New Kids & Underdogs

I’m so happy to introduce you to my latest book for kids, New Kids & Underdogs. New Kids & Underdogs is about Robyn Kellen, a fifth grader who has just moved to a new school–for the sixth time. In all those moves, she’s learned a lot about how to survive being a new kid. In fact, she’s made a list of just how to do it. Here it is:

But living by her rules in her new school proves tough, especially when she teams up with some non-blender-inners so that she can teach her special needs dogs how to run an agility obstacle course. Not familiar with agility dog training? Watch this to see it action.

Book Cover

I was inspired to write this book because, like Robyn, I was a frequent new kid. I attended six schools before I reached high school. And, although I never had a written list of rules, I had internalized a lot of the ones Robyn tries to live by. As you might imagine, it could sometimes make it hard to connect with other peers. Because if you are always worrying about what people are thinking of you, you can’t really let them see who you really are. And you know what else, you also can’t see who THEY really are.

New Kids & Underdogs is a Junior Library Guild Selection, and Kirkus Reviews calls it: “A thoughtful story about learning to look beneath the surface and be a better friend.”

Oh, and as per my usual promise, don’t worry about the dogs! They will fine!