A ten year old goes up against bumbling horse thieves in this award-winning, comic-adventure novel for kids ages 9-12. A great readaloud for the whole family...
Misfit McCabe Runner up in The Pearson Prize Teen Choice Award Contest
The 2009 Pearson Prize Teen Choice Award winners have been announced and Misfit McCabe by LK Gardner-Griffie grabbed runner-up honors. To read more click here.
Misfit McCabe is now available in 9 e-book formats, including Stanza for iPhone, just in time for read an e-book week.
Winner of the Flamingnet Top Choice Award
As summer was coming to an end, accidentally burning down a shed became the least of fourteen-year-old Katie McCabe’s problems. Having lost her mother when she was just a baby, Katie was shattered to learn that her father was seriously ill. Hustled off to live with Uncle Charley while her father was hospitalized, Katie struggles with accepting her new family. On her first day in town, she meets Harvey Jr. and they quickly become adversaries. As the warfare between Katie and Harvey escalates, involving trips to the vice principal’s office, cheating, lies, and vandalism, she battles homesickness and fear that her life could be changing forever.
The second edition has been released under Shanlian WordLit Press. The new cover is pictured above.
Preview Misfit McCabe by clicking the Read Now button below.
Excerpt From the first chapter The Burning Shed
“You know I’ll swear it was all my idea.”
“But, Katie, it was all your idea.” Tim reached behind his back and pulled out a
flask. “Except for this.”
“Are you getting sly on me, Timmy Lawrence?” He never tried anything without
checking it out with me first. “What’s in it?” Other than something to get us
both into trouble.
***************
To read what happens next, click the Read Now button above or the Download Free Preview link up above.
Flamingnet.com Student Review
When trouble maker Katie McCabe gets caught committing arson, her beloved father, the local sheriff, whisks her off to her Uncle Charlie's. Sarah, Katie's cousin, intends to set Katie straight. On Katie McCabe's second day at the farm, she meets Harvey Junior, her soon-to-be archenemy. Despite Katie's efforts to get along, she ends up hitting Harvey! But later on, she stars to make friends like Tom Pike -- the number one football player at school - - and his buddies. Katie doesn't realize that life at Uncle Charlie's isn't going to be simple...her new life contains rattlesnakes, nasty revenge, more archenemies, tears, and mud - lots and lots of mud!
I loved Misfit McCabe! The descriptions were amazing; I was glued to Misfit McCabe like a fly stuck to fly tape. I completely underestimated this book, I figured it would be boring, but it turned out to be very, very exciting book. NOTE: DON'T underestimate the book's cover. Misfit McCabe is a difficult book to read, so I don't think it should be for 9-12 year olds, it should be labeled for young adults. This is a great book; Gardner-Griffie has outdone herself.
There are a few situations with underage drinking and smoking: also some frightening situations, and language.
The LL Book Review - Shannon Yarbrough
Well, in Review 30, I asked what happened to good ole books like the ones Judy Blume wrote, and with Misfit McCabe, I got my answer!
LK Gardner-Griffie is a clever author who has truly embraced the “tween” readers of today with a rambunctious young lady they will certainly relate to. Katie McCabe, the main character, is a rebellious fourteen year old tom girl looking for trouble. And most of the time, she gets exactly what she’s looking for!
Timmy Lawrence (I can just hear that name being yelled out the back door by an angry mother!) is Katie’s best friend and partner in crime! Right from page one, the author shows you these two are up to no good. They are in a neighbor’s shed with a flask of rum to spike their Cokes…and they toast to their adventures in smoking as they light up cigarettes! Like any child, they become entranced by the flame when they start playing with the matches and end up catching the hay in the shed on fire.
Playing with fire, drinking stolen booz, trying cigarettes for the first time…the friendship between Timmy and Katie definitely brought back memories. I can recall the next door neighbor’s grand daughter who only visited during the summer. I was always anxious for her arrival, and even more anxious for her departure by the end of the season. She was pure evil!
When she wasn’t persuading me to steal eggs or kitchen matches to make magic potions, she was pulling me around the yard in a cardboard box and busting my head on the rocks when the box split open. I seem to recall a collection of Garbage Pail Kid trading cards that also went missing from my room one year shortly after she visited!
More importantly, Katie does not lie about her involvement in the shed burning when her father questions her. Very smart! After all, her father is the town sheriff. He sends Katie to live with his brother, her Uncle Charley who also happens to be very strict. With a house full of cousins, the trouble has just begun. But when Katie starts up a friendship with her older cousin, Sarah, who helps Katie through those “changes of life,” Katie really begins to mature and change. But this certainly doesn’t happen in a day.
In the meantime there are new friends to make and new enemies. A battle of wits pursues between Katie and and a nasty little snot named Harvey Denton Jr. He’s the local banker’s son and enjoys letting everyone know it. He also enjoys seeking revenge against Katie. Cheating, lying, stealing…the list goes on and on of obstacles Katie must continue to face, even though she is trying her best to be the better person.
LK GG moves her story along with well versed dialogue and has penned an array of characters who are each interesting and unique in their own way. Her descriptions of the predicaments Katie faces practically on every page are complex (and often seem unfair) to a 14 year old, but provide enough excitement and detail to keep a reader of any age interested.
Despite Katie being a few years younger than my own niece, I plan to purchase a copy of this book for her as she turns 17 this year. There are situations and outcomes here that any teen could (and will) face, and Misfit McCabe is a character who high school readers will relate to and learn from. This book would make an excellent gift for those just about to enter high school and begin that often troublesome phase of life.
Kudos to LK for embracing this age group. Katie McCabe is a character who I hope to visit with again soon!
Full of Action
A story brimming with all the right ingredients for that 'awkward' age: growing up, relationships, finding a place in the world...
Packed with action from the start, this well written tale will have readers wanting to turn the pages.
I particularly liked the underlying humour, although mixed with a seriousness that borders the disturbing events, it shines enough to give us a glimpse of the true identity of the heroine...one to like and champion.
Certainly one for those 'in-between'.
Julie Elizabeth Powell, author of Gone, The Star Realm, Knowing Jack and Slings & Arrows
This work explores how relationships of blood, marriage, sex, and residence work in each type of Cuban family, particularly as it is affected by Cuba’s struggle to transf..
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