Call me anal, but once I start with an author, and I like them….I have to read all their books. Usually, tho, I read several and then switch authors for a few books and then go back to that original author. Otherwise, it seems, I get burned out. NOT SO with Margaret Peterson Haddix.
She writes for teens or the younger generation or at least that is where I find her books, in the youth section. But, she also writes for those younger, too.
On a lark, I started reading her “Shadow Children” series because my youngest Granddaughter was reading them. I got through all of those and then just kept checking out all her books.
It’s been hit and miss here on my blog because my other Granddaughter is visiting and I signed her up for the library’s summer reading program, so we have been mega reading so she can earn a free T Shirt. So far, we have read 76 books together. So, that is why I haven’t gotten a lot of books read on my own.
But, I have managed to get quite a few books read, late at night 
- The girl with 500 middle names
- Just Ella
- Turnabout
- Say What?
- Leaving Fishers
- Uprising (based on a true story)
“The girl with 500 middle names” is about a young girl who’s parents move to a better area to give her a better chance in life. The school that Janie goes to is more upscale and the kids that attend have better clothes and homes than she does.
Her Mother makes custom made sweaters with names on them to sell to help with finances. She custom made them for a company and had a large inventory ready when the company decided they could get them elsewhere at a lower cost to them. So, the Mother is stuck with sweaters she can’t sell.
Her Daughter, who is a new kid at a new school, decides to wear them to school and just tells people that it’s her middle name.
What ensues is something that changes the direction of the family’s life.
Cute story!!! Yes, it’s basically for kids but still was very enjoyable.
“Just Ella” is about a girl who accepts
the proposal of a prince, only to find that she hates the palace rules and the royal etiquette she must learn to be a proper princess. So, she plots to escape. Fun read!
“quote” from Fantastic Fiction.com
“Melly and Anny Beth are fifteen – and can no longer drive a car. Soon they won’t be able to walk…or feed themselves. They had both lived full lives – Melly was one hundred years old, and had been left in a nursing home, waiting to die. Then Melly and Anny Beth were selected for Project Turnabout and were given an injection to make them grow younger. It worked – but the follow-up shot, which was supposed to stop the un-aging process, has killed everyone who has taken it. Melly and Anny Beth have left the project and taken care of themselves for the past eighty-five years. But who will take care of them when they can no longer take care of themselves?”
Wow….. what a concept, huh?
Family rules. We all have them. But what takes place when a Mom and Dad decide to change the rules is hilarious. I would like to try this, myself, altho my grown kids would probably put me in a nursing home thinking I had lost my mind.
I just thought this was such a good way to get kids to do things without yelling and screaming, yet after their parents are ‘found out’, they decide to do this one day a month just for fun!
“Leaving Fishers” is about a family that moves to a new community and the daughter starts a new school, where she feels so alone. A group of kids befriend her, and ask her to go to a youth party with them and then a retreat and finally group meetings.
She starts going to the group meetings with them as they are the only kids at school that have paid any attention to her. As time progresses, she gets a ‘mentor’ who says what she can and cannot do. She starts to feel a little uncomfortable at how ‘controlling’ her mentor becomes. Yet, she keeps trying hard to do what is asked of her as she doesn’t know anyone else at school and doesn’t want to lose the only friends she has.
Then, when her ‘mentor’ tells he she can’t eat at the family Thanksgiving dinner, but has to fast instead, to atone for her ’sins’ of not doing what she was told…..she goes thru with it but starts to have serious doubts about the whole group.
Eventually, she has enough and breaks free…….but it’s heartbreaking to think about all of those kids out there that might lack the courage to break free.
“UPRISING” is based on a true story about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Haddix researched this tragic event and then wrote this book about two immigrant girls who came to America seeking a better life and one wealthy girl whose life, altho she didn’t want for anything, was less than happy.
Jane is the wealthy girl, who’s father also owns a factory. When Jane, out of curiousity, goes with some other socialites, to a strike that some of the employees from the Triangle factory are staging, she starts on a journey where she realizes how her wealth was obtained and makes her even more unhappy.
The three finally end up together in a ramshackle apartment……and the rest is history or near enough.
If you haven’t read any of Margaret Peterson Haddix’ books, start with Shadow Children and then venture on to her novels. If you have pre teen and teenage kids, they will also enjoy her books. I know I did and I am WELL PAST the teen years.
