I’m thrilled to announce that my second middle-grade novel, TREX, will be published by Delacorte in 2022!
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my experience working with the Delacorte team on KINGDOM OF SECRETS, so I was delighted when they acquired TREX. I can’t wait to get started on edits, though the thought of going back to the beginning of the process with a new manuscript is a bit daunting. I guess I’ll have to re-read my own advice!
Some people have asked how I managed to write a second manuscript during this wild year, as I worked on edits for KINGDOM OF SECRETS, muddled through a pandemic, and generally reeled from the chaos of 2020. Well…I didn’t. TREX has been in the works for years. I started writing it the first time I queried KOS, and I continually went back to it between other projects. This is the upshot of all that advice to “write the next thing” during your downtime. It really does pay off!
Here’s a longer description of TREX, pulled from my original query letter. TREX is, as they say, the book of my heart, written for anxious 10-year-old me. I hope it finds readers who love it as much as I do!
As a child, Trex Wilson received an experimental brain implant that saved his life, but it came with an unusual side effect: he shocks everything he touches. To make matters worse, his overprotective mother has kept him out of school and on the move his entire life. She’s convinced that the scientists who saved him now want to exploit the technology in his head. When she finally agrees to send him to a real school for sixth grade, Trex is determined to lead a normal life at last – which means keeping his mother calm and, above all, keeping his unique brain a secret. Unfortunately, the electricity sparking from his fingertips is getting more powerful by the day.
When rumors emerge about a prowler sneaking around his new neighborhood, Trex sets out to catch the culprit so his mother won’t uproot him again. He reluctantly teams up with Mellie “the Mouse,” a reclusive classmate training to be a spy. Mellie is certain she saw lightning shoot from Trex’s fingers, and she’s more intent on exposing the new kid than nabbing the bad guy. As a grudging friendship develops between them, Trex and Mellie find themselves pitted against school bullies, their own parents, and yes, an evil, brain-hacking corporation. Along the way, they’ll question what it means to be “normal” and explore the fine line between secrets and lies.
TREX is a 50,000 word middle-grade novel told by three unreliable narrators. It’s a contemporary mystery with speculative elements and numerous plot twists