Wednesday, April 19, 2017

P is for...Pete and Peggy #AtoZChallenge


P is for...Pete of the Viridian System, and Peggy of Skunk Corners

So why do the best characters keep falling on the same letters? I couldn't miss either of these, so you get both!

From the Viridian System stories by Jemima Pett, we have
Pete Garcia
In a nutshell: One of many exiles from Corsair waiting to be called to arms to rescue the planet from the Imperium, and biding his time with wine, women and asteroid mining.

Biggest secret: His ear-ring

Favourite line: "Any chance of some food, mate?" As an adventurer and a miner, Pete has his priorities straight!

Pete is one of the central characters in the Viridian System books by Jemima Pett.  Book 1 of the series, The Perihelix, will be reissued around November, and work is underway on Book 2! Meanwhile, check out the short stories that started it all:
http://www.ppbooks.co.uk/
And, from the Ninja Librarian books, we have
Peggy Rossiter
In a nutshell: the smartest kid in the Skunk Corners school, and the best mathematician for a long way in any direction, Peggy wants an education like no one’s ever wanted anything before.

Biggest secret: what she thinks of Tommy Colson. She may have other, bigger secrets, before it's all over, but this one's a mystery even to her.
Favorite line:  Explaining why she didn't finish some work: "There was an equation...it took me most of the morning to work it out."
 
 Book Three of the Ninja Librarian books--The Problem With Peggy is the story of how Peggy manages to get her chance at that education. Here's how Big Al learns of the problem, from the first chapter of the book:

When I dismissed the class, I kept Peggy back.

“What’s wrong? When I said school was letting out for the summer you looked like I hit you.” I was almost sorry I asked. The look of desperation on Peggy Rossiter’s face would have broken a tougher heart than mine. She looked like she was about to cry, but Peg was no baby.

“I had a birthday a few weeks ago,” she said as though that answered everything. I kept looking at her, hoping she’d tell me what she meant. “Pa says, now I’m fourteen I should be done with school, like the law says.” Her tone was angry, to keep the tears in.

“The law doesn’t say you have to quit school at fourteen. Only that you can. You’re good at it. You should keep going.” 

Peggy shrugged. “I told him that, and that I want to go on. I even cried, but he won’t listen. Pa doesn’t believe in educating girls. He’s letting me finish this year, but I can’t come back next year. I guess,” she said with a smile that made me want to cry, “I was sorta hoping we just wouldn’t quit, and I could keep on coming to school here forever.” 


http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/p/blog-page_11.html
The Ninja Librarian’s back in town, school’s out, and all’s right with the world…or is it? Big Al may be looking forward to spending her time swimming in the creek and wandering the hills, but Peggy’s looking forward to a life of drudgery. If Al can’t find a way to sway her pa, the brightest kid in Skunk Corners is going to take drastic action. With a mystery from the past haunting one of the houses and creating the biggest threat yet to the town, Big Al’s going to be kept busy this summer, and not just with practicing her moves for the Ninja Librarian!
 
 

8 comments:

  1. Hi Rebecca - you've certainly included lots of blogger links for us to investigate - oh dear poor Peggy - I hope she gets her education. That's great I need to check out other posts - thanks ... and great to see you over at my blog - thanks for the visits - cheers Hilary

    http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/p-is-for-pigs.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I might have gotten a little carried away :) But I do love Jemima's Viridian System stories, so I'm rooting for enough enthusiasm to get her revved up to go back to work on them :D

      Delete
    2. When A to Z is finished I might explain what I've really been doing this month. :)

      Delete
    3. I've now gotten pretty diverted onto our library book sale. It takes a lot of work to keep the Ninja Librarian in funds :)

      Delete
  2. What's sad is that there are so many real life girls who don't have the privilege of having a continuing education. I suppose that's one thing that makes the character in this book so very believable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. The Ninja Librarian books are tall tales, but they are grounded in history (think about 1900), and the options open to girls at that time were sadly limited, as they still are in far too many places. The books are, shall we say, a little feminist :)

      Delete
  3. Hope girls or boys never have to quit education...
    Unfortunately, it's a sad reality for many. Hope things change.
    Incidentally, my poem is- "Don't Quit"
    'Don't QUIT' #AtoZChallenge

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very fitting! Peggy would qualify as someone who won't quit, though she does get pretty discouraged for a time along the way!

      Delete

We want to hear from you! Tell us your reactions, or whatever's on your mind.