The Supremely Silly Summers of Maggie Rose Porter

Chapter One: Jake

Why hello there!

It's Karisa here :) Well recently I've just been posting alot of Seeing Triple stuff, as that was the book I published in April!! (If you haven't seen/heard of it yet, be sure to check it out both on here and Amazon!!).

I've been enjoying a wonderful and restful summer though, and it got me thinking back to all of my amazing summer memories over the past years. I kinda wanted to be able to wrap them all up in one big story of sweet summer fun, and that's what I've been hoping to do with this book! Told in an adventurous eight year old's perspective, Maggie represents what summer should be all about for a child. I would really, really LOVE feedback/comments/votes, as I'm not so sure how this turned out and would so appreciate to know what you thought of it!!! Please, please let me know, so I can figure out whether I should continue on with this or not. Also, I'm trying to figure out what age group I should target for this book, so if you have an ideal audience in mind as you read, please don't hesitate to let me know. Thank you soo much again! Have a wonderful time reading, and I hope you enjoy every bit of your summer as much as Maggie does :) Shine on!

--Karisa

Chapter One: Jake

            The summer I was eight years old, my best friend Jake Maury taught me how to fly.

            I didn't know much about flying, other than the book about birds on my bookshelf and that Grampa used to fly fighter planes in World War II.

            "Keep your eyes on the target," he'd always say, squinting one eye so the other could focus better, "and you'll never lose sight." Well I tried that one morning over my bowl of Corn Pops, but no matter how long I seemed to stare at Daddy, he always managed to disappear for work.

            But, I digress.

            The point is, I didn't know much about flying when Jake took me up to the old abandoned barn in his backyard, which was probably why I agreed to that silly idea in the first place.

            "All right..." Jake fiddled with the contraption some more before taking a step back to admire his fine handiwork. "How does that feel?"

            I wiggled around a bit, feeling the cardboard flaps rub against my underarms. I wouldn't be surprised if a rash appeared soon--Daddy always said I had a knack for getting into all sorts of injuries and trouble.

            "Not comfy. My legs hurt." I puckered out my bottom lip and turned around to face Jake straight in the eyes. "I'm tired now. When can we go home?"

            "Aw, c'mon Mags. Don't be such a baby." Jake crossed his arms, looking very authoritative. Jake Maury was nine years old, a whole eighteen months older than me. But sometimes he seemed a lot older than that, 'cause even though he was my best friend forever and for eternity, times like those he could be rather bossy. "Besides," Jake added, "you're the one who wanted to fly in the first place, remember?"

            "I didn't know it would take this long."

            "Oh, hush." He made another snip to my right flap with his red scissors. "If you stop talking so much, this'll go a whole lot faster."

            I shut my mouth fast and tried to focus on my new yellow sneakers and not the roaring hot sun that triggered beads on my forehead. I felt a warm drop of water prickle the hairs on my neck before trickling down my striped tank-top. I tapped my foot impatiently. "Is it ready yet?"

            "Just one more cut and...there!" Jake grabbed my shoulders and whirled me in a little circle. Between my dizziness from spinning in a world of fast-moving colors, I caught the wisps of a proud smile on his face. The wings must've come out pretty good for Jake Maury to look that happy.