Success In the Press: Blue Dragonfly by Joseph Bingham

International Review of Books Gold Medal Award

★

International Review of Books Gold Medal Award ★

From the Author: Pedí and Adací are born with unusual gifts inherited from their massacred ancestors. Pedí, a boy discounted and shunned due to his peculiarities and heritage, understands the healing plants of the forest and has a rare relationship with the animal world. Pedí can communicate with animals but stammers when he tries to talk with people. Adací is an adopted girl whose lineage is kept secret. Her dreams and visions of the past, present, and future, create havoc within her family and society. Despite her best efforts, these dreams often come true. She is afraid she’s going to kill the boy she loves.

Blue Dragonfly takes you into a tropical world of fantasy, disease, forbidden love, and strange creatures of the natural world.

Our Take: Blue Dragonfly is a lush and lyrical story set in a world where ancestral memory, nature’s magic, and quiet rebellion shape the lives of two young people with mysterious gifts. Pedí and Adací are outsiders in their own community, but their deep connection to the natural and spiritual realms offers both danger and possibility. With rich worldbuilding, emotional depth, and a thread of star-crossed love, this is a tender, imaginative novel for readers who enjoy coming-of-age stories laced with myth, mystery, and the magic of the natural world.

From a Reader: “Great storytelling and immediately engaging! Loved the mix of nature, ancient cultures, and the mix of real and the mythical. Would highly recommend!”

Bragging Rights:

★ Gold Medal Award from International Review of Books

What the author has to say about working with Yellow Bird: “Rebecca Maizel at Yellow Bird helped me so much with my early draft. Her suggestions helped me craft the final manuscript, though it still took me time as a beginning writer to make all the changes I needed to do.”

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Success In the Press: The Journey Begins by Cynthia Elder

"Get it." -Kirkus Reviews

✹

"Get it." -Kirkus Reviews ✹

From the Author:
West Barnstable, 1830. Lighthouse keeper Joseph Nickerson and members of the Jenkins and Fish families are tied to the sea through their work. Their voices are those of men and women who braved years-long sailing voyages as the United States split apart at the seams.

Young James Jenkins follows the sailor’s life, rising over a decade to become a merchant ship captain who transports guano, tea and coal around the globe. He finds his match in Ruth Fish, the daughter of a ship’s captain who bristles with passion to see the world and escape the confines of her small town.

Separated for years from his family, James binds himself to them through letters that span the vastness of oceans and time. At home, the rumbles of conflict over slavery reverberate into every corner of life.

James and Ruth are united in their vision to sail the world together while their country strains under the tension between North and South.
An uncertain future awaits.

Based on the true story of a family from West Barnstable, Massachusetts, during the final chapter of the Great Age of Sail and the tumultuous years leading up to and through the Civil War.

““A well-developed novel that uses copious historical sources to vividly bring its characters and scenes to life.””

— Kirkus Reviews

Our Take: Based on the true story of a family from Massachusetts during the final chapter of the Great Age of Sail and tumultuous years leading up to and through the Civil War, The Journey Begins offers a richly researched portrait of seafaring life during one of America’s most turbulent eras. Sweeping and quietly powerful, it promises lyrical prose and a strong sense of place. The novel follows two families as they navigate oceans and upheaval, distance and duty. It’s a story of love, letters, and longing—perfect for readers drawn to historical fiction rooted in truth, and to tales where the pull of the sea echoes the deeper pull of home.

From a Reader: “A well-developed novel that uses copious historical sources to vividly bring its characters and setting to life.”

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