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with Xpresso Book Tours
Shucked by Megg Jensen
Published April 14th, 2013
YA Contemporary
Premise:
Suburgatory meets Indiana Jones...on a farm
Fifteen-year-old Tabitha has had the kind of life that would impress even the greatest adventurers. She's escaped a croc attack in the Amazon, walked the length of the Great Wall of China, and earned a black belt in taekwondo in Korea. She owes her worldly experience to her mother's career in archaeology, but when her mother takes on a dangerous new assignment, Tabitha is devastated to learn she can't tag along.
Instead, she's forced to live on a midwestern farm with her grandparents where she'll have to attend a full year of public school. It's Tabitha's greatest nightmare, because despite all her adventures, she has no practical experience with the one thing that frightens her the most - other teenagers.
Her math teacher is her mom's old high school boyfriend, she can't tell the friendly girls from the mean ones, and she develops a major crush on a boy she knows she can't trust. And just when she thinks she'll never get the hang of this normal teenager thing, an attack brings the danger of her previous life right up to her midwestern porch. Who could have ever guessed getting totally shucked would bring her face-to-face with her most exciting adventure yet?
Fifteen-year-old Tabitha has had the kind of life that would impress even the greatest adventurers. She's escaped a croc attack in the Amazon, walked the length of the Great Wall of China, and earned a black belt in taekwondo in Korea. She owes her worldly experience to her mother's career in archaeology, but when her mother takes on a dangerous new assignment, Tabitha is devastated to learn she can't tag along.
Instead, she's forced to live on a midwestern farm with her grandparents where she'll have to attend a full year of public school. It's Tabitha's greatest nightmare, because despite all her adventures, she has no practical experience with the one thing that frightens her the most - other teenagers.
Her math teacher is her mom's old high school boyfriend, she can't tell the friendly girls from the mean ones, and she develops a major crush on a boy she knows she can't trust. And just when she thinks she'll never get the hang of this normal teenager thing, an attack brings the danger of her previous life right up to her midwestern porch. Who could have ever guessed getting totally shucked would bring her face-to-face with her most exciting adventure yet?
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Excerpt
I peered through the
overgrown bushes, observing the beasts in their native habitat. My heart
pounded, tapping an unfamiliar beat. I’d subdued a croc after an attack in the
Amazon, looked a lion in the eye in the African bush, and swam with sharks in
the Great Barrier Reef, but nothing compared to the fear ripping through my
chest, infecting every bit of my essence with panic.
“Tabitha,” my grandmother,
Mimi, bellowed, “get over here right now!”
I backed away from the
evergreens, swinging my backpack over one shoulder. “Coming.” My whole life I’d
been surrounded by adults or kids from cultures so far removed from
civilization that American teenagers became the epitome of uncivilized
behavior. I’d seen their TV shows on the Internet. All I could hope was that
reality TV wasn’t real.
The double doors of the
school loomed in front of me. The embedded crosshatching in the windows skewed
my vision of the masses of kids opening lockers and chatting in groups. A
select few were already swapping spit. I rolled my eyes. Suspicions confirmed.
“Do I have to go in
there?” I turned around, arms folded across my chest. Mimi stood her ground,
towering over me at nearly six feet tall, a giant to my mere five foot one inch.
I wasn’t afraid. Intimidated yes, afraid no. I’d spent years cuddled on her lap
reading stories but as I grew up, I realized that she was the powerhouse in her
marriage and nearly everywhere else. No one crossed her except for my mom. I
think that’s why Mom hadn’t come back to her hometown in the last sixteen
years.
“Of course you have to go
in. It wouldn’t do for you to be late on your first day of school.” She had
that same look on her face as when I’d first met her. Exasperated, annoyed, and
definitely not in the mood to be defied.
“But Mimi,” I started.
“No buts,” she barked. Her
bear-like hand grabbed the door handle, opened it and she pushed me in with the
other paw. “Have fun, Tabitha.”
I stumbled in as the heavy
door thudded behind me. How could she leave me here alone? Among some of the
most frightening creatures on earth – teenagers. I felt the bile rise in my
throat but I swallowed it. Just what I needed, to be the girl who barfed on
everyone the first day of school.
About the author
I've been a freelance parenting journalist since 2003 and began
writing YA novels in 2009. I co-run DarkSide Publishing, am a member of
SCBWI, and I blog about writing while juggling freelancing,
volunteering, and family life. I live in the Chicago suburbs with
my husband, two kids, and our miniature schnauzer, Ace.
Author Links:
Giveaway
(1) One winner will get one (1) eBook copy (epub or mobi) of Shucked by Megg Jensen AND three (3) bookmarks.
You must be at least 13 years old to enter this giveaway.
The giveaway is international.
Please remember to leave your email address in the form so I can contact you if you win.
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