Written by the teacher; edited by her students, Abby, is the Hallmark greeting card of young adult fiction. Have you ever been the "new kid"? Five times in seven years? Relating to her diary as her only friend, Abigail Van Buren Masterson finally gets the opportunity to be part of a stable life, complete with grandparents and a neighborhood who knows her. Even if this unexpected gift includes being the target of the school bully, Head Cheerleader Sheila, and surrounded by community members with unpronounceable surnames, Abigail can finally experience a "normal" life. Or at least as normal as life gets when adjusting to her mother's diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. As a veteran eighth-grade language arts teacher and book junky, as well as a newly diagnosed MS patient, the creation of Abby served me not only as a writing dream-come-true but allowed a teachable moment with the inclusion of my students as editors and advisors in the process. I believe that junior high school is the most pivotal period in our lives; that decades or centuries do not change the largess of adolescent drama. All children long for innocence, even while fighting to be recognized as adults. A 2012 Reader's Favorite Finalist and 2013 Reader's Favorite Honor book in YA fiction, Abby is a coming of age tale that touches on the insecurities of adolescence and the emergence of adulthood.
