I have peaked in this book and it is an amazing story with a strong young lady!
I am so happy to be able to share this book with you and also being able to give one away.
Mustaches for Maddie
by Chad Morris, Shelly Brown
Paperback, 256 pages
Expected publication: October 3rd 2017 by Shadow Mountain
Maddie is a normal twelve-year-old girl. Well, except for the fake mustaches she carries in her pocket. She likes to make people laugh and slapping on a mustache, especially a fuzzy pink or neon green one, always gets a smile. Maddie hopes that the class queen, Cassie, will find her mustaches as funny as she does and want to play with her at recess. She’s been self-conscious lately because her right arm only feels normal when it’s curled against her chest and she’s constantly tripping over her feet. But that’s probably just part of growing up and not something weird, right?
When Maddie’s arm continues to bother her, her parents take her to a doctor who gives them a shocking diagnosis: the cause of the abnormal behavior of her limbs is a brain tumor and she must have surgery to remove it. She’s understandably afraid as he describes the procedure, but knows she must find a way to be brave and must face her fears–all of them–at the hospital, at home and at school.
She will need all of her courage not only to face her illness, but also to face Cassie at school. Both Cassie and Maddie are auditioning for the same role in the school play, but when Cassie accuses Maddie of lying about her tumor in order to get attention, Cassie’s bossiness turns into bullying.
And as Maddie’s surgery approaches, she begins to worry more and more about the outcome. What if something goes wrong? What if the doctors don’t get all the tumor out of her brain? What will happen to her family? What will happen to her?
It will take all of Maddie’s vibrant imagination, a lot of kindness-both given and received-and of course, the perfect mustache to overcome the tough stuff ahead of her.
Sneak Peak….
Fact: mustaches are hilarious. Which is why I collect them. Everything is funnier with a mustache.
At least that’s what I hoped. I had a plan, but it was risky. I overheard Cassie telling Sailor that they were going to talk about the school play at recess. I needed to be in on that conversation. After all, it might start off my amazing career as a comic. Or an actress. Or a comedic actress.
Deep breath.
They might think I was a complete weirdo. Or they might think I was hilarious and let me in on all their plans.
I reached into my pocket and looked down at my choices.
The green one? Brown?
Nuh-uh.
Pink? Yeah. Pink, for sure.
Before I could change my mind, I peeled off the thin sheet of paper on the back and slapped the pink strip onto my upper lip.
Sailor happened to glance over at me through her red curls as we walked down the school hallway toward the big doors. Maybe my movement caught her attention. She did a double take. This was it. I wiggled my eyebrows for effect, but on the inside I was holding my breath.
Please laugh. Please laugh.
Sailor’s eyes widened and then a giggle escaped. The giggle grew into a full-on laugh, which made her curly hair bounce. I broke out into a celebration dance that started out as a little shaky-shaky of happiness and ended in me doing the worm down the hall.
Okay. I didn’t actually dance. Part of me wanted to, but the rest of me couldn’t quite do it in the hall with everyone watching. Maybe if it was just Sailor, but she wasn’t the one I was worried about.
Plus, the worm is really hard.
Hannah looked back too. She didn’t laugh enough to show her braces, but her cheeks bobbed. Then Sailor almost snorted. If she had, maybe I really would have danced.
“Oh, hilarious,” Yasmin said, quickly reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone. Was she going to take my picture? No one had ever taken a picture of me at school before. Well, not counting class pictures. I smiled and gave Yasmin a thumbs-up while she clicked the pic. I hoped it looked cute. But she probably didn’t have any other photos of a short, twelve-year-old girl with sandy-blonde hair wearing the most beautiful pink mustache a quarter could buy.
I also had a thick green mustache and a curly brown one, but they were still in my pocket. Like I said, everything is funnier with a mustache. For example, think of a pig. They’re cute and funny with their piggy snouts and curly pink tails. Now imagine one with a mustache. Yep. Funnier. Or think of a woman in a fancy dress singing opera. Now imagine a mustached woman in a fancy dress singing opera. Think of your baby brother . . . with a mustache.
I almost snorted just thinking about it. But laughing at my own jokes wasn’t the best idea, especially jokes I didn’t say out loud.
This sounds like a lot of fun Michelle.
Sounds like a good MG read. 🙂
It really does sound cute! I almost kept it but I thought it would be more fun to give away.