Can a book on bullying be humorous? A.S. King thought so and she has written a brilliant book

March 15, 2012
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  Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King Little, Brown and Company ISBN: 978-0-316-12928-2 $17.99 Lucky Linderman knows what it’s like to be bullied. He knows what it’s like to live in fear while adults, caught up in their own fears and failures and problems fall short when he asks for help. Lucky does everything…

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Boy vs Girl–the power of faith to change one’s life

March 13, 2012
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Boy vs Girl–the power of faith to change one’s life

Part thriller and part social-issues novel, Boy vs. Girl by Na’ima B. Robert–set in Great Britain among a Muslim immigrant family–explores the power of  personal faith to transform’s your life, even when the stakes may cost you your physical life. Farhana has decided to take her faith seriously during this Ramadan season, even though it means…

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BEATRICE’S DREAM, A STORY OF KIBERA SLUM

March 8, 2012
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BEATRICE’S DREAM, A STORY OF KIBERA SLUM

BEATRICE’S DREAM, A STORY OF KIBERA SLUM by Karen Lynn Williams, photographs by Wendy Stone, published by Francis Lincoln Children’s Books, 2011  a photo-essay nonfiction biography picture book, an IBBY Outstanding International Books 2012. Jambo!  Hello from Beatrice, an orphan, who lives in one of the toughest, poorest slums of Africa in Kibera, Kenya.  “Near…

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Longing for Place: Katrina “Refugees” and Beneath a Meth Moon

March 5, 2012
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Longing for Place: Katrina “Refugees” and Beneath a Meth Moon

When we think of refugees, we think of people driven from their homes in developing nations due to war or oppression. Rarely do we think of people fleeing the effects of global climate change as refugees, nor do we consider our own nation’s citizens in that category. In a moving poem titled “On Refuge and…

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About

The Pirate Tree is a collective of children's and young adult writers interested in children's literature and social justice issues. For editorial or administrative issues, or to contact any of the authors whose email addresses are unlisted, please contact J.L. Powers at the address below. If you have a book you'd like to recommend for a review or an interview subject, guest writer, or topic that you'd like to suggest, please contact J.L. Powers.

Ann: aangel [at] aol [dot] com
Nancy: wflood [at]hotmail [dot] com
Varian: vcj [at] varianjohnson [dot] com
E.M.: emkokie [at] gmail [dot] com
Lyn: lynml [at] me [dot] com
Peter: pmarino300 [at] yahoo [dot] com
J.L.: jlpowers [at] evaporites [dot] com

Mission Statement

The writers at The Pirate Tree seek to expose and discuss literature and writers for children and teenagers that delve into themes of social justice and social conscience. The title, “The Pirate Tree,” comes from a picture book that Lyn Miller-Lachmann once wrote about two children whose grandfathers fought on opposite sides of a war. The children were prohibited from going into each others’ yards, but they figured out a way to meet and play pirates together by climbing a tree with limbs and branches above both their yards. Like the story suggested, we are interested in books and writers that question and rebel against the status quo, argue for peace and reconciliation, take the side of the marginalized and powerless, and use creative solutions to overcome obstacles.

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