Just Harriet
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From the award-winning author of A Boy Called Bat comes a new young middle grade series in the tradition of Ramona and Clementine, starring an unforgettable girl named Harriet.
There are a few things you should know about Harriet Wermer:
She just finished third grade. She has a perfect cat named Matzo Ball. She doesn’t always tell the truth. She is very happy to be spending summer vacation away from home and her mom and dad and all the wonderful things she had been planning all year.
Okay, maybe that last one isn’t entirely the truth.
Of course, there’s nothing Harriet doesn't like about Marble Island, the small island off the coast of California where her nanu runs a cozy little bed and breakfast. And nobody doesn’t love Moneypenny, Nanu’s old basset hound. But Harriet doesn’t like the fact that Dad made this decision without even asking her.
When Harriet arrives on Marble Island, however, she discovers that it's full of surprises, and even a mystery. One that seems to involve her Dad, back when he was a young boy living on Marble Island. One that Harriet is absolutely going to solve. And that's the truth.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rising fourth grader and narrator Harriet Wermer starts this chapter book with "the worst things first." Specifically, Harriet reveals, she lies, has night terrors, occasionally wets her bed, and can get what her mother calls "out of hand." The latter occurs when Harriet learns that her parents are sending her to stay with her paternal grandmother, Nanu, for the summer due to her pregnant mother's prescribed bed rest. Harriet resents the decision, but once she and the family feline, Matzo Ball, settle into her grandmother's B&B on Marble Island, Calif., she does manage to encounter some of the "adventure and mystery" that Nanu claims are "everywhere, if you know how to look." There's the old-fashioned key Harriet finds in the shed, and a seemingly abandoned "Gingerbread House"; learning how both are tied to her father's childhood, Harriet gains insight into him and herself. Mixing humor with drama, Arnold (Starla Jean) once again shows her clear understanding of children's emotions and behaviors as she traces presumed-white Harriet's changing heart and views. With its short chapters, lively occasional illustrations by Ho (Eyes That Kiss in the Corners), and energetic feuds between Harriet's cat and her grandmother's beloved basset hound, this series opener is a winner. Ages 6–10.
