Celebrations from New Pangaea

"Celebrations from New Pangaea" is a collection of four short stories designed for adolescents ages 13-18. The main characters are male or female adolescents facing the challenges of adolescence involving separation from home and family as they try to make sense of historical and cultural events that have impacted their ability to do so successfully. "Springtime Comes to New Pangaea" introduces a young female of Iranian birth and culture violently forced from her home at age five and...
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"Celebrations from New Pangaea" is a collection of four short stories designed for adolescents ages 13-18. The main characters are male or female adolescents facing the challenges of adolescence involving separation from home and family as they try to make sense of historical and cultural events that have impacted their ability to do so successfully. "Springtime Comes to New Pangaea" introduces a young female of Iranian birth and culture violently forced from her home at age five and her coming of age in Albuquerque, New Mexico during the Iranian Nowruz (spring) celebration. "Juneteeth" is the story of a young man living in the Portland neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. The story revolves around the African-American emancipation celebration known as "Juneteeth." In the summer before Devon Alcorn's senior year at Shawnee High School, he comes to terms with the roots of his slave ancestry at a family reunion held at My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown, Kentucky. "A Thanksgiving Story" is an account of a 16 year old indentured servant brought to North America by the Pilgrims in 1621. Dorothy tells the story of the journey across the Atlantic on the Mayflower and the struggle to survive the first winter at Plymouth Colony. After her Pilgrim family turns against the gentle Abenaki who had been so instrumental in her survival as well as that of the entire colony, Dorothy runs away to live with the Abenaki and finds her female voice and place in society. "The Season" takes the reader on a fantasy through Middle Earth at a time when gun violence and climate change are threatening the very existence of the inhabitants who have forgotten "the reason for the season." A sensitive fifteen year old violinist journeys to the top of the mountain to learn from an old priest, Friar Assalam, the story of the season written on ancient tablets long since lost to the citizens of Newkirk. It is then that Gavril brings the sweet music of the robin's song to restore the peace and good will long ago lost to the inhabitants of the village. This collection of stories is highly suitable as reading material for adolescents in their high school English or history classes. The intent is to bring awareness of a coming together of all the diverse groups in the United States to begin the process of finding unity instead of polarization and the building of a New Pangaea.