pirate queen who inherited her husband’s fleet of around 50,000 crew which she used to rampage around the South China sea in the late 1700’s!

Stefano: Impressive! Last question—which character from the book are you most fond of?

Melinda: I’m thrilled with Big-Nose Billy—not many elephants crewed pirate ships! I also want to thank my friend Erin for the idea for Half-a-Mustache Kevin, whose name makes me giggle whenever I see it.

Thanks for chatting with me, Stefano! Can’t wait for the release on October 6^th!

Stefano: Thanks! Me too!

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Thanks too to Melinda and Stefano for taking the time to talk to one another today. And we must thank Amy Goppert and the folks at Little Bee Books for helping to put this all together. What Is a Pirate? is out October 6th. Look for it then!

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