The Story Circle Written by Diane Gonzales Bertrand Illustrated by Wendy Martin …
Category: personal growth
The Warden’s Daughter
Guest post by Padma Venkatraman THE WARDEN’S DAUGHTER By Jerry Spinelli Cammie, the protagonist of Jerry Spinelli’s latest novel, lives in a flat adjoining the county prison. Her mother dies in the act of saving Cammie’s life when Cammie…
Little Red Rolls Away written by Linda Whalen and illustrated by Jennifer E. Morris
Little Red Rolls Away Written by Linda Whalen Illustrated by Jennifer E. Morris One morning when Little Red Barn wakes up, he is dismayed to find himself alone. Every morning Little Red wakes up to the voices…
Can I Join Your Club? Written by John Kelly. Illustrated by Steph Laberis.
Can I Join Your Club? Written by John Kelly Illustrated by Steph Laberis Protagonist, Duck was on a simple quest: he wanted to make new friends. He started by asking Lion at his Club Lion if he could join, but…
Confronting Class and Race in The Education of Margot Sanchez
In the summer between her freshman and sophomore year, Margot was looking forward to carefree days in the Hamptons with her new private-school friends Serena and Camille. But their pressure to look the upper class part led her to charge…
Black Flowers, White Lies by Yvonne Ventresca
I read Black Flowers, White Lies by Yvonne Ventresca in one sitting as we drove from northern California to the Arizona border last week, and it had me, quite literally, in my seat the entire way. The story sketches a young girl’s…
Celebrating Difference: A Review of Made by Raffi
Raffi is different from the other children in his class. He doesn’t like noise or playing sports. At recess, he hangs around the teachers, “just for a little peace and quiet.” One day he sees a teacher knitting a scarf…
Radical by E.M. Kokie
The Pirate Tree’s own E.M. Kokie has a new book out (ta-da!) so we wanted to celebrate it here. Radical–the story of one girl finding and losing her identity in a radical community of survivalists–is one of those books that you have…
The Greenlee Project by Amanda M. Thrasher
The Greenlee Project By Amanda M. Thrasher When Clay Monning’s family has to move to a new town in his senior year, his football future looks dim until he meets with his new teammates at Aubrey Marcus High. Although…
Do I Stay or Do I Go? A Review of My Best Everything
Luisa (Lulu) Mendez is on the road to success. A top graduate of her rural Virginia high school, she’s leaving for the University of San Diego in the fall. Except for one small problem. Her father made a bad business…