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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

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My tease is from

Come Along With Me

A Gracie Book: Volume #1

by Linda Lee Schell

Here is my tease from page 16 of the paperback.

“My name is Gracie. I’m from a different place in a different space.”

and from page 41

…Gracie wondered aloud, “Do you think our little girl will blow our cover?” “No, Gibson replied. “But she’s got something up her sleeve. I just don’t know what.”

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I hope you don’t mind if I share my review.

Gracie is a wee kangaroo from the thirty-sixth universe. And she’s so excited. She’s finally going to visit St. Petersburg, Russia.

When something goes wrong, she winds up on a farm in St. Clair, Pennsylvania. Not quite what she planned.

Once you meet Gracie, you’ll see why her travel plans went haywire. She’s a precocious little roo, plus she’s clumsy and absent minded.

She’s also very brave and arrives in time to save a rather bedraggled city cat from the ferocious farm dogs.

From then on, Gracie and the cat, Gibson, are in cahoots. Each trying to help the other. Gracie wants to go home. Gibson is trying to make the best of it and make the farm his new home.

This was very wordy in the beginning. The prose felt strange yet familiar. Then I got it. It felt like in Willa Wonka or Alice in Wonderland. Otherworldly and zany. I began to suspect much of this was coming from Gracie, the kangaroo from somewhere else. She is a bit rattle-brained and silly.

The last third of the book flowed more easily. And the plot came forward. There’s several other animals that help or hinder the two pals, and one little girl who teaches Gibson how to earn his keep.

I’d say because of the sometimes peculiar use of words, this would be better suited to the upper range of young children. But, I may be wrong. Kids now a days learn to read before starting school, so they may follow the context better than I give them credit for. But there is a rather dark scene on the farm, something that even shocked me. This book is suggested for kids 8 to 12 and I’d recommend it to those closer to 12.

As I read this adventure I was sure it would be a 3 star rating. But that last third of the book sucked me in and by the time I reached the end, I wanted more.  I felt that connection to the characters and wanted to know what kind of pickle they would land in next. I don’t give half star ratings and that’s why it went up to 4 stars.

4 Stars

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Synopsis

Come Along With Me will transport eight-to twelve-year old children, their parents, and their grandparents to another world when they read Come Along With Me, an adventure about friendship and caring, the unfortunate consequences of jealousy, and the power of hope.

Meet Gracie, a ditzy dwarf kangaroo from the Thirty-sixth Universe–a creature who lives in a perfect realm. Because she is bored, Gracie longs for an adventure to St. Petersburg, Russia, a place she imagines is filled with beauty and enchantment. Much to the tiny ‘roo’s surprise, her ability to transport herself to the land of the czars has failed. She ends up at a dairy farm in St. Clair, Pennsylvania, where she saves the life of Gibson, an abandoned Maine coon cat.

The unlikely pair become fast friends. While Gracie tries to find her way back home, Gibson carves a life for himself on a farm with his newly adopted mistress, the farmer’s young daughter. There’s one hitch: The overworked farmer demands that Gibson earn his keep. Gibson’s task is thwarted somewhat when he experiences strange visions. But are these visions the result of a thrashing he received from the farmer’s two dogs? Or, maybe Gibson sees parallel universes?

As outsiders the little kangaroo and the cat from the city negotiate the perils of farm life. They meet two malicious rats who hate anyone who is happy. The two devoted friends must contend with stampeding cows and a barnyard of critters that have little use for newcomers.

Will Gibson keep his sanity and become the little girl’s pet? Will Gracie ever see the splendor of the Russian Versailles? Will the farmer survive the evil machinations of the rats, Bratwold and Eastman? Drift back to the days of Barbie dolls, hula hoops, and Sputnik to find out.

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About the author

Linda’s favorite genre is fantasy/adventure, and her goal is to expand the imaginations of children while simultaneously exposing them to a variety of cultures and histories.

Combining childhood innocence with historical verisimilitude and a dash of magical fantasy–that was Linda’s impulse behind writing her first book, Come Along With Me.

Linda was born in Youngstown, Ohio and moved in 1977 to St. Clairsville, Ohio. Her husband of forty-four years and one son now live in Venice, Florida.

Linda is the daughter of an Ohio dairy farmer and an elementary school teacher. Her working years were in a competitive sales and business environment.

Active in Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce, she is a Paul Harris Fellow.

Entering the work force at age sixteen Linda is now retired, and is seriously devoting her attention to writing children’s books.

You can find her on Goodreads HERE.

Other books in The Gracie Series

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How about you? Got a tease? Tell me!