THE MARBLE QUEEN
Forthcoming from Marshall Cavendish-2012 Too bad, Mama says marbles are for boys. In fact, it seems like most everything fun or interesting is for boys, but Freedom happens to be really good at a marble game called Ringer. When 4th grade starts, things in Freedom’s world start changing, the boys won’t let Freedom play Ringer with them anymore, her best friend, Daniel, doesn’t want all the boys to know he’s friends with a girl, and Mama wants Freedom to straighten up and act all lady-like. Freedom tries to avoid Mama’s switch at all costs, but sometimes she can’t help getting into big trouble. It’s her brother Higgie’s fault most of the time. Everyone knows he’s mama’s favorite. When Freedom gets into trouble for fighting over her prized shooter at school, Mama takes away the marble pouch, once and for all. Freedom is sure she’ll never see her beautiful marbles again, and if she can’t keep playing marbles, she won’t become the Marble King! With guidance from an unexpected friend, Freedom starts thinking about what Mama always says about being a proper girl. If by some miracle, Freedom could get her marbles back, would she still care about becoming the Marble King? Or will she be on to something new like Mama always says?
Nine-year-old Freedom loves finding fat night crawlers, spying through the fence into the witch lady’s backyard, and fishing with her daddy, even if he does drink too many beers and falls asleep before they can catch anything. More than anything, Freedom loves shooting marbles.
