Mike Steele will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.
NOT LUCILLE
Mike Steele
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GENRE: Middle Grade Historical
BLURB:
Ten-year-old Lucy Contento can’t help but be seen and heard. And she’s always in trouble for it. She talks too much. She’s impulsive. She writes with the wrong hand. Her parents would be mad enough knowing she routinely earns afterschool detentions. They’d be furious if they found out she’s been sneaking onto the campus of the nearby Trenton Academy for the Deaf. But there, Lucy has met Florence, a lonely and profoundly deaf girl her own age. Florence doesn’t mind Lucy’s flaws. Though Florence can’t speak, she has a unique way of communicating. If Lucy can figure out how to learn Florence’s special language, the two could be friends.
Lucy devises a plan, but it’s going to cost a whopping $7.98-more money than she’s got. She can’t tell her parents why she wants the funds without revealing she’s been visiting Florence. Besides, her parents don’t have a penny to spare. Her father has been out of work for months. And nobody else in the Contento family has an income. Or do they …? Lucy soon discovers she’s not the only member of her family hiding something. Can she get the money she needs while keeping everyone’s secrets? Or will her scheming land her in the biggest trouble of her life?
In this story of friendship and belonging, a young girl navigates prejudice, punishment, and identity while establishing her voice in a world that often tries to keep her silent.
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Excerpt One:
“Lucy! Lucy, Lucy! Oh, no, no, no!” Her best friend, Ann Salvatore, burst through the back of the crowd and barreled down the walkway toward her. Ann was normally thrilled to have a chance to wear her green party dress with puffed sleeves. This morning, however, she looked panicked, like she’d witnessed some horrible accident. “No, no, no, no, no!” Sweat pooled on her cheeks as she contorted her face in agony.
“What’s wrong?” Lucy suddenly feared the worst. “Don’t tell me the fifth graders got moved down to the fourth floor.”
“Worse than that. We’re in Miss Gillingham’s class.”
It wasn’t worse, but it wasn’t good news. Miss Gillingham had a reputation for being the strictest teacher at Robbins Elementary, the type to stand in the hall before and after class so she could yell at troublemakers who weren’t even on her roster. Miss Gillingham always taught sixth grade, though. Lucy hadn’t expected the teacher would be a concern for another year.
“She’s on the fifth-grade list,” Ann explained. “Classroom 5A. We’re both in it. She’s going to torture us.”
Lucy rolled her eyes, something she found herself doing often around her best friend. Ann seemed to feel emotions in extremes. She was either ecstatic or devastated, laughing or sobbing, rarely anything in between. Miss Gillingham may not have been Lucy’s top-choice teacher, but she couldn’t be that bad, not bad enough to torture students.
“She’s awful to the good kids,” Ann said. “Imagine what you’re in for.”
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Mike Steele is an elementary school librarian and former fourth and fifth grade classroom teacher. He has eight plays that are published and licensed for production in the school play market. Not Lucille is his debut middle-grade novel. Whether writing plays or novels, he enjoys creating characters and situations that make kids laugh. In his spare time, he likes to attend plays and musicals, create mixed-media artwork, and win prizes from claw machines. He lives at the Jersey Shore with his rescue tabby cats, Karen and Sox. If you spot him in the wild, he usually has a bubble tea in one of his hands.
Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/msteelewrites
Instagram link: https://www.instagram.com/msteelewrites/
Website link: http://www.mikesteeleonline.com
Buy Link : https://books2read.com/u/4Arye
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