Young Palmetto Books – serie

Set during the Anglo-Cherokee War (1758-61), The Last Sister, by Courtney McKinney-Whitaker, traces a young woman's journey through grief, vengeance, guilt, and love in the unpredictable world of the early American frontier. After a band of fellow settlers fakes a Cherokee raid to conceal their murder of her family, seventeen-year-old Catriona "Catie" Blair embarks on a quest to report the crime and bring the murderers to justice, while desperately seeking to regain her own sense of safety.This journey leads Catie across rural South Carolina and through Cherokee territory - where she encounters wild animals, physical injury, privation, British and Cherokee leaders, and an unexpected romance with a young lieutenant from a Scottish Highland regiment - on her path to a new life as she strives to overcome personal tragedy.The Anglo-Cherokee War erupted out of tensions between British American settlers and the Cherokee peoples, who had been allies during the early years of the French and Indian War. In 1759 South Carolina governor William Henry Lyttelton declared war on the Cherokee nation partly in retaliation for what he perceived as unprovoked attacks on backcountry settlements.Catie's story challenges many common notions about early America. It also presents the Cherokee as a sovereign and powerful nation whose alliance was important to Britain and addresses the complex issues of race, class, and ethnicity that united and divided the British, the Cherokee, the Scottish highlanders, and the Scottish lowlanders, while it incorporates issues of power that led to increased violence toward women on the early American frontier.

The Shark’s Tooth is a poetic tale of imagination and conservation in which a young girl visiting her grandparents’ beach house finds friendship with the ocean’s creatures. Sharks’ teeth are given to her by her new aquatic friends as gifts, symbolic of her connections to nature and the sea. As the little girl grows up and moves away to the city, she loses her kinship to the natural world. When she returns to the beach house as an adult, she is convinced that her childhood memories were only acts of make-believe - until she receives a sign that her ocean adventures may have been real after all.The Shark’s Tooth is the first children’s book written by New York Times best-selling author Ron Rash. Cecile L. K. Martin’s colorful cut-paper illustrations complement the story, and novelist and children’s author Mary Alice Monroe provides an engaging afterword on the story’s empowering message of creativity and conservation.

Lowcountry storyteller Delores B. Nevils and acclaimed artist Jonathan Green collaborate to share the story of Amadeus, a loud and proud leghorn rooster who comes to live with a widow lady in the Corners community of St. Helena Island on the South Carolina coast. The widow lady's dogs--Kane and Able--and cats--Mae Liza, Scooter, and Pumpkin--are unhappy with the arrival of this new resident in their yard. Amadeus makes himself at home and becomes the pride of the neighbourhood. When the widow lady comes to welcome Amadeus and his constant cock-a-doodle-dooing, a rivalry develops between the rooster and the original residents of the yard, with unexpected results. The cautionary story of Amadeus teaches a valuable lesson for readers of all ages about what can be lost without cooperation and friendship. As the characters learn from the consequences of their actions, if you do not take care of everyone and everything around you, then you just might end up with nothing.

A young girl encounters danger in a Southern swampland on her journey to grandma's houseLittle Orange Honey Hood brings a Carolinian spin to the classic Little Red Cap of the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood. Illustrated and written by Lisa Anne Cullen, this story follows young Blossom on her journey through the river swampland to deliver mosquito-fever medicine to her ailing grandmother. During an unexpected encounter with a hungry alligator, Blossom realizes that she must fight to save Grandma from more than just mosquito fever.Cullen introduces young readers to the charm and culture of the Carolinas, highlighting places such as the Congaree River in the South Carolina midlands while incorporating some of both states’ symbols, such as the state flower, tree, insect, fruit, and boat. She also offers educational tables and maps of North and South Carolina. Young readers, with the help of an adult, will delight in Little Orange Honey Hood’s recipes for peach pies, black tea, and gator nuggets. Cullen’s colorful illustrations and lyrical storytelling are entertaining and enlightening, making her rendition a staple for personal and educational libraries throughout the historic and beloved South.

Robert Smalls, born a slave in 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina, gained fame as an African American hero of the American Civil War. The Freedom Ship of Robert Smalls tells the inspirational story of Small’s life as a slave, his boyhood dream of freedom, and his bold and daring plan as a young man to commandeer a Confederate gunboat from Charleston Harbor and escape with fifteen fellow slaves and family members. Smalls joined the Union Navy, rose to the rank of captain, and became the first African American to command a U.S. service ship. After the war Smalls returned to Beaufort, bought the home of his former master, and began a long career in state and national politics.Originally published in 1971, this new edition of The Freedom Ship of Robert Smalls features Louise Meriwether’s original narrative, now illustrated by the colorful paintings of renowned Southern artist Jonathan Green.

