The Journal in the Jug by K.G. McAbee
Cover Designer: Charlotte Volnek
Middle Grade Fantasy
‘When the paintings seem to glimmer, then the portals start to shimmer…’
Twelve-year-old Noah Macgregor can’t get that ridiculous line of poetry from an old journal out of his head. And he certainly didn’t plan to get his older sister Holly, their dog Gilbert and himself trapped.
It was an accident. He and Holly were just following Gilbert through the dark hallways of the old house that had belonged to a pirate two hundred years before. They find Gilbert just in time to see him run full speed into…and it looks like, through…a painting. Naturally, they follow their dog; wouldn’t you? And Noah has at least a vague idea of what might be on the other side, thanks to stuff he’d read in that same old journal he’d found inside a jug.
But on the other side of the painting, he and his sister find themselves in a strange sort of colonial South Carolina, where animals do some pretty surprising things and men made of brass and bronze walk and talk. And it gets worse. Captain Ambrose Craven is alive and even badder than expected.
And worst of all: they’re not exactly sure how to get back home…
Wakefield by Erin Callahan and Troy H. Gardner
Cover Designer: Charlotte Volnek
Young Adult
Orphans Astrid Chalke and Max Fisher meet when they’re sent to live at Wakefield, a residential and educational facility for teens with psychiatric and behavioral problems. Astrid’s roommate cuts herself with anything sharp she can get her hands on and Max’s roommate threatens him upon introduction. Just as Astrid and Max develop a strong bond and begin to adjust to the constant chaos surrounding them, a charming and mysterious resident of Wakefield named Teddy claims he has unexplainable abilities. Sometimes he can move things without touching them. Sometimes he can see people’s voices emanating from their mouths. Teddy also thinks that some of the Wakefield staff are on to him. At first, Astrid and Max think Teddy is paranoid, but Max’s strange, recurring dreams and a series of unsettling events force them to reconsider Teddy’s claims. Are they a product of his supposedly disturbed mind or is the truth stranger than insanity?
A couple of real imagination stretchers, Cheryl. Kudos to the authors. Love your new look!
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