“Rick Riordan Presents Ballad & Dagger”: Daniel José Older & Meagan Albright

Name: “Rick Riordan Presents Ballad & Dagger”: Daniel José Older & Meagan Albright
Start: 2022-11-14T12:00:00-05:00
End: 2022-11-14T13:00:00-05:00
Location: On Demand

Author:

Older, Daniel José, Albright, Meagan

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Bestselling author Rick Riordan presents Daniel José Older’s Ballad & Dagger, a music-and-magic-filled YA urban fantasy about two teens who discover each other and their powers during a political battle within a unique diaspora community. While the rest of his tight-knit Brooklyn community dreams of someday finding a way back home to the lost island of San Madrigal, Mateo Matisse – a high school junior and piano prodigy living with his two aunts (one who’s alive, the other not so much) – is focused on one thing: getting the attention of locally grown musical legend Gerval. Mateo finally gets his chance on the night of the Grand Fete, an annual party celebrating the blended culture of pirates, Cuban Santeros, and Sephardic Jews that created San Madrigal all those centuries ago. But the evil that sank their island has finally caught up with them, and on the night of the celebration, Mateo is thrust into an ancient battle that spans years and oceans, unraveling deadly secrets and awakening a power within him that could hold the key to unlocking the dark mystery behind his lost homeland. Moderated by Meagan Albright, librarian for Nova Southeastern University. Grades 9-12

Spotify Playlist: San Madrigal Radio

In partnership with

Albright, Meagan

Meagan Albright is a Youth Services Librarian III at NSU Alvin Sherman Library with 20+ years experience in bookstores and libraries. She’s served on local and national committees championing youth literacy, including the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) Batchelder Award Selection Committee, Notable Children’s Book Committee, Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Selection Committee, and Intellectual Freedom Committee, among others. Meagan has written for the ALSC blog and published in peer-reviewed journals including “Children & Libraries” and “Public Libraries”, where her article on library service to the LGBTQ community received “Public Libraries” Feature Article Award. She’s a dreamer and a doer dedicated to literacy and libraries.

Older, Daniel José

Daniel José Older, a lead story architect for Star Wars: The High Republic, is the New York Times bestselling author of the sci-fi adventure Flood City, and the monthly comic series The High Republic Adventures. Shadowshaper, part of the YA series the Shadowshaper Cypher, was named one of the best fantasy books of all time by Time magazine and one of Esquire’s 80 Books Every Person Should Read. In Ballad & Dagger: An Outlaw Saints Novel (Rick Riordan Presents), we meet Mateo Matisse. Almost 16 years ago, Mateo’s island homeland disappeared into the sea. The survivors of San Madrigal’s sinking escaped to New York and still dream of finding a way back home. But Mateo, now a high school junior and piano prodigy, just wants to get the attention of music legend Gerval. He gets his chance on the night of the Grand Fete, an annual party celebrating the blended culture of pirates, Cuban Santeros, and Sephardic Jews that once created San Madrigal. But the evil that sank the island has caught up with the survivors. After he witnesses a brutal murder, deadly secrets unravel, and Mateo awakens a power within himself that could unlock the mystery behind his lost homeland.

“Rick Riordan Presents Ballad & Dagger”: Daniel José Older & Meagan Albright