Since 1926, Pelican Publishing Company has been committed to publishing books of quality and permanence that enrich the lives of those who read them.
Johnette Downing takes a classic Cajun folktale and deftly weaves it into this slightly scary morality tale accompanied by the moody colors of Heather Stanley’s luscious illustrations.
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.
Freedom is a constant struggle, but anyone can make a change in this transformative story based on the coauthor’s childhood experiences during the civil rights era. Multi-racial characters working together toward a common goal are portrayed and an author’s note explains the origin of the story.
Dusk falls across the bayou as the crickets chirp, snakes hiss, and mosquitoes buzz. Mama rocks her baby to this soft symphony of sounds, a gentle lull of sweetly repetitive animals making noise, ready for bedtime.
Mardi Gras! Many children know of Mardi Gras, but do they know about Mardi Gras? It is not just watching parades and wearing costumes, but knowing the history, traditions, and folklore that make up this unique holiday.
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.
At age ten, María Montoya Martínez was stricken with smallpox. Near death, she lay limply in her mother's arms, unable even to swallow the herbal teas offered her. All the attempts to revive her seemed to have failed. Trying one last remedy, her aunt and mother filled the hearth with thick green cedar boughs and smoked the room, waving the fumes towards the sick little girl. María’s mother desperately prayed to Santo Niño, the children’s saint, promising that if María lived, she would send her on a pilgrimage to see him. María lived to make the pilgrimage and enjoy a long life. But she was forever marked by this event.
Comma has been Mark-Napped! Solve the mystery.
Illustrated with Cassatt’s own work and that of other influential Impressionists, as well as photographs of the artist, this book offers children a glimpse at life during the late 1800s and showcases the colorful vivaciousness of Cassatt’s work. Her beloved portraits of mothers and children are highlighted here, but the book also includes lesser-known work that shows Cassatt’s range of talent. Children will enjoy seeing the warm and loving images of others their age relaxing with pets, enjoying the outdoors, and being held by caring adults.
The musicians were tuning their instruments somewhere behind the palms in the hotel courtyard. It was one of the older hotels of San Antonio, much sought by Northern tourists on account of that same inner garden, around which the big building stretched itself. The rooms opening on to it had vine-covered balconies, and, looking down from them into the tropical growth of palms and banana trees and roses, one felt that it was summer time, no matter what the calendar said. Paperback.
Mary Ware, introduced to readers in The Little Colonel Series (all published by Pelican), is seventeen years old and ready for adventure. Although she is young, she has already had many travels and experiences, including a trip to New York City and a wonderful season at boarding school. Now she is heading back out West with her family, but not without leaving behind some unfulfilled hopes. Paperback.
For the first time, supporting character Mary Ware steps out of Annie Fellows Johnston’s hugely popular The Little Colonel Series and into her very own collection of adventures. With Mary Ware’s acceptance into Warwick Hall, a prestigious boarding school that had previously educated Lloyd Sherman, the Little Colonel, she quickly becomes a favored student with the headmistress, Madame Chartley. Paperback.
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is considered the most important French painter of the 20th century. A master of the use of color, Matisse founded the Fauvist school of painting, whose members were known for using bold and iconoclastic hues. During his long and productive career, Matisse experimented in several other media, most notably collage and stained glass. Hardcover.
This biography for young readers follows the life of popular American artist Maxfield Parrish, who helped develop the future of visual arts in the United States. A model for future generations, Parrish brought his daydreams to life and shared them with everyone through posters, calendars, murals, advertisements, and illustrated children’s books. Replicas of the artist’s work, including his famous landscapes, accompany his story.
Murphy the Mutt was nobody’s dog. Until the day he stole a sip of root beer. Then everybody wanted him. In this humorous tale of rumors and misunderstandings, the small-town stray becomes both a villain and a hero in the course of one unusually eventful afternoon. Paperback.
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.