about the book
Mom’s harping on me about not having initiative. Well, I’m using some now! I’m taking off for Minnesota all on my own. I got a grandmother there I’ve never met and I can learn all about my real dad. He died before I was born and mom won’t talk about him.
By the way, my name is Travis Stoiska, I’m thirteen, and I hate it here. Mom just married Dale and now we are supposed to be this big happy Californian family. She says she did it for me, marrying him. If it is for me, then why am I the one who has to give up his home, school, and friends?
I snitched one of her credit cards, so it’s a cinch to book a plane ticket on the phone. I grab my birth certificate to get past security, stuff my backpack with a few clothes, grab all the cash I’ve got stashed, and call a cab. Two thousand miles, one plane trip, two commuter trains, and a bus ride later, I’m smiling at Grams. She demands my phone, calls mom (you can hear her yelling two time zones away), and gets permission for me to stay awhile—if I’m properly punished with lots of hard work.
I just didn’t expect the middle-of-nowhere corn fields, the cows…or the hard work. First full day, Grandma sends me down into the creepy basement to clean out a wheezing freezer. Just as I fall in trying to pry a container from the bottom of the freezer which seems to contain a head, in walks two kids my age, Kenny and Isabella. He’s a freaking smiling giant and she’s unbelievably hot!
This is where things get interesting. This summer, Kenny and Iz are determined to find the lost loot from a bank robbery nearly fourteen years ago. Seems the heist was perpetrated by my dear old dad. He supposedly hid the money right before he drowned. We’re going to find it and get the reward. Easy Peasey!
Just a couple of snags: Someone else is looking for the loot, and he is ruthless; Grams may be in on the cover-up; and now that some the stolen marked bills are circulating, the sheriff thinks I’m involved somehow! Guess he thinks that larceny runs in the family.
about the author
Born in Texas and nicknamed “The Waco Kid”, Lisa Bullard grew up in a number of small towns in Minnesota. Writers were her heroes, but she didn’t think she ever had a chance of becoming an author herself. Instead Lisa planned on becoming a spy, a detective, and a mad scientist. She kept on writing just for the fun of it, and piles of stories, poems, and comic strips filled her bedroom. She and her friends acted out her adventures in the backyard and the basement.
Her first published piece was a letter to the Bemidji newspaper about the plight of baby harp seals. She was just in fifth grade, and once she saw her name in print, she began practicing her autograph. Now she could see the road to becoming a book author herself!
All grown up, she went for work for a Twin Cities publisher. Sixteen years in the industry taught her a lot, especially about writing. Her first picture book was published in 1999, and she also wrote nonfiction books about all sorts of subjects. Two books, one for adults and one for younger readers, were about how to write effectively.
In the process of becoming an author, she also found that she became a teacher, a mentor, an editor, a book marketing consultant, and a speaker. Now also writing fiction for middle grade readers, she can let her imagination fly and get to be a spy, a detective, a mad scientist, or anything else she wants.
Lisa and her family reside in a cozy urban neighborhood five minutes from downtown Minneapolis. They spend their summers at Green Lake near the tiny town of Spicer, Minnesota. Mitzi, her tubby tailless cat, loves to sit on her keyboard when Lisa is trying to write!
Sources :
Author website
Author interview: Sleuth, Spies, and Alibis
Book discussion: Turn Left at the Cow
Book trailer: Turn Left at the Cow
read more!
A Long Pitch Home by Natalie Dias Lorenzi
Bilal preferred life in Pakistan where he was the star of his cricket team and his family was together. Now he’s living in America with his aunt and uncle while his father remains in Pakistan. Hoping to fit in, Bilal joins the baseball team where he is determined to stand out as a pitcher—perhaps then his father would come to America to watch him play.
Promise by Judy Young
Kaden lives near the town of Promise with his grandma and Kubla, his pet crow and only friend. Starting middle school means Kaden’s life will get a lot more complicated—but nothing in school could prepare him for the return of his long-incarcerated dad, whom he never knew. Kaden wonders if they will like each other. When the offer of a new friendship opens up a brand-new world, Kaden isn’t sure he wants to enter.
The Wolf Keepers by Elise Broach
Lizzie lives at wildlife park where her father is the head zookeeper, where she loves to observe the park’s seven new wolves. One day she stumbles across Tyler, a foster care runaway, who has been hiding out in the park. He tells her about seeing a mysterious person in the Wolf Woods exhibit during the night. When some of the wolves sicken, they two strike off looking for clues to the wolves’ mysterious illness—and end up lost in the Yosemite wilderness!