The Truth About My Bat Mitzvah by Nora Raleigh Baskin

If they are, they just might point Joy toward the future that is meant to be hers. Then she begins the scavenger hunt that he left for her the previous year, and the clues could still be out there. A year later, she is dreading her birthday, expecting to be torn up all over again about Lukas’s senseless, accidental death and the fact that Lukas may have misunderstood the last words they spoke to each other that day. The day she turned twelve, Joy’s best friend died. “A sure winner for readers interested in the environment and adventure, or even just in adventure.” – School Library Journal Superlative writing and character development uplift this timely story….An inspiring tale of friendship and conservation.” – Kirkus, starred review

“With heart and humor, JB and Sidney remind readers of the difference young people can make when they take the lead on environmental activism.

“In their latest collaboration, Baskin and Polisner’s ( Seven Clues to Home) upbeat eco-adventure combines fiction with real-world issues and affirms that kids can bring about change.” – Publishers Weekly Above all, it is a heartfelt story about friendship and an empowering call to environmental protection, especially to our young people who are already stepping up to help save our oceans and our Earth. How could he know that the Sidney Miller he messages is not the famous marine biologist he has been tasked with contacting, but rather a girl making podcasts from her bedroom―let alone that she would want to sneak aboard the ship?Ĭonsider the Octopus is a comedy of errors, mistaken identity, and synchronicity. When Jeremy is asked to find the contact information for a list of important international scientists and invite them to attend a last-minute Emergency Global Summit, he’s excited to have a chance to actually do something that matters to the mission. Miles and miles away, twelve-year-old Sidney Miller is trying to come up with an alternate activity worthy of convincing her overprotective parents that she can skip summer camp. But his mother, a scientist, has called for him to join her aboard a research ship where, instead, he’ll spend his summer seasick and bored as he stares out at the endless plastic, microbeads, and other floating debris, both visible and not, that make up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Jeremy “JB” Barnes is looking forward to spending the summer before seventh grade hanging on the beach.

When chance, or fate, throws two twelve-year-olds together on board a scientific research ship at the edge of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it’s not all smooth sailing!

The Truth About My Bat Mitzvah by Nora Raleigh Baskin