about the book
In 1905 six-year-old Audacity Jones was left at Miss Maisie’s Indiana Home for Wayward Girls. Her parents had died on an ill-fated trip to the Dutch East Indies and her guardian uncle couldn’t be bothered with her care. Five years have passed, and she is still the only orphan among the sixteen girls at the facility.
Life as a wayward girl isn’t so bad. She has her friends Bimmy and the identical triplets Lavender, Lilac, and Violet as well as the companionship of Miniver, a chocolate-stripped cat. She does get sent to the Punishment Room often for her shenanigans but she does it on purpose. The room is actually the library—and Audacity loves to read! Still, she desperately craves adventure; anything to break up the monotony!
On Christmas Eve, wealthy Southerner Commodore Crutchfield arrives searching for an orphan volunteer for a very secret mission! When Audacity’s ears start tingling, a sure sign that something is amiss, she steps forward. After all, she is the only orphan. Just before the Commodore whisks her off, clever Miniver slips into the vehicle!
Audacity has no idea where they are going or what they are going to do. Clues along the way lead her to believe that the Commodore isn’t all he’s cracked up to be. When the absent-minded man leaves her stranded, a newspaper boy named Juice comes to her rescue. After returning her to the Commodore, Juice and his grandfather continue to keep an eye on her.
Though she knows something is fishy, Audacity goes along when the Commodore sets her up in the White House kitchens as assistant to mean Elva Finch the cook. She is thrilled to meet President Taft, his son Charlie, and his niece Dorothy. But before long she discovers a sinister plot; the Commodore and Miss Finch are planning a kidnapping!
Relying on the remarkable Miniver and spunky Juice, can Audacity stop the bumbling duo dead in their tracks? You’ll have to read the book to find out!
about the author
The bossy, oldest child of four, Kirby Larson was raised in the state of Washington. She went to five elementary schools, two junior high schools, and two high schools. Since she was always the “new kid,” books were her salvation. Teachers complained that she read all the time, but that reading eventually led to her writing career!
As a senior in high school, she argued with a guy named Neil in the library—and four years later she married him! About the same time she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Western Washington State College and then went on to earn a master’s in communication education from the University of Washington.
Kirby won a Newbery Honor Award for her book Hattie Big Sky and the Scott O’Dell Historical Fiction Prize for Dash. In 2009, after co-writing two nonfiction books about dogs with her friend Mary, Kirby decided she wanted a dog of her own. She and husband Neil bought a tri-colored Cavalier King Spaniel and named him Winston the Wonder dog. He’s spoiled rotten and herds Kirby into her office every morning. If she isn’t at work writing by 8:30, he panics!
Kirby says she had so much fun writing Audacity Jones to the Rescue, it should have been against the law! The character Audie just popped into her head one day, and Kirby had to immediately set aside what she was working on to write out a character sketch. Years later, when she learned that President Taft’s niece had been nearly kidnapped in 1910, fireworks ignited in her writer’s brain. She had the perfect rescuer, Audacity Jones! She also got to include a very clever cat, making the story one of her liveliest writing experiences ever.
Kirby and Neil, who have a grown son and daughter, make their home in Kenmore, Washington, but prefer to spend as much time as they can at a seaside cabin on the Canadian border. You might think it is odd, but for a treat Kirby prefers plain rice to chocolate!
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Fresh Fiction
Author interview: ALSC Blog
Author interview: Deb Watley
Author interview: Janet Fox
True Friends book discussion: Kirby Larson
Book trailer: Audacity Jones to the Rescue
Also by Kirby Larson:
Audacity Jones Steals the Show (Audacity Jones, Book 2). Scholastic. 2017.
Liberty (Dogs of World War II). Scholastic. 2016.
Lucky Dog : Twelve Tales of Rescued Dogs. Scholastic. 2014.
Duke (Dogs of World War II). Scholastic. 2013.
The Friendship Doll. Delacorte. 2011.
Fences Between Us : The Diary of Piper Davis (Dear America). Scholastic. 2001.
read more!
Audacity Jones Steals the Show (Audacity Jones, Book 2) by Kirby Larson
Audacity and her friend Bimmy set off for the glittering city of New York, where the girls meet Harry Houdini, the world’s most famous magician. He is preparing a new spectacle, making an elephant disappear from a crowded theater. Soon the girls uncover a plot that will put Houdini’s illusion in jeopardy. Audie will need all her smarts, the help of her friends, and her best juggling skills to solve the mystery and save the show!
Gingersnap by Patricia Reilly Giff
In 1944 Rob, Jayna’s big brother and only family, is called to serve on a Navy destroyer. Shortly after, Jayna gets the news that Rob is missing in action. Jayna turns to all she has left—the hope that maybe she has a grandma in Brooklyn. Together with her turtle and a recipe book supposedly from her grandma’s bakery, Jayna sets out to find her family.
The Girl in the Torch by Robert Sharenow
After her Jewish father is killed, Sarah and her mother flee to America. When her mother dies before they get through Ellis Island, the authorities decide to send Sarah back to Russia, but she finds the courage to jump overboard and swim to Liberty Island. There she hides in Lady Liberty’s torch, until a night watchman desperately needs help. Will she be discovered and sent back, or find the freedom and new life her mother wanted for her?