Books with author Jan McCarthy

Surfer, freediver and eco-warrior, John McCarthy, eloquently and poetically scribes the true story of how a group of people, spread across four continents, came together to achieve the seemingly impossible. It's a compelling narrative that shows us how South African open water endurance swimmer, Sarah Ferguson, reached across global, cultural and political boundaries to unite people with her world-record swim against plastic pollution. This collaborative effort, organized by Plastic Oceans International, resulted in Sarah becoming the first person ever to swim around iconic Easter Island - and in doing so, raising awareness about plastic pollution and inspiring thousands to rethink plastic. Her swim is now recognized as an official Guinness World Record.

In the 1930s most girls were happy playing with dolls. But one girl, Betty Skelton, liked playing with airplanes, watching them fly around outside, and even flying airplanes herself! She lived for an adventure - in the air, the water, and on land - and nothing could stop her, especially not being a girl. When Betty Skelton was young there weren't many women flying airplanes or racing cars, but she wouldn't let that stop her. She was always ready to take on a challenge, and she loved to have fun. Betty rode motorcycles, raced cars, jumped out of planes, and flew jets, helicopters, gliders, and blimps. And by the time she was an adult, Betty was known in the press as the 'First Lady of Firsts!'

It was an ordinary night in October of 1938 until a news bulletin interrupted the dance music on CBS radio–aliens were invading the United States! Meghan McCarthy’s hilarious Aliens Are Coming! tells the true story of the Halloween radio prank that duped much of the country into believing that Martians had invaded. The book uses excerpts from the actual War of the Worlds radio broadcast and includes information about the importance of radios in the 1930s (before the time of televisions and computers) as well as facts about Orson Welles and H. G. Wells, author of the novel on which the broadcast was based.

What happens when the wolf no longer howls at the moon?When Otsoa, a young Wolf-thread, finds he can no longer howl, a mysterious grey fog appears and begins destroying the world.Otsoa is then forced into an adventure, along with a rooster that he packed for his lunch, to find the legendary source of natural music – the War Drum.Will the world be saved if the Wolf-thread can find his howl?Or is there a deeper mystery behind the destructive fog?