Books with author Sue Cowing

Parker is a normal sixth grader—or he was normal before the puppet. It’s just an old hand puppet, sticking out of a garbage can, and even though Parker’s best friend says leave it, Parker brings the puppet home and tries it on. Or maybe it tries him on. “You will call me Drog!” the puppet commands once they’re alone. And now, no matter how hard Parker tries, he can’t get Drog off his hand.Drog is sarcastic, cruel, unpredictable, and loud—everything Parker isn’t. Worse yet, no one believes that Drog—not Parker—is the one saying the outrageous things that get Parker into trouble. Then Drog starts sharpening his snarky wit on the most fragile parts of Parker’s life—like his parents’ divorce. Parker’s shocked, but deep down he agrees with Drog a little. Perhaps Drog is saying things Parker wants to say after all. Maybe the only way to get rid of Drog is to truly listen to him.

Parker is a normal sixth grader―or he was normal before the puppet. It’s just an old hand puppet, sticking out of a garbage can, and even though Parker’s best friend says leave it, Parker brings the puppet home and tries it on. Or maybe it tries him on. “You will call me Drog!” the puppet commands once they’re alone. And now, no matter how hard Parker tries, he can’t get Drog off his hand. Drog is sarcastic, cruel, unpredictable, and loud―everything Parker isn’t. Worse yet, no one believes that Drog―not Parker―is the one saying the outrageous things that get Parker into trouble. Then Drog starts sharpening his snarky wit on the most fragile parts of Parker’s life―like his parents’ divorce. Parker’s shocked, but deep down he agrees with Drog a little. Perhaps Drog is saying things Parker wants to say after all. Maybe the only way to get rid of Drog is to truly listen to him.

This imaginative and colorful collection of more than 150 poems contains work by poets from many Pacific lands as well as from Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The poems were gathered especially but not exclusively for young readers. Most were written in English, but a few were translated from their original languages. Unlike conventional anthologies, Fire in the Sea places the rich traditional and contemporary poetry of Hawai‘i and the Pacific (often overlooked by anthologists) alongside better-known works from the East and West. Selected works of art from the collections of the Honolulu Academy of Arts accompany the poems.