Since 1926, Pelican Publishing Company has been committed to publishing books of quality and permanence that enrich the lives of those who read them.
This delightfully entertaining story introduces the reader to Meghan and Sean O’Sullivan, their three grandaunties, and Lucky O’Leprechaun, who has pestered the O’Sullivans since the time of the Vikings. Hardcover.
Legend has it that most leprechauns are content spending their days counting their gold and playing tricks on unsuspecting mortals in Ireland, the land of their birth. A few have managed, intentionally or not, to find their way to America. This delightful follow-up story to Lucky O’Leprechaun introduces young readers to the O’Sullivan family and the leprechaun who has pestered them since the time of the Vikings. Hardcover.
The adventure never ends when Lucky O’Leprechaun is around. Returning for a third adventure, Jana Dillon’s lively trickster inadvertently helps a little boy adjust to a new school. Hardcover.
Timeless tales, such as those concerning Saint Nicholas, generate children’s endless questions about our holiday traditions, such as “Where did Saint Nicholas come from?” “How does he visit so many children in just one night?” “Why does he leave gifts for girls and boys?” Hardcover.
Olga Cossi’s The Magic Box is a powerful story of a young girl’s love for basketball and her transition into adulthood. Her experiences reflect the growing popularity of women’s sports, the pressures of teens to smoke, and the value of acceptance and forgiveness.
Maiden Voyage of Kris Kringle is a continuation of The Nicholas Stories, which is about a boy who had a very unselfish wish. His wish was granted and mankind was forever changed. In The Land Beyond Yon, Nicholas comes across a doll that he had made for a sick girl long ago. Nicholas never realized how much of an impact that simple gesture had meant to one girl, but that soon would change. Hardcover.
Mardi Gras in New Orleans is an annual explosion of tumultuous celebration. It began among the French Creoles of New Orleans, and after the Civil War developed into a city-wide event with the visit of the Russian Grand Duke Alexis in 1870. Paperback.
Mardi Gras in New Orleans is long parades and grand balls. But in the country, Mardi Gras is entirely different. For the first time, young Marianne and Claude will get to see le courir du Mardi Gras, or “The Run” as they stay at their grandmother’s farm. They wait in anticipation on Maw-Maw’s porch for the time when the masked horsemen will ride through the countryside, bringing excitement and mystery with their traditional wild antics. Hardcover.
In Mergers, the sinister antagonist is the mastermind behind an engineered society that has wiped away all traces of race. He is intent on destroying Dirk and his friends, who have spent their entire lives in hiding because of their racial identities. Each has extraordinary powers—Nicci, the African Traveler, manipulates time; Mateo, the Hispanic Metamorph, alters his shape; Keiko, the Asian Empath, heals with her hands; and Dirk, the Caucasian Telepath, invades others’ minds.
In this cautionary tale, the themes of loyalty, leadership, and identity are all called into question as Dirk and his friends struggle to conquer The Merger. When they take a dangerous journey into the past with the hope of restoring the world’s natural timeline, each of them must struggle with their own inadequacies and deal with all-too-human failings, despite their special powers. Mergers’ riveting plot and supernatural characters will keep teens engaged while reminding them of each individual’s potential to change the world.
Mimi awakens on Fat Tuesday morning and hurries to a breakfast of hot beignets (French doughnuts). At the table, Mimi’s parents explain Mardi Gras traditions such as king cake, and the observances of Ash Wednesday and Lent. Afterwards, dressed in colorful costumes, they depart for a day of Carnival excitement and parade watching.
Nestled in the branches of southern cypress and oak trees is a natural wonder with a magical origin. Its story began when a flood raged through the bayous of South Louisiana. There, a mother and her two children sought shelter from a storm in the branches of a cypress tree. Late that night, the mother asked the moon to keep her sleeping children warm. Moon talked to Stars, Stars talked to Clouds, and when these celestial bodies joined forces, they did more than just save one mother and her children. Moon’s Cloud Blanket is a Native American legend from the Houma people of South Louisiana. Hardcover.
Fun wordplay including rhyme, alliteration, and onomatopoeia follow a pesky mosquito as she buzzes about the forest. A list of mosquito facts appears at the end with informative material about the story’s main character and one of her forest foes.
This saltwater adventure begins as a sea turtle hatchling makes a ninety-second mad dash from the nest to the water’s edge. At times suspenseful and always entertaining, this twenty-five-year journey follows the hatchling as she grows into a three-hundred-pound swimming machine. Illustrations dripping in a cool pallet of ocean blues and greens plunge you deep into the abyss as the turtle migrates from her Florida home to the Mediterranean Sea and mysteriously back to Florida, where she builds a nest for her own hatchlings.
Through roiling waves and a swirling light show, a brave hermit crab crosses a brilliant living reef as she tackles the ocean’s obstacles on a quest to find a shell that fits. During her mission, she encounters such aquatic creatures as conch shells and shimmering jellyfish. Children, parents, and teachers alike will enjoy the colorful journey. An illustrated glossary includes information about the marine life featured in this story and an author’s note explains the effects of pollution and climate change on the ocean.
What a day to become a man. April 22, 1889, was only the biggest day in the entire state. It was the day that two million acres of “unassigned lands” were given away to the first person to pound a stake into it. Although he has long dreamed of such a moment, Pa is unable to claim a new home for his family due to an injury. “I can do it, Pa,” says nine-year-old Jesse, “I can get us some land.” So it’s up to the boy to race for his family’s future.
Featured in the UMBA Holiday Catalog
From the butchering of the pigs in springtime to the plowing of the corn in the summer, Bob Artley describes the sometimes tedious, sometimes enjoyable, aspects of growing up on an American farm. Artley’s farm is neither ideal nor outmoded, but simply his world as it was in a particular time and place. Hardcover.