Sweet Summer of Middle Grade: What I’m Reading

Happy June! I’ve been writing as fast as I can, and reading whenever I have a moment. I had the very good luck to read a new middle grade book by Rebecca Behrens, The Last Grand Adventure, coming out March 2018 (so I probably shouldn’t even mention it! But it was so good!). In fact, I loved it so much, I blurbed it. If you know readers who like historical fiction mixed with adventure and heart, this one’s for them – and you.

The Last Grand Adventure

Here’s the jacket copy!

Twelve-year-old Bea finds herself on a unique road-trip with her grandmother, as they search for her grandmother’s long-lost sister—the legendary Amelia Earhart—in this charming novel from the author of When Audrey Met Alice and Summer of Lost and Found.

It’s the Summer of ’67—and twelve-year-old Bea’s world has been shaken up. Her mother is off in San Francisco, while her father has remarried in Los Angeles, adding a stepmom and younger stepsister to the mix. Bea, unsure of the all the change happening around her, feels stuck.

So when her grandmother, Pidge, moves to a retirement community, Bea agrees to visit and help her adjust. But it turns out her grandmother isn’t interested in “settling in”—what Pidge really wants is to hop a train to Atchison, Kansas, where she believes she’ll be reunited with her long-missing older sister: the legendary Amelia Earhart. And she wants Bea to be her sidekick on this secret trip.

At first, Bea thinks her grandmother’s plan sounds a little crazy. But Pidge does have thirty years of mysterious letters, written in “Meelie’s” unmistakable voice, all promising to reunite. This journey might be just the adventure Bea needs . . .

Bea and Pidge set off on their quest to reunite with Amelia. But getting halfway across the country proves to be far more of an adventure than either bargained for. Their journey takes them from the desert to the heartland, in planes, trains, and automobiles. And their search just might lead to surprising truths about their family—and each other.

Peppered with details of the real Amelia Earhart’s fascinating life, The Last Grand Adventure is a poignant story about seeing the world, becoming brave, and discovering the meaning of home.

I hope you’re finding good things to read, too! Now I’m off to new Mexico to write like the desert wind…

Posted in Children's Fiction, Miscellaneous, People I Love on 06/25/2017 10:13 pm

1 Comment

  1. Thanks so much, Nikki–so thrilled you enjoyed Bea and Pidge’s adventure!

    Reply

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