Willa Joe is up on the roof at Aunt Patty's house. She went up to see the sunrise, and Little Sister followed her, like she always does. But by mid-morning, Willa Jo is still up on that roof, and she knows it wasn't just the sunrise that brought her there. Audrey Couloumbis has perfectly captured the pervasive feelings that can take hold when tragedy strikes–and the slow, subtle revelations that come when one can finally get near to the source.
Eleven-year-old Sallie March is a whip-smart tomboy and voracious reader of Western adventure novels. When she and her ladylike older sister Maude are orphaned for the second time, they decide to take matters into their own hands and escape their self-serving guardians for the wilds of the frontier and an adventure the likes of which Sallie has only read about. This time however, the wanted woman isn’t a villain out of a dime novel — it’s Sallie’s very own sister!
Narrated by the irrepressible Sallie, what follows is the rollicking, edge-of-your-seat story of what really happened out there on the range. Not the lies the papers printed, but the honest-to-goodness truth of how things went from bad to worse and how two very different sisters went from being orphans to being outlaws and lived to tell the tale!
Packed with memorable characters, rip-roaringly fast-paced action, and laugh-out-loud moments, The Misadventures of Maude March is Newbery Honor winner Audrey Couloumbis’s most unforgettable work yet.
Audrey Couloumbis’ first book for children, Getting Near to Baby, available on audio from Listening Library, won the Newbery Honor in 2000. She is also the author of Say Yes (2002), an IRA Children’s Book Award winner and Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book. Today she lives in upstate New York and Florida with her husband, Akila, and their dog, Phoebe. They have two grown children. You can visit Audrey’s Web site at: www.audreycouloumbis.com.
When twelve-year-old Casey's sole guardian--her stepmother Sylvia--doesn't come home one night, Casey believes she's run off with her boyfriend. The question is--will Sylvia come back? And even more urgent--how will Casey fend for herself in their New York City apartment.
Paulie, the landlord's teenage foster son, offers to forge Sylvia's signature on the rent check, but his help comes at a price. And if Casey says yes to his proposition, she'll be breaking the law, taking her first step into a life of running to escape the police. And if she says no? Well, Casey's witnessed firsthand the perils of being a foster kid at the mercy of a system that has already failed Paulie.
Say Yes is the unforgettable story of a preteen on her own, bravely making choices for the first time in her life.