South Carolina teens share their stories and ideas about how to make their home state better.How can we make South Carolina better? Normally this question is reserved for lawmakers and voters, but Writing South Carolina, volume 3, gives voice to 50 high school juniors and seniors from across the State who have offered suggestions. The University of South Carolina Honors College annual writing contest presents a necessary voice for them as well as a revealing portrait of their lives and desires using their own words and insights. Contest judge Mary Alice Monroe has said of the contributing students, “They are astonishingly talented, further ahead in the game than I was at their age.”Through a variety of short, creative genres, students share their own gripping experiences in South Carolina, often about growing up and going to school here. This year’s selections range from poems about the cycle of abuse to short stories about minimum wage to essays about problematic sex education in public schools. Writing South Carolina, volume 3, offers a collection steeped in creativity, honesty, and clarity. High school students witness and encounter some of the most subtle and serious problems in South Carolina’s school system—and they demand change.Monroe, a New York Times best-selling author of children’s books and novels, including A Lowcountry Christmas and The Butterfly’s Daughter, provides a foreword.

Three friends prepare for an alien invasion with aluminum foil, peanut butter, and science.When Art and his friends—Robbie, Jason, and Amy—are having a sleepover, they decide to use Art’s telescope for some stargazing. They are shocked to see a purple spaceship hurtling toward Earth. While his parents think his imagination is getting the best of him, Art thinks Earth is at risk of an alien invasion. What should he do? Should Art and his fellow science detectives alert the authorities, or should they take matters into their own hands?When the local police don’t seem concerned about Art’s report, the kids decide to apply their knowledge of science and critical thinking skills to prepare for the impending attack. They need a plan—and fast!What transpires as they gear up for the spaceship’s arrival will amuse and educate. Art Smart, Science Detective will appeal to budding scientists and even reluctant young readers as it answers burning questions such as “How close is science fiction to real life?” and “Can peanut butter really keep your brain safe from an alien assault?” This entertaining journey through the science of the sky is easily incorporated into middle-grade science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics courses.

Three Wild Pigs: A Carolina Folktale, written and illustrated by Lisa Anne Cullen, is an adaptation of James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps’s The Story of the Three Little Pigs. Set on Bird Island along the Carolina Coast, this creative retelling of the timeless tale features three generations of a pig family—Lulu, her father, and her grandfather.On the island Lulu is known for being wise in the ways of the world. Pop is wise in the ways of the waters. Grandpaw Curly, the oldest and smartest pig of all, is wise in the ways of the winds. While shrimping in the Atlantic Ocean, the pigs experience harsh winds and see ominous clouds. Knowing these are warning signs of impending bad weather, they row home. Before long a whirling, swirling, huffing-andpuffing Hurricane Wolf arrives to wreak havoc on the pigs, their homes, and Bird Island.Cullen’s colorful illustrations mirror the weather, flora, and fauna of the Carolina coast. Three Wild Pigs features maps of North and South Carolina as well as select state symbols and will educate, entertain, and enlighten early readers and listeners of all ages as Lulu, Pop, and Grandpaw Curly struggle to survive Hurricane Wolf.

A fistful of bones and a mysterious treasure hunt--not quite what twelve-year-old Chicagoan Delta Wells is expecting when she arrives on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, to visit her grandparents for the summer! But when Pops tells her that his beloved Island History Museum may be demolished to make room for a golf resort, Delta visits the museum property and discovers a skeleton hidden in the marsh. The bones and a long-secret message from the past send Delta and her younger brother, Jax, on a race to unearth the island's secrets, save their grandfather's museum, and help complete a mission someone started more than 150 years ago.From the Civil War ruins of Hilton Head, to the site of the H. L. Hunley submarine in Charleston and the University of South Carolina's historic Horseshoe in Columbia, Delta and Jax's vacation is an exciting and educational adventure through history.

A fistful of bones and a mysterious treasure hunt--not quite what twelve-year-old Chicagoan Delta Wells is expecting when she arrives on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, to visit her grandparents for the summer! But when Pops tells her that his beloved Island History Museum may be demolished to make room for a golf resort, Delta visits the museum property and discovers a skeleton hidden in the marsh. The bones and a long-secret message from the past send Delta and her younger brother, Jax, on a race to unearth the island's secrets, save their grandfather's museum, and help complete a mission someone started more than 150 years ago.From the Civil War ruins of Hilton Head, to the site of the H. L. Hunley submarine in Charleston and the University of South Carolina's historic Horseshoe in Columbia, Delta and Jax's vacation is an exciting and educational adventure through history.