The Secret of the Magic Pearl [Paperback]

A Booklist Editors' Choice
A Capitol Choices Book
A Best Middle-Grade Book of the Year  Kirkus Reviews
  Beautiful, remarkable, amazing, and wonderful in every way Kirkus Reviews, starred review
 An absolute delight . . . An exceptional story that will have young readers longing for the sea. Booklist, starred review
 Publishers Weekly, starred review

Dive below the waves to where the real adventure begins. 

Hector lives with his family at the Marina in an Italian coastal town where they organize tourist expeditions to explore the many wonders of the sea. Hectors dream is to become a deep-sea diver, just like his father.

Then, one day, an unscrupulous entrepreneur opens a much newer center next door, forcing them to close their business. This man has a single purpose, to find the legendary Pearl in order to sell it and make money. Hector decides to find a way to thwart the plan and save what matters most to him: the sea, his family, and his dream.

Elisa Sabatinelliwas born in Fano, Italy, and grew up in Barcelona, Spain. She has published short stories and a novel for adults.The Secret of the Magic Pearlis her first book for children. Sabatinelli lives in Milan with her husband and two children. To learn more, visit her on Facebook at @elisa.sabatinelli.Iacopo Brunohas illustrated hundreds of book covers and has received recognition from the Society of Illustrators in New York, the Cook Prize, and his book,Sergeant Reckless, written by Patricia McCormick, won the Texas Bluebonnet Award and the California Young Reader Medal 2021. Other books illustrated by Iacopo Bruno includeMesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery that Baffled All of Franceby Mara Rockliffand Bartali’s Bicycle: The True Story of Gino Bartali, Italy’s Secret Heroby Megan Hoyt. When he is not drawing, he takes his boatló1