Bauer, J. (2011). Close to famous. New York: Puffin Books. Schneider FamilyJunior Book AwardThose looking for something out there, beyond where they currently are will fall in love with this story. After a big move, Foster becomes famous in her own way in a new town. Many love her baking, but the...
"You never know the blessings that come from suffering."Actual rating: 3.5 Jenna Boller is a sixteen-year-old ugly duckling teenager who has a talent for selling shoes. A gifted employee at her branch of Gladstone's Shoes - a shoe company with 176 different outlets in 37 states, a company whose q...
Sticks is about a boy named Mickey and his family owns a pool hall. They also live above the pool hall in a little apartment. Mickey's dad was a great pool player but then he died. Mickey wants to follow in his dad's foot steps and be one of the best junior pool players in the world and he is onl...
A.J. is a photographer. A photographer who seems destined to suffer broken relationships for her art. Well, that's what she says. Her parents say it is more like she falls in love too easily and doesn't really look beyond the surface of the guys she dates. But this is A.J.'s senior year, and she ...
In this sequel to the beloved Rules of the Road, Jenna Boller is dripping with newfound maturity after her life-altering summer on the road. She has a job she loves at Gladstone Shoes, a best friend who makes her laugh, and a dysfunctional family she's learning how to handle. Jenna feels ready fo...
Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.comHOPE WAS HERE is a brilliant book by an equally brilliant author, Joan Bauer. When I read this book for the first time (my copy is worn; I've read it so often!), I was an instant fan of the author. HOPE WAS HERE is worth your time, worth your money, ...
Ivy doesn't want to be a lawyer. Who cares?-well, her father, for starters, who expects his daughter to take up the Breedlove family profession with dedication and enthusiasm. What Ivy wants to be is a historian, a vocation that's getting quite a workout as she prepares a family history in honor ...
Tree, a six-foot-three-inch twelve-year-old, copes with his parents' recent divorce and his failure as an athlete by helping his grandfather, a Vietnam vet and recent amputee, and Sophie, a new girl at school.
Something's rotten in the heart of apple country! Hildy Biddle dreams of being a journalist. A reporter for her high school newspaper, The Core, she's just waiting for a chance to prove herself. Not content to just cover school issues, Hildy's drawn to the town's big story--the haunted old Ludlow...
Ben gets one, and several kids from the band want to wear them. Everyone is here working on floats. Now Caitlin Cudup walks up. She wants a scrunchie, too. “It’s not for your hair, Caitlin. It’s to remember.” “I know. Ben tol...
El Grande reads it to Franny and Bo. Mrs. Prim gets on the phone and reads it to her granddaughter. Walt and I take turns reading it. It’s one of those times when a good voice breaks out and helps just about everybody. Walt leans against the refrigerator to help his back a...
Last year had been a nightmare on graduation night, June 30, as the mosquitoes, drawn by the aroma of Jade East, lilac perfume, and Southern Comfort, descended on ninety-seven seniors without bias or mercy. I was a junior, so it didn’t matter to me if the seniors graduated in mid-July wrapped in ...