Chocolate and Chapters Teen Book Club

Ballad & Dagger by Daniel Jose Older

Good conversation, friendly faces, and great books-that's what book group is all about. We're looking forward to seeing you at our lively and engaging book discussion.

Ballad & Dagger by Daniel Jose Older 

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Additional copies available Ebook (Libby)  eBook and eAudio (Hoopla)

Almost sixteen years ago, Mateo Matisse's island homeland disappeared into the sea. Weary and hopeless, the survivors of San Madrigal's sinking escaped to New York. While the rest of his tight-knit Brooklyn diaspora community dreams of someday finding a way back home, Mateo--now 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's life is forever changed when he witnesses a brutal murder by a person he thought he knew.