Tag: shipwrecks

Posted in Intermediate, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Non-Fiction

Mystery & Mayhem: New nonfiction middle grade series

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Survival_CoverMystery & Mayhem: Survival, by Tom McCarthy, (Oct. 2016, Nomad Press), $9.95 (softcover)/$19.95 (hardcover), ISBN (softcover): 978-1-61930-480-2, ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-61930-476-5

Recommended for ages 8-12

Five stories of survival against all odds: Antarctic explorer Ted Shackleton and his men, fighting for their lives in the ice; legendary Mutiny on the Bounty Captain William Bligh and his men, set adrift in the Pacific Ocean; a young man and his companions struggle to travel through Death Valley to reach California during the gold rush; a young girl is one of the survivors of a shipwreck and then a trek through the Sahara Desert; and young Eliza Donner, one of the survivors of the Donner party’s fateful journey to the American West. Five stories, all terrifying, and all true.

 

 

PiratesAndShipwrecks_CoverMystery & Mayhem: Pirates and Shipwrecks, by Tom McCarthy (Oct. 2016, Nomad Press), $9.95 (softcover)/$19.95 (hardcover), ISBN (softcover): 978-1-61930-475-8, ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-61930-471-0

If it’s pirates ye be wantin’, pirates you’ll get here! Stories of the unlucky crew of the Betsey, shipwrecked and met by pirates; the 1857 recovery mission to discover what happened to an Arctic expedition that never came home; the story of Mary Read, one of the bloodthirstiest pirates ever to set sail – and a female!; the crews of two shipwrecks try to stay alive in a land populated by cannibal tribes, and the story of Barbarossa, the most feared pirate in the Mediterranean.  There are five stories of pirates and shipwrecks here, all true. Pirate fans, brandish your cutlasses, put on your eyepatch, and have a seat; these are the stories of the real Pirates of the Caribbean (and then some)!

These books read like the adventure and scary true tales I read when I was a kid. Does anyone else remember Dynamite Magazine’s book series? They had ghost stories and stories about famous disappearances (like Amelia Earhart and Judge Crater), and I devoured them. They gave me just enough of a jump scare, without venturing (too much) into “sleep with your lights on” territory. Kids who love Lauren Tarshis’ I Survived series will be all over these, but again – my brilliant nonfiction choices go unnoticed, so I’d have to display them, loud and proud, with the I Survived books and make sure the kids know where they are.

The beginning of each story in each book provides a map with details on the story’s location, and each story ends with a look at other events that took place in the same year as the current adventure. While Barbarossa was terrorizing the seas in 1504, for instance, Leonardo da Vinci was hard at work, painting the Mona Lisa, and Michelangelo’s famous statue, David, was displayed in Florence. In 1849 – the same year that William Lewis Manly led his companions out of Death Valley – Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female doctor in the United States, and Minnesota became a territory of the USA! Glossaries and resources complete each book.

While each book carries a Guided Reading level of V, the text skews a bit younger, which makes this a good series to introduce struggling and reluctant readers to. You can also suggest further reading, including Mystery in the Frozen Lands, a Hi-Lo reader from Lorimer, with Pirates and Shipwrecks: Mystery in the Frozen Lands is the full story of the Arctic mission to discover the fate of the Franklin expedition 12 years previous.

These are a fun series that will appeal to adventure readers. I’ve got a few fourth grade class visits booked for October (already!), so I may see how a read-aloud from one of these books goes.

Posted in Animal Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Tween Reads

Tristan Hunt and the Sea Guardians: Middle Grade marine adventure!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

shark whispererTristan Hunt and the Sea Guardians, Book 1: The Shark Whisperer, by Ellen Prager, (May 2014, Mighty Media), $9.95, ISBN: 978-1938063442

Recommended for ages 9-13

Twelve year-old Tristan Hunt is kind of a klutz. He trips and falls a lot, which garners him a lot of teasing at school and disappointed glances from his father at home. The luckiest thing happens to him, though, when he falls into a shark tank while vacationing with his parents in the Florida Keys – not only does he emerge unharmed, but shortly after the incident, he receives an invite to a very special summer camp – a summer camp where all the campers learn that they have special talents when it comes to the ocean and the creatures that live there. Tristan can communicate with sharks – that’s a pretty handy talent to have! – and once he’s in the water, he’s not a klutz at all.

That’s not all, though. The camp staff not only teach the kids to hone their abilities, but use them to protect and rescue sea life. They’re supposed to wait until they’re older and receive more training before they qualify for missions, but when critical mission pops up and the team is short-staffed, Tristan and his friends may have to save the day.

This is the first book in a middle grade series that Mighty Media was kind enough to send me, and I am thrilled that they did. With hat tips to both Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, this summer camp for gifted kids is packed with adventure and wonder – the kids are thrilled, yet nervous, about discovering and embracing their new abilities. There’s some great information about various forms of sea life in here, making this a must-read for kids with an interest in sharks, dolphins, octopuses, or any other sea creature. Once it’s established that the kids can communicate with the animals, they each exhibit their own personalities, which adds some fun to the mix (and the sharks with Jamaican accents are hilarious).

Author Ellen Prager is a marine scientist and children’s author, so she brings a great deal of expertise and knowledge to the book. Budding conservationists are going to want to have this book in their collections, too. Ellen Prager’s author webpage offers more information about her background, beautiful photos, fun facts, and printable puzzles to share.

The series is also perfect for your more conservative students and readers. It’s clean, the kids are respectful to adults and one another (mostly), and the adults are fun to be around while exhibiting concern for the kids’ welfare. We’ve got a villain who cares nothing for life outside of his own interests, and has the resources to make enough trouble for the Sea Guardians that we know he’ll be around for at least another book.

This is a fun series for both boys and girls that may have been missed when it hit shelves last year – make sure to give it a look and consider adding it to your shelves this year. I’m always a fan of finding a little magic in my tween realism when I can find it.