Synopses & Reviews
Brett McCarthy lives for soccer, vocabulary words, and her largerthan-life grandmother, Nonna. Unfortunately, Brett's got a huge mouth she can't seem to tame and opinions she can't keep to herself. It's thanks in part to both of those things (well, really, the evil Jeanne Anne) that Brett finds herself going from good student and BFF to Diane, to twicesuspended, friendless, and lunching with the principal every day. Indefinitely. So when Nonna starts going for lots of medical tests and no one will tell her why, Brett's already turned-upside down world goes from bad to worse, and she's not sure where she fits, who she is, or how to make right what she, and her big fat mouth, have made wrong. Maria Padian makes her literary debut with a laugh-out-loud coming-of-age novel about one smart-mouthed 14-year-old who's learning the hard way that she is a work in progress.
Synopsis
Brett McCarthy lives for vocabulary words, soccer, and her larger-than-life grandmother, Nonna. Unfortunately, Bretts got a big mouth she cant seem to tame and opinions she cant keep to herself. And shes obsessed with the moment she became redefined and went from good student, bestfriend-to-Diane to twice-suspended, friendless, and deadest meat in Maine. Soon her world has turned upside down, and shes not sure where she fits, what she should do, or how to make right what she, and her big fat mouth, have made wrong. Bretts fresh and funny voice will keep readers laughing out loud at her plights, groaning in sympathy at every misstep, and rooting for her as things go from bad to worst ever possible.
A Spring 2008 Association of Booksellers for Children New Voices Pick
About the Author
Maria Padian has worked as a commercial radio news reporter, an essayist for public radio, a press secretary for a U.S. Congressman, and a freelance writer. She lives with her children and husband, and an Australian shepherd, in Maine, where she is at work on a new novel.