Review: The Girl From Felony Bay by J.E. Thompson

You can check out my fun interview with author J.E. Thompson here

The Girl From Felony Bay

by J.E. Thompson

4/30/13

Walden Pond Press

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The last year has been rougher than sandpaper for Abbey Force and her dad. He's in a coma after his accident a year back, wherein he was framed for a terrible crime he didn't commit. And their home, Reward Plantation, an idyllic spot on the eastern coast of South Carolina, had to be sold to pay off his debt to society. Abbey is stuck living with her uncle Charlie, who, even in the few hours a day when he's sober, ain't exactly your ideal parental role model.
But it turns out the new family that moved into Abbey's old house has a daughter named Bee. And she's just as curious about all the No Trespassing signs and holes being dug out by Felony Bay, in the corner of what used to be Abbey's home. It appears someone's been poking around a mystery that dates all the way back to the Civil War--and it just might be the same someone who framed Abbey's dad.
Fresh, funny, and heartwarming, Girl from Felony Bay is the perfect book for fans of Rebecca Stead's Liar & Spy and Sheila Turnage's Three Times Lucky.

J.E. Thompson's The Girl From Felony Bay is a wonderful middle-grade debut that is chock full of mystery, adventure, and southern charm.

The Girl From Felony Bay tells the story of one summer that changes the lives of two twelve year old girls forever. Abbey Force has had a lousy year: her father is in a coma and has been accused of a terrible crime, Abbey has had to move in with her mean aunt and uncle, leaving her beloved school behind, and the Force family home has had to be sold. Bee Force (no real relation) has just moved into Abbey's hold home, and carries both physical and emotional scars. The two girls become fast friends, and when Felony Bay, a secluded area of land on the Force property, is suddenly closed off and mysterious digging takes place on the land, Abbey and Bee set out to solve the mystery, but find themselves face to face with criminals, betrayal, and a hungry alligator!

Thompson has crafted a well-written middle-grade contemporary full of a lot of fun, wit, and heart. The Girl From Felony Bay offers up two delightful young heroines, a rich and charming setting, and a heart-felt story about family, friendship, and love.

I really enjoyed embarking on this fast-paced and exciting mystery-adventure with Abbey and Bee! Thompson writes with that captivating sparkle and shine, that is equal parts clever, funny, and relatable, and is so important in middle-grade fiction. Young readers will easily be swept into the thrilling adventure-mystery that Abbey and Bee stumble upon, and like the two heroines, readers will love feeling like detectives, searching for and solving clues. The mystery storyline is unpredictable enough to keep readers enthralled, but simple enough for even younger readers to follow. But the story isn't all adventure and mystery solving...Thompson explores some very relatable and poignant issues (such as grief, racism, and abuse) as well, and does so in age-appropriate ways.

The Girl From Felony Bay is set in a semi-fictional part of a very real Charleston, SC. This is a city that I know very well and love, and Thompson has done it absolute justice! Richly and vividly detailed, this southern city comes alive within the pages, and is dripping with charm and quaintness that the author captures so well. Charleston feels like another integral and fully realized character that readers will be eager to meet (if you've never visited this city, you really should. It's an awesome place!).

The two unrelated Force girls make for two very different, but equally lovable, heroines. I love Abbey's determination and intelligence, and Bee's fearlessness and loyalty. These are two heroines that readers will want to root for and be best friends with. And the friendship and genuine sisterly love that blossoms between them is so beautiful and heartwarming.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: The Girl From Felony Bay was a complete joy to read! I adored the two young heroines, was enthralled and entertained by the mystery-adventure story, and dazzled by the well-developed setting. 

MY RATING

J.E Thompson

Website / Goodreads

John Thompson spent twenty-five years as an investment banker before becoming a full time writer of adult thrillers and middle grade fiction. His adult novels have won significant critical acclaim (Finalist for Best Fiction by the Southern Independent Booksellers and Independent Publishers Gold Medal for Best Thriller of the Year). They include: The Brent Lucas Series (Armageddon Conspiracy, The Hong Kong Deception, The Baghdad Vendetta (coming September 15, 2012) and Salem VI: Rebecca’s Rising co-authored with Jack Heath.Written under the name JE Thompson, his first middle grade novel, The Girl From Felony Bay, will be released in April 2013 by HarperCollins/Walden Pond Press.When he is not writing he enjoys the outdoors in all forms: fly fishing, biking, bird hunting, golf and tennis. He lives with his wife and daughter as well as his Boykin Spaniel (Lulu) and his Jack Russell (Mr. Bean) and spends his time between homes in Charleston, SC and Hawley, PA.In Charleston he is something of a self-professed do-gooder and has served on a number of boards focusing on education, health care and the environment.

Teaser Tuesdays (63): Two Boys Kissing

Teaser Tuesdays...is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

***********************************************************************

MY TEASER

This is more of a teaser passage than a teaser sentence, but I thought this passage was really beautiful...

"Nobody is watching as Peter and Neil kiss. It is just a quick kiss as they leave the IHOP; before they head home. It is a syrupy kiss, a buttery kiss. It is a kiss with nothing to prove. They don't worry about who might see, who might pass by. They're not thinking about anyone but themselves, and even that feels like an afterthought. It is just a part of who they are together, something that they do." (ARC, pg 62-3)

Two Boys Kissing

by David Levithan

Random House

8/27/13

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New York Times  bestselling author David Levithan tells the based-on-true-events story of Harry and Craig, two 17-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record—all of which is narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS. 

While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teen boys dealing with languishing long-term relationships, coming out, navigating gender identity, and falling deeper into the digital rabbit hole of gay hookup sites—all while the kissing former couple tries to figure out their own feelings for each other. 

This follow-up to the bestselling Every Day showcases David's trademark sharp-witted, warm-hearted tales of teenage love, and serves as a perfect thematic bookend to David's YA debut and breakthrough, Boy Meets Boy, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2013.

My Life as a Cartoonist Blog Tour: Guest Post and Giveaway

I'm so excited to have the My Life as a Cartoonist Blog Tour stopping by today! My Life as a Cartoonist is book three in the series by Janet Tashjian and illustrated by her son Jake. Janet is here today for a guest post, plus you can win all three books in the series...

4/30/13

Macmillan

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There’s a new kid in Derek Fallon’s class. His name is Umberto and he uses a wheelchair. Derek’s family is still fostering Frank the monkey, and Derek thinks it would be great to train Frank to assist Umberto. But Derek quickly realizes that Umberto is definitely not looking for any help. Derek soon becomes the butt of Umberto’s jokes. On top of that, Umberto starts stealing Derek’s cartoon ideas and claiming them as his own. How did Derek get himself into this mess, and how can he find a way out before he is the laughingstock of school? The answer may very well be his cartoon strip—SUPER FRANK!

WATCH THE BOOK TRAILER

Book One and Two

(click cover to learn more)

 

HANDWRITING

by Janet Tashjian

When I went out with some MG and YA writers recently, several of the other (younger) authors were SHOCKED when they found out I write most of my books by hand, as if writing with pen and paper was not even physically possible in these days of wall-to-wall technology. Don’t get me wrong – I love a shiny MacBook as much as the next person - but when it comes to getting ideas down, pen and paper is still my go-to method of self-expression.

And not just ANY pen and paper. A Uniball Impact 207 and the linen-covered lined journals they used to sell at Borders. (Moment of silence, please.) When Borders announced they were closing, my first thought was how sad, because they’d always been so supportive of my career. But my next thought was – how am I going to write my books without THEIR books? I called people around the country to visit their local Borders and buy out these specific journals. Friends chided me for being superstitious – can’t I write in ANY blank journal? I wasn’t sure I could.

On our way to the Martha’s Vineyard ferry – where a key scene in MY LIFE AS A BOOK takes place – we stopped at the Kingston, MA Borders as a last-ditch effort. My good friend Marianne had already bought out the five journals they had left, but as if they were expecting me early that morning, a young man began putting out a new, gleaming stack of journals – just waiting to be filled. My son and I filled our baskets with every last journal and sketchpad we could carry. The woman behind me in line said I probably wouldn’t be saving any money by the time I shipped all of those books back to California. I told her I wasn’t worried about saving money, but saving my career.

Because I know first hand (no pun intended) how important the connection is between hand, brain, and heart, I ask children visiting my website to write letters instead of emails when they want to talk about my books. And when I do writing workshops in schools, I always ask that students write by hand.

I’m not the only one who thinks writing in longhand is important. TheRumpus.net is a website that asks authors to hand-write letters to young readers. (I recently wrote one, accompanied by some of Jake’s illustrations from MY LIFE AS A CARTOONIST.) And a recent study by Virginia Berninger - a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington - showed that students in grades two, four, and six all wrote faster, longer, and expressed more ideas when they wrote by hand versus keyboard. Jeanette Farmer - an educator with thirty years experience – ties the drop in cursive handwriting to the rise in students being diagnosed with A.D.D., citing the importance of fine motor skills like handwriting helping to develop crucial areas of the brain. There’s lots of this type of research but that’s not why I write my books by hand or ask students to write to me that way. Sure, it might be a bit old-fashioned but it’s more about taking the time to establish a physical connection with my readers. A line of ink connecting my brain/heart/hand to theirs – there’s just something simple and lovely about it.

Now about that messy handwriting…

Janet Tashjian

Site / Goodreads / Twitter 

Janet Tashjian is the author of many popular novels including My Life as a Stuntboy and My Life as a Book, both illustrated by her son, Jake Tashjian; as well as The Gospel According to Larry and For What It’s Worth. She lives with her family in Los Angeles, California.

Win a copy of all three books in the My Life As A... series!

Thanks to the awesome people at Macmillan, I have a copy of My Life As A Book, My Life As A Stuntboy, and My Life As A Cartoonist to give away to one winner.

DETAILS

-open US/CAN only

-will end 4/28

-one winner will win all three books

-must be 13+, one main/free entry per person

-winner will be emailed and must claim prize within 48 hours

-Word Spelunking is NOT responsible for lost, damaged, or stolen prizes

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