SOMETHING MAYBE MAGNIFICENT

Judy Blume meets Barbara Dee in this tender and empowering middle grade novel told in journal entries and poetry about a young writer on the verge of becoming a woman whose summer with her estranged father doesn't turn out the way she'd hoped.

Thirteen-year-old aspiring writer Victoria Reeves remains dedicated to writing in her diary as her reading tastes evolve from Virginia Woolf to Sylvia Plath. She's growing upgetting the hang of her monthly "visitor," coming to terms with her relationship with her estranged father, and grappling with her ever-evolving views of womanhood. But the summer brings unexpected bumps along the way when Victoria develops complicated feelings about the cute boy next door and decidedly uncomplicated ones about her mom's new boyfriend. To protect her momand the family dynamic she's used tofrom this unwanted interloper, Victoria will do what it takes to send him packing. But when she goes too far, Victoria realizes all she's done is ruin a good thing for her mom. Is it too late to set things right? Combining the humor, irreverence, and adolescent female woes of ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET with the emotional punch of family conflict in C.C. Payne's THE THING ABOUT LEFTOVERS and Kate DiCamillo's BEVERLY, RIGHT HERE, THE FIRST MAGNIFICENT SUMMER is a stirring examination of a father-daughter relationship in the aftermath of a divorce.