Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Eleven days. Thirteen clues. And one kid who won't give up. Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe is "part treasure hunt, part wilderness adventure, and all heart."--Alan Gratz, New York Times Bestselling author of Refugee
How far would you go to find something that might not even exist?
All her life, Cricket's mama has told her stories about a secret room painted by a mysterious artist. Now Mama's run off, and Cricket thinks the room might be the answer to getting her to come back. If it exists. And if she can find it.
Cricket's only clue is a coin from a grown-over ghost town in the woods. So with her daddy's old guidebook and a coat full of snacks stolen from the Cash 'n' Carry, Cricket runs away to find the room. Surviving in the woods isn't easy. While Cricket camps out in an old tree house and looks for clues, she meets the last resident of the ghost town, encounters a poetry-loving dog (who just might hold a key to part of the puzzle), and discovers that sometimes you have to get a little lost . . . to really find your way.
2020 Mississippi Library Association Children's Author Award
2019 Southern Book Award Winner--Children's Category
2020-2021 Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee
* "Told in the easy, laconic tone of good, Southern storytelling, Hackl's debut rolls off the tongue and into the heart easy as warm butter on a biscuit. Lyrical and endearing, this debut is a genuine adventure tale."--Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"A tale of adventure, full of mystery." --Robert Beatty, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Serafina and the Black Cloak
"Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe is part treasure hunt, part wilderness adventure, and all heart."--Alan Gratz, New York Times Bestselling author of Refugee
"A heartwarming coming-of-age story." --Kirby Larson, Newbery Honor-winning author of Hattie Big Sky
"A masterful debut. Cricket is my new hero, brave and funny and full of heart. I couldn't put it down."--Augusta Scattergood, author of Glory Be
"A brilliant, utterly absorbing debut. I couldn't get enough of Cricket's adventures. Totally unputdownable."--Carrie Ryan, New York TImes Bestselling author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this emotional first novel, the 12-year-old narrator, Cricket, poses an essential question: "Just how far will you go to get your mama back?" After the death of Cricket's grandmother, her mother "went to pieces" and then "ran off." Cricket is left with her steady father, but his sudden death thrusts her into the care of a scheming aunt. When lonely Cricket learns that she'll be sent to a greedy second cousin, and she's subsequently abandoned in a grocery store, she flees to the woods, along with a new pet an actual cricket, which she names Charlene. Together, they set out to solve a mystery that Cricket hopes will bring her mother home. Hackl crafts an authentic, memorable character in Cricket as she pieces her mother's mood swings, medicine, and eccentric behavior into a penetrating and mature realization about mental illness. This piercing, often humorous adventure demonstrates how facing the truth can bring freedom and hope. Ages 8 12.
Customer Reviews
Amazing
This book was so good I got the meet the author at my library and she was so nice and told us about how her book had a lot of inspiration from the book “My Side of the Mountain” which is another really good book.