Hester Greene loves making movies. With her camera in hand, she can focus, make decisions, and have the control she lacks in life, where her executive function disorder (think extreme ADHD plus anxiety) sabotages her every move.
But middle school is not a movie, and if her last-ditch attempt to save her language-arts grade--and her chance to pass eighth grade, period--doesn't work, Hess could lose her friends, her year, even her camera. It will take more than a cool training montage to get her life together, but by thinking outside the frame, she just might craft a whole new ending.
Written partially in script form, with STOP/PAUSE/PLAY/REWIND moments throughout, this laugh-out-loud story will speak to any budding filmmaker, or unintentional troublemaker, in every act of their lives.
Erin Dionne
Erin Dionne is the author of six other books for kids, including
Lights, Camera, Disaster,
The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet, and
Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking. Erin loves action movies, especially
Star Wars and
The Avengers. Wonder Woman is her favorite superhero. She lives outside of Boston with her husband, two kids, and a very disgruntled dog. Visit her online at erindionne.com.
---
- ! "RIGHT NOW
I might puke.
The panic-ants swarm around my body, and
I can barely stay in my seat. There's no way I am going to live through this.
I
scoot out of my row and stand by the emergency exit door. A light breeze blows in
around the frame. I breathe. Keep breathing.
Maybe it'll be okay.
And
then, the projector comes to life and the soft guitar builds through the speakers,
and the title slides in from the top of the screen:
THIS IS WHO WE ARE
It's
my movie. On a big screen.
I might puke, after all.
PAUSE
You
want to know how I got here?
Well, it's kind of a long story. Let's--
REWIND
\t-\tHanding
Miss Vogel the memory stick
\t-\tMom and Dad in the office
\t- \tHiding in
the closet, crying
\t-\tMs. Walker frowning, handing me the test
\t-\tMy blue
elbow
\t-\tWatching JAWS
\t-\tReading the MK Nightshade website
\t-\tStressing
about--
STOP
PLAY
FOUR WEEKS AGO"
