La perla negra / The Black Pearl

from cshoughton

The Black Pearl is a well-written coming of age story, even a bit of a page turner. The book grabbed my attention quickly and then held it by steadily tightening the stakes. Yet somehow I finished the book with a shrug. As with O'Dell's Sing Down the Moon, there's no pathos to the prose. You're i...

from fingerpost

Ramon Salazar works for his father, a pearl fisherman and dealer, but is always working in the shop instead of out fishing for pearls with the men. He longs to be a pearl diver. He heads off on his own one day to fish in a secluded lagoon and finds the ultimate pearl, smoky black, perfectly round...

from tjsjohanna

In this short novella Ramon seeks to prove his worth, finds an amazing treasure, loses his father, and confronts the wicked bully. And yet the story is told in spare lines and the myth (or reality) of the Manta Diablo infuses it all with a curious mixture of faith and disbelief.

from Homeschoolbookreview

It is around the turn of the twentieth century, and sixteen-year-old Ramon Salazar lives in the town of La Paz on the Baja California coast of Mexico, with his father Blas, the owner of a lucrative pearl fishing business, mother, and two sisters. Blas Salazar had promised his son that when he tur...

from 1morechapter

Ramon Salazar is 16 years old and lives off Baja, California. His father is in the pearl diving business, and Ramon is eager to help him by being a diver. He finds a very expensive pearl that ends up bringing a lot of trouble to his family and community. Or does it? This was a Newbery Honor book ...