Author Archives: designpointaaron

AUTHOR: Caroline Carlson

GENRE: Adventure Fiction

SUMMARY: Hilary Westfield has always dreamed of being a pirate. She can tread water for thirty-seven minutes. She can tie a knot faster than a fleet of sailors, and she already owns a rather pointy sword.

There’s only one problem: The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates refuses to let any girl join their ranks of scourges and scallywags.

But Hilary is not the kind of girl to take no for answer. To escape a life of petticoats and politeness at her stuffy finishing school, Hilary sets out in search of her own seaworthy adventure, where she gets swept up in a madcap quest involving a map without an X, a magical treasure that likely doesn’t exist, a talking gargoyle, a crew of misfit scallywags, and the most treacherous—and unexpected—villain on the High Seas.

Written with uproarious wit and an inviting storyteller tone, the first book in Caroline Carlson’s quirky seafaring series is a piratical tale like no other.

AUTHOR: Sterling North

GENRE: Non-Fiction

SUMMARY: Nothing’s surprising in the North household, not even Sterling’s new pet raccoon. Rascal is only a baby when Sterling brings him home, but soon the two are best friends, doing everything together–until the spring day when everything suddenly changes.

Rascal is a heartwarming boyhood memoir that continues to find its way into the hearts of readers fifty years later. This special anniversary edition includes the book’s classic illustrations restored to their original splendor, as well as a letter from the author’s daughter, and material from the illustrator’s personal collection.

AUTHOR: Janet & Geoff Benge

GENRE: Biography

SUMMARY: As the race began, it had seemed obvious that Eric Liddell was overmatched. Now the crowd in the Olympic stadium hushed as this runner from Scotland refused to be passed. As Eric crossed the finish line, the crowd erupted in applause heard all over Paris. Eric Liddell had done the impossible. A new world record had been set! Eric’s refusal earlier that week to run on Sunday in the Olympic 100-meter race had stunned the world. Now his incredible victory in the 400- meter race further strengthened his belief in God’s promise, “He who honours Me, I will honour.” Years later, Eric Liddell would be tested far beyond mere physical ability as a missionary to China. His character, perseverance and endurance are a challenging example for all who would obey the call to bring the gospel to the nations.

AUTHOR: Laura Ruby

GENRE: Fantasy

SUMMARY: It was 1798 when the Morningstarr twins arrived in New York with a vision for a magnificent city: towering skyscrapers, dazzling machines, and winding train lines, all running on technology no one had ever seen before. Fifty-seven years later, the enigmatic architects disappeared, leaving behind for the people of New York the Old York Cipher—a puzzle laid into the shining city they constructed, at the end of which was promised a treasure beyond all imagining. By the present day, however, the puzzle has never been solved, and the greatest mystery of the modern world is little more than a tourist attraction.

Tess and Theo Biedermann and their friend Jaime Cruz live in a Morningstarr apartment house—until a real estate developer announces that the city has agreed to sell him the five remaining Morningstarr buildings. Their likely destruction means the end of a dream long-held by the people of New York. And if Tess, Theo and Jaime want to save their home, they have to prove that the Old York Cipher is real. Which means they have to solve it.

AUTHOR: Lauren Tarshis

GENRE: Fiction

SUMMARY: The people of northern California were used to living with the threat of wildfires. But nothing could have prepared them for the devastating 2018 fire season, the deadliest in 100 years and the most destructive in history.

In the 20th I Survived book, readers join eleven-year-old Josh as he leaves his affluent New Jersey home for the rural northern California town where his mother was born and raised. Still reeling from the life-changing challenges that propelled him and his mother across the country, Josh struggles to adapt to a more rustic, down-to-earth lifestyle that couldn’t be more different from the one he is used to.

Josh and his cousin Eleanor bond during an overnight camping trip. But they suddenly find themselves in the path of a fast-moving firestorm, a super-heated monster that will soon lay waste to millions of acres of wilderness and — possibly — their town. Josh needs to confront the family issues burning him up inside, but first he’ll have to survive the flames blazing all around him.

AUTHOR: Katherine Applegate

GENRE: Historical Fiction, Biographical Fiction

SUMMARY: Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighborhood “wishtree”—people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red’s branches. Along with her crow friend Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red’s hollows, this “wishtree” watches over the neighborhood.

You might say Red has seen it all. Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red’s experiences as a wishtree are more important than ever.