SARAH STEWART TAYLOR
A former education and features reporter, Sarah writes about books, travel, arts and culture, parenting, New England and Irish history and literature, and lots of other things. Her favorite stories are ones that feature fascinating people doing surprising things. Here is a selection of some of her journalism. She can be contacted here.
The Expeditioners and the Lost City of Maps
As the world teeters on the edge of war, Explorer-in-Training Kit West finishes his spy training and is sent on his first secret mission: a dangerous journey across the Simerian Desert to retrieve a secret map that will allow his government to fend off an invasion. But things are not as they seem and Kit must battle deadly sandstorms, ruthless spies, and government agents to find the map and stay on the trail of his father, the famous Explorer Alexander West. Will Kit have what it takes to find the map and a secret desert city known only in legend? And will he have the courage to finally find out where his father is leading him?
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The Expeditioners Series
Writing as S. S. Taylor, Sarah is the author of The Expeditioners series, a Steampunk adventure series for younger readers, with extensive illustrations by Katherine Roy. The first book in the series, The Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon, was both a Dorothy Canfield Fisher (Vermont) Award and a Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee.
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Buy The Expeditioners books at the following booksellers:
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The Norwich Bookstore (Norwich, Vermont)
The Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man’s Canyon
Texas Bluebonnet Book Award nominee
A Dorothy Canfield Fisher nominee
Indie Next pick for Winter 2012/2013
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Computers have failed, electricity is extinct, and the race to discover new lands is underway! Brilliant explorer Alexander West has just died under mysterious circumstances, but not before smuggling half of a strange map to his intrepid children—Kit the brain, M.K. the tinkerer, and Zander the brave. Why are so many government agents trying to steal the half-map? (And where is the other half?) It’s up to Alexander’s children—the Expeditioners—to get to the bottom of these questions, and fast.
Praise for Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon
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"A quickly paced and entertainingly twisty adventure."
Kirkus Reviews
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“The Expeditioners is an excellent steampunk adventure series with tons of heart and appeal”
The Show Me Librarian
“Beautifully written and nail-bitingly thrilling, this is an easy series to get hooked on.” -- San Francisco Chronicle
The Expeditioners and the Secret of King Triton’s Lair
Kit, Zander, and M.K. West are settling into their new lives as students at the Academy for the Exploratory Sciences when Kit finds another mysterious map left for him by their father, the brilliant, famous — and presumed dead—Explorer Alexander West. Why did Alexander leave the maps behind, and why are government agents so determined to seize them? What is really going on in a mysterious and unknown stretch of the Caribbean, famous for its violent storms and shipwrecks? And what is the huge contraption M.K. is building in her workshop? As two world powers come to the brink of war, Kit must find a deadly hidden island and unlock its secrets, hoping he has the courage to follow the trail of maps, wherever it may lead.
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Praise for Secret of King Triton's Lair
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“A little bit weird and unlikely in ways that smart kids will really enjoy.”
Slate
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"A unique adventure series that certainly fits into the steampunk genre, but plows its own course with mystery, suspense, and a well-thought out plot."
School Library Journal