The Secret Ingredient (Delacorte Books for Young Readers) by Stewart Lewis, $17.99 As with every good summer read, this novel brings a girl, sixteen-year-old Olivia, together with a gorgeous guy named Theo, who works at her dad’s restaurant, only…
Author: annangel
This pirate tale provides adventure even as it depicts survival
Privateer’s Apprentice by Susan Verrico (Peachtree Publishers) $15.95 (Reviewed by guest reviewer Donna Pierquet, Mount Mary College) A swashbuckling coming of age story, Susan Verrico’s Privateer’s Apprentice will get adolescent readers engaged and interested in a young boy’s…
In his latest novel PIECES Chris Lynch explores what happens when a teen decides to meet his brother’s organ recipients
Pieces (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) by Chris Lynch, 16.99 Eric’s only sibling and only friend, Duane, suffers an irreversible brain injury in a swimming accident and Eric becomes the final voice in a decision to…
Two Books, one author who develops themes of tolerance and survival
Penny Dreadful (Yearling) by Laurel Snyder. $7.99- paperback The Longest Night:A Passover Story (Schwartz and Wade) by Laurel Snyder. $17.99 A lonely and bookish little girl whose parents lose their wealth after she wishes that she…
Bill Traylor, a self-taught artist who captured memory
It Jes’ Happened (Lee & Low Publishers), written by Don Tate, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, $19.95. Bright Illustrations by award-winning R. Gregory Christie capture Traylor’s life and work to blend with the text and provide readers with a…
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.…
Seeking ways to offer comfort through story
Waiting Out the Storm, by JoAnn Early Macken. Candlewick: $15.99. Each day this week, the media has posted pictures and stories of yet another funeral at Sandy Hook. Teachers and parents across the country pause and listen and pray for the families and that this…
Self-discovery happens when war comes home
Personal Effects (Candlewick) by E. M. Kokie $16.99 It’s so easy to overlook war when it’s across an ocean, or on a different continent, or on the other side of the world. It’s easy to look past the reality that…
Zarr’s How To Save a Life offers a look at the complexity of creating family
How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) $17.99 In this stunning novel of family, loss and love, Sara Zarr dismantles the clichéd image of adoption in which a birth mother saves a couple…
National Adoption Month begins with Two Classic Stories of Adoption
Today begins the first day of National Adoption Month but November is also Native American Heritage month. To honor both of these significant social justice events, writers for The Pirate Tree will be focusing on adoption…