Books with author Marjorie Cole

Fourteen-year-old Jared finds it hard to fit in. Half-Native American and half-Anglo, he lives with his hard-working mother and aunt in Seattle, Washington, where he spends his after-school hours selling Pacific Northwest Indian artifacts from his aunt’s store. When a stranger delivers a mysterious invitation, Jared takes a risk—and meets up with his estranged Native American father, whom he hasn’t seen in ten years. Together they embark on an ambitious adventure to build a magnificent replica of an ancient canoe to compete in Seattle’s historic canoe race on Puget Sound. Jared, however, is in no mood to set aside old hurts. Can he overcome his resentments and find the courage to step into adulthood?

It is circa 2600 BC in ancient Mesopotamia during a terrible drought, and Jomar and Zefa's father must send his children away to the city of Ur because he can no longer feed them. At fourteen, Jomar is old enough to apprentice with Sidah, a master goldsmith for the temple of the moongod, but there is no place for Zefa in Sidah's household. Zefa, a talented but untrained musician, is forced to play her music and sing for alms on the streets of Ur. Marjorie Cowley vividly imagines the intrigues, and harsh struggle for survival in ancient Mesopotamia.