(2) YA It's a big summer for middle schooler Maggie: she is starting a braiding business with her best friend, Daija, and she will be meeting her half-sister, Callie, who is from the Bahamas, for the first time. Callie's mother recently passed away, and Callie will be moving in with Maggie's family in Jacksonville, Florida. While Maggie is welcoming to Callie, Daija is not so happy about this new sister, as she and Maggie are practically sisters. Protective of her friendship and their new braiding enterprise, Daija is not interested in embracing Callie and is determined not to be replaced by a stranger. However, Callie soon becomes the least of their worries as nemesis Angela and her crew decide to open a competing braid business and start to steal their customers. Is it possible for the three girls to overcome their differences and insecurities and become sisters and friends? Drama between the Braid Girls and the Sistahs Who Braid heats up as the competition for business leads to a memorable climax. A summer crush for Maggie lends extra excitement. Told through the alternating points of view of the three girls, the story explores themes of friend and family relationships, grief, bullying, divorce, and parental absence, all handled with care and sensitivity.

Reviewer: Monique Harris | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

(3) YA Living in the shadow of her troubled mother's reputation, black Bahamian sixteen-year-old Indy is sent away to live with an aunt and uncle in Nassau. A victim of rape (description included) that resulted in pregnancy, Indy is left to fend for herself until she finds acceptance at a yoga-retreat center. Readers will cheer as Indy learns to catch her breath and finds her voice in this powerful, mature coming-of-age novel.

Reviewer: Monique Harris

(4) YA Castroman's second tale (Blackhearts) further develops a foundation for Teach's legendary career as pirate Blackbeard. Teach is framed as a mutineer, while his beloved, Anne, fights the corruption and cruelty infecting Nassau. Together they outwit rivals, slavers, and politicians while cementing alliances with other piratical outcasts. The novel showcases the injustices of the colonial era even as it revels in romantic, if soap-operatic, adventure.

Reviewer: Megan Lynn Isaac

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Diana Wege. Bahamian girl Flossie wants to go fishing with a legendary man who usually guides only tourists. Her mother finally agrees, and she spends a day learning how to catch--and release--"the fastest and boniest fish in the water." This quietly nostalgic story (Howard knew the real "Bonefish Joe"), accompanied by serene, detailed paintings, captures the natural beauty and local flavor of Harbour Island.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(3) K-3 The life cycle of a flamingo is followed from his beginnings as an egg in the salty Bahamian mud flats through his gray-feathered growing-up years, until he finds a mate and they build a nest. The facts are effectively worked into the fictional story and accompanied by realistic illustrations.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin

(4) 4-6 Discovering the Caribbean series. Overviews of these Caribbean islands introduce the geography, history, economy, politics, peoples, and culture of each place. Brief chapters feature a dry, straightforward text and color photos of varying quality. Recipes and project ideas are appended. Those looking for in-depth information for reports will have to go elsewhere. There are six other fall 2003 books in this series. Reading list, timeline, website. Glos., ind. [Review covers these Discovering the Caribbean titles: Cuba, Barbados, Windward Islands, Haiti, and The Bahamas.]

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) 4-6 First-person narrator Trey (who could be a boy or a girl) and Trey's silent brother Lou travel back and forth between their Bahamian island home, threatened by developers, and Pangaia, an overdeveloped otherworld where Lou is the answer to a prophecy that will save both worlds. Cooper's skill as a writer is evident, but the connection between the worlds is tenuous, Lou's role remains vague for too long, and the climax is too abrupt.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2002

(3) 4-6 Cultures of the World series. These straightforward and thorough introductions to two small island nations discuss climate, economy, religious and artistic traditions, educational systems, and metamorphosis from British colonies to independent countries. Maps, illustrations, and color photographs are included in each book, as are a traditional recipe and a brief language lesson. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Nell Beram