About the Book
Book: Liberty Lane and the One-Girl Rebelution
Author: Shaylene King
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction
Release date: December 31, 2020
American Idol meets the bible in this modern retelling of the book of Esther creatively re-imagined for a younger generation
Sir Frederick Preparatory School’s Royal Crown competition is only the biggest singing competition on planet earth! So, when Liberty Lane O’Shea, is catapulted into the singing competition to compete for the coveted crown, it’s a dream come true.
Her dreams are dashed when she meets a beastly contestant who plots to vocally “kill off” anyone who might pose a threat to his rise to fame.
To halt the contestant’s vile ruse, Liberty Lane and her cohorts in crime, best friend Calliope and cousin Lincoln scheme to foil his evil ploys.
When Liberty Lane finds herself blackmailed, she is faced with a tough choice. Will she expose this contestant, divulging a secret of her own, and possibly disqualify herself from the competition? Or, will she watch the other contestants “die” an early Royal Crown competition death, putting the crown surely within her grasp?
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About the Author
Shaylene is an anti-bully activist. She speaks to thousands of students each year across the country and internationally, empowering them to live with profound purpose when they learn to combat mean and cultivate kindness.
She is the founder of The Mean Girl Extinction Project a 501(c)3 on-profit created to address the rise in relational aggression among girls. She teaches girls how to not only survive girl world but to make a difference and thrive in girl world. She leads assemblies, workshops and speaks at girls events, camps, clubs and retreats.
Shaylene also teaches and trains the nation’s leading student-led bully prevention program called Safe School Ambassadors. Equipping students with the tools they need to develop self-confidence and practice and promote positive communication with their peers.
Shaylene lives with her husband in Middle Tennessee, sailing the unchartered waters of empty nesting. She enjoys any time she gets to spend with her two grown children who are off exploring the world and living the life God created them for.
More from Shaylene
Liberty Lane and the One-Girl Rebelution was birthed from my love of fairy tales and reading Bible stories to my kids. I have likely read every modern retelling version of classic fairy tales like Cinderella and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves! One night, while reading a Bible story to my kids at bedtime, I noticed it read a lot like a fairy tale, only it was true. What fun it would be to write a modern retelling of my favorite Bible stories! And, rest is history… or at least a re-telling of history!
This book was a labor of love. It was fun to creatively reimagine what an Esther story might look like today. More important, though, I wanted to create a strong, confident young girl, one who was perfectly imperfect, able to think for herself and stand for what she believed in, even when it was hard—a one-girl “rebel”ution. My hope is that girls might connect with Liberty Lane and feel they too can be comfortable in their own skin and stand by their convictions. When they make a mistake, they can right their wrong, hold their head high, and press on. Speaking the truth is never easy to do, but I want them to know, it will always be the right thing to do.
MY REVIEW
I liked the characters and especially our shining star Liberty Lane. Oh that girl had a big dream to be on stage, sing her heart out and win a contest. Think along the lines of several singing competitions on Tv right now and that is where the plot focuses on. Oh if life was simple with no obstacles Liberty would breeze onto stage and be crowned the winner. But we all know that life is not simple at times.
Enter stage left is Seth who has the biggest ego I have witnessed in a book. He is so sure he will win but has to go a step further to insure his victory. He is not above doing things to other contestants to knock them out of the competition. He has it in Liberty and makes every effort to discredit her from the contest.
I did have a few problems with the story at times though. Why would these young kids be unsupervised and able to hide in places and be able to walk around freely at the place they were staying? When it was discovered that bottled water has been tampered with, why were the police not called in? The secret that Liberty keeps about her real identity was not a good example of being honest.
I did like how the author showed how a young person can find courage through God and standing up for yourself. It was okay for the person to be exposed who was causing havoc but I think it could have been done in a more graceful way. It felt like Liberty wanted to embarrass this person instead of showing grace to them. With a little tweaking of the story it could be a great tool to use for a church library. The best part for me was at the end when the author includes the story of Esther from the Bible. That is where the kids will understand the similarities between Liberty and Esther and tie the two stories together to make more sense.
I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.
Blog Stops
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 24
Aryn The Libraryan 📚, August 25
Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, August 25
Texas Book-aholic, August 26
Inklings and notions, August 27
Blogging With Carol, August 27
For Him and My Family, August 28
Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, August 29
Southern Gal Loves to Read, August 29
deb’s Book Review, August 30
Locks, Hooks and Books, August 31
Cats in the Cradle Blog, August 31
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, September 1
Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, September 2
Mary Hake, September 2
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, September 3
Bigreadersite, September 4
Vicky Sluiter, September 4
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 5
Sodbusterliving, September 6
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Shaylene is giving away the grand prize a $50 Amazon gift card, a signed hard back copy of my book, book bag and 2 BookStubs (Free ebook download) … One BookStub for the winner and one for a friend!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/11423/liberty-lane-and-the-one-girl-rebelution-celebration-tour-giveaway
Thanks for sharing your review!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your honest review! I truly appreciate your feedback! I'm writing book two...Liberty Lane and the Battle of the Couture Clique Club a modern re-telling of David and Goliath. Your feedback will keep me mindful of how Liberty handles the "Goliath" in the story :)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great read and would be perfect for my nieces.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate honest reviews like this one!
ReplyDelete