For me, one of the biggest surprises of the ALA Youth Media Awards was the selection of Beverley Brenna’s The White Bicycle as a Printz Honor Book (for outstanding YA literature). In the past, few Printz honors have gone to…
Category: Family
Being God by B.A. Binns
Happy Valentine’s Day from The Pirate Tree to you! Today I’m reviewing Being God by B.A. Binns, an unlikely choice for Valentine’s Day but a good one nonetheless. 17-year-old Malik Kaplan has a knack for making all the wrong…
When the President Looks Like Me
One of the treats of last month’s inauguration was listening to Richard Blanco read the poem he wrote especially for that day. Blanco, a gay Cuban American, is the youngest person to present a poem at a Presidential inauguration, and…
No Crystal Stair: an interview with Vaunda Nelson
To kick off Black History Month, I interviewed Vaunda Nelson, author of the Coretta Scott King honor book No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem. No Crystal Stair by Vaunda Nelson…
A biography of Yoko Ono offers inspiration
Yoko Ono: Collector of Skies (Amulet Books), by Nell Beram and Carolyn Boriss-Krimsky, $24.95. We can learn how others live from reading biography. We discover how many turn to talent and art to survive lonely childhoods or empty lives.…
Mystery, History, and Just Plain Fun: A Review of You Don’t Have a Clue
A year ago my friend René Saldaña, Jr. published an article in The ALAN Review about the need for more genre fiction for young readers, particularly mysteries, featuring Latino characters and settings. Given the long and lively tradition of detective…
Mestizo Heritage and Magic Realism: A Review of Summer of the Mariposas
For the final two weeks in November, The Pirate Tree will feature reviews and interviews that focus on Native American cultures. In the United States and Canada, we rarely speak of Native American cultures as including those of the rest…
How to Save a Life: Interview with Sara Zarr
Following up on Ann Angel’s review of How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr, I sent Sara a few questions to get her thoughts on adoption, teen pregnancy, grief, and what she learned through writing her book. You perfectly…
Six When He Came to Us: A Memoir of International Adoption by Ellie Porte Parker
This memoir is not actually aimed at young adults, though the prose is accessible enough for a teen interested in adoption issues to get through it easily. Porte-Parker’s straightforward, mainly chronological story traces the journey of her adopted son, Dima,…
A grandparent comes to live and provides a special glimpse into multi-generational love even as it opens new horizons to the author
This week readers get a Q & A between Ann Angel and writer Sheri Sinykin’s transformation from middle grade novelist to picture book author followed by guest writer Donna Pierquet’s heartfelt review of the picture book Zayde Comes to Live. Sheri admits this…