I found this slightly-battered softcover on the charity-sale shelves at a local Hannaford's, and nabbed it for an upcoming pirate-themed release challenge. It's about a girl who lost her mother, but thinks she's managing things pretty well - except that her father's rather distant, and her younger sister keeps rebelling against her diabetes diet by sneaking candy. Oh, and her teacher seems to be a cold-hearted tyrant more interested in humiliating the students than teaching them... When her father's cousin Fiona arrives from Ireland to help around the house, Grace isn't happy at first, but Fiona's combination of warm-heartedness and good sense - and a touch of vulnerability, as she's afraid of Grace's raggedy dog - win her over. And her stories of famed 16th-century pirate queen Grace O'Malley seem to help, whether it's in nudging Grace to befriend the class outcast or to confess to having broken a treasured possession of her teacher's. (We also learn that the teacher has issues of her own and isn't quite the meanie she's seemed.)

I left this book, bagged for protection, in the Lovey Cole geocache in Kittery ME at around 2; hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released as part of the 2016 You're Such an Animal release challenge, for the embedded "rat" in the title. ***

*** Released as part of the 2016 Talk Like a Pirate release challenge. [See this TV Tropes page for some entertaining examples of pirate-talk in media.] ***