Skip to main content
Event Banner for Ron Pedro at Gibson's Bookstore on Sunday, February 7th at 12:30pm. Features author photo and book cover.
Author EventKidsMiddle GradeFree

Ron Pedro presents Throwbacks and Keepers

Featured Book

Book cover: Throwbacks and Keepers by Pedro, Ron

Throwbacks and Keepers

"A heartfelt middle-grade novel about a boy navigating foster care who finds healing, purpose, and new family among the lobstering community of a small Maine island. Sully loves his mom. But love doesn't always mean safety. After years of homelessness and uncertainty, Sully is taken from his mother and placed in foster care-thrust into an unfamiliar world with new rules and strangers who say they want to help. Inside, Sully battles two powerful forces he calls "the Sads" and "the Mads," feelings that make it hard to trust anyone. Then he meets Miss Millie. Miss Millie sings while she cooks, holds daily "safety briefings," and insists that Sully and his new foster brother Victor help with chores, go to church, and look out for each other. When the trio visits Miss Millie's sister Aggie on Long Island, Maine, Sully discovers something unexpected: lobstering. Out on the water before sunrise, hauling traps alongside local lobstermen, Sully feels something he hasn't felt in a long time-like he belongs. But just when Sully begins to believe he's finally found a forever home, tragedy strikes again. With the help of Victor, Aggie, and the tight-knit island community, Sully learns that family isn't always the one you start with-it's the one that refuses to let you go. Weaving back and forth between the present when Sully is age twelve and the past at age seven when the world he has always known falls apart, this is a heartfelt story of resilience, belonging, and second chances. Throwbacks and Keepers is perfect for fans of Lynda Mullaly Hunt and Gary Schmidt"--

This book will be available for purchase at the event.

About This Event

Local Author Ron Pedro visits Gibson's to share his Middle Grade novel, Throwbacks and Keepers! A heartfelt middle-grade novel about a boy navigating foster care who finds healing, purpose, and new family among the lobstering community of a small Maine island.Sully loves his mom. But love doesn’t always mean safety.After years of homelessness and uncertainty, Sully is taken from his mother and placed in foster care—thrust into an unfamiliar world with new rules and strangers who say they want to help. Inside, Sully battles two powerful forces he calls “the Sads” and “the Mads,” feelings that make it hard to trust anyone.Then he meets Miss Millie.Miss Millie sings while she cooks, holds daily “safety briefings,” and insists that Sully and his new foster brother Victor help with chores, go to church, and look out for each other. When the trio visits Miss Millie’s sister Aggie on Long Island, Maine, Sully discovers something unexpected: lobstering.Out on the water before sunrise, hauling traps alongside local lobstermen, Sully feels something he hasn’t felt in a long time—like he belongs.But just when Sully begins to believe he’s finally found a forever home, tragedy strikes again.With the help of Victor, Aggie, and the tight-knit island community, Sully learns that family isn’t always the one you start with—it’s the one that refuses to let you go.Weaving back and forth between the present when Sully is age twelve and the past at age seven when the world he has always known falls apart, this is a heartfelt story of resilience, belonging, and second chances. Throwbacks and Keepers is perfect for fans of Lynda Mullaly Hunt and Gary D. Schmidt.About the AuthorRon Pedro spent the first twenty years of his career teaching high school English and serving as a school administrator in New Hampshire. In 2012 he moved to higher education — preparing students to become teachers, working in admissions, and now serving as Director of Recruitment for Graduate Education Programs on Campus at Southern New Hampshire University.He has been married for thirty-six years and has four children. Their youngest, Hunter, came to live with the family through the New Hampshire foster care system at age three, and was adopted at six through a mediated adoption with his mother. Throwbacks and Keepers is not Hunter's story — but he inspired it.The Pedros have lived on Long Island, Maine, and now make their home in Rye, New Hampshire.

Featured Author

Pedro, Ron

About the Venue

Gibson's Bookstore logo

Gibson's Bookstore

Concord's Indie Bookstore since 1898!

Visit store page

More at Gibson's Bookstore

Nov17
Banner Graphic for Carter Wilson in conversation with Lisa Gardner at Gibson's Bookstore on Tuesday, November 17th at 6:30pm. Features author photos and the book cover for When They Find Me against an icy background.
Author EventFictionConcord, NH

Carter Wilson presents When They Find Me

6:30 PM • Tuesday, November 17, 2026Gibson's BookstoreFree

Thriller author Carter Wilson visits Gibson's Bookstore to share his latest novel, When They Find Me. Carter will be joined in conversation by fellow thriller author, Lisa Gardner. Some secrets don't fade. They hunt.Expanse, Colorado. Population 313. A town so remote it barely exists on a map—the perfect hiding place for Annie Wolfe and her daughter, Coral. Their cabin is nearly off the grid, and Annie has done everything to keep them safe. Everything. But she knows the people hunting her don't forget. And they don't forgive.Riven knows about survival. She and her family have lived off the land for years, moving like shadows through the wilderness. Now her father has led them to this forgotten town, tracking the man he swears destroyed their lives. The plan is simple: strike fast, take revenge, and disappear.But when Riven knocks on Annie's door, their worlds collide. What follows is darker, stranger, and more dangerous than either woman ever imagined—because the hunt isn't just for vengeance. It's for the truth. And in Expanse, Colorado, the truth can kill.Carter Wilson is the USA Today bestselling author of eight critically acclaimed, standalone psychological thrillers. He is an ITW Thriller Award finalist, a five-time winner of the Colorado Book Award, and his works have been optioned for television and film. Carter lives outside of Boulder, Colorado.Lisa Gardner, a #1 New York Times bestselling thriller novelist, began her career in food service, but after catching her hair on fire numerous times, she took the hint and focused on writing instead. A self-described research junkie, she has transformed her interest in police procedure and criminal minds into a streak of acclaimed novels. Her novel, The Neighbor, won Best Hardcover Novel from the International Thriller Writers. She has also been honored for her work with animal rescue and at-risk children. An avid hiker, gardener and cribbage player, Lisa lives with her family in New England.

Nov18
Banner image for PSNH with Percheron Poets
PerformancePoetryConcord, NH

Poetry Society of New Hampshire: Percheron Poets

4:30 PM • Wednesday, November 18, 2026Gibson's BookstoreFree

Join the Poetry Society of New Hampshire on Wednesday, November 18th, 2026, from 4:30-6:00pm for an afternoon of poetry! Their headliner this month is Percheron Poets. An open mic follows their readings.Percheron Poets are a community-based writing group of 10-12 women, based in central New Hampshire. The group started after participating for several years in poetry classes taught by and coordinated by poet Catherine O'Brian at the Twiggs Gallery in Boscawen. The Percheron Poets gather monthly at the Kimball-Jenkins Estate in Concord to share their work, host workshops and public readings, and help each other grow as writers. Poets come from Concord, Boscawen, Canterbury, Hollis, Penacook, Franklin Pittsfield and South Sutton. The name comes from the two Percheron horses in the field next to Twiggs Gallery, which was a welcoming and creative home for the poets.The group also takes on special projects such as a recent Ekphrastic Art & Poetry Exhibit, a popular annual Poetry & Pie event, master classes with New England poets, and a daylong Retreat at The Fells with time to write outdoors.Percheron Poets come together to support each other in creative ways, in listening, reading and making poems and art.

Dec1
Banner Graphic for Bhawani Prasad Dangal & Julia Freeman-Woolpert at Gibson's Bookstore on Tuesday, December 1st at 6:30pm. Features the author photos and book cover against a yellow background.
Author EventBiographyConcord, NH

Down the Braided River with Bhawani Prasad Dangal & Julia Freeman-Woolpert

6:30 PM • Tuesday, December 1, 2026Gibson's BookstoreFree

Join Bhawani Prasad Dangal & Julia Freeman-Woolpert as they present Down the Braided River: My Journey as a Deaf Refugee. Forced to flee with his family from Bhutan at seven, Bhawani lost his hearing shortly after -- and with it, language and connection. Across a refugee camp in Nepal and resettlement in New Hampshire, he built both back. Down the Braided River is a remarkable true story of survival, community, and belonging.Bhawani is a Deaf American citizen who arrived in the United States as a refugee from Bhutan in 2011. He is a deeply committed advocate and leader in the Deaf Bhutanese-American community, including working as a Nepali Sign Language to American Sign Language interpreter. He is a graduate of the prestigious Road to Deaf Interpreting program and has served in numerous educational and advocacy roles including serving on the Board of the Himalayan Foundation USA. He was a main organizer and keynote speaker at the first-ever World Deaf Refugee Day in 2021 and again in 2023. In 2015, he was featured as one of Concord TV’s “Most Fascinating Individuals.” He now lives in Pennsylvania and enjoys spending time with his wife and three sons.Julia lives in Concord, New Hampshire. She retired in 2018 from the New Hampshire Disability Rights Center where she spent her career advocating on behalf of people with disabilities. She holds a B.A. from Boston University and a M.Ed. from Antioch University. She has worked as a mentor and advocate for refugees for two decades, and with Deaf refugees since 2011. She has traveled throughout Nepal and India and spent a week in 2010 visiting the refugee camps in Nepal. In her spare time she loves to garden and travel the rest of the world.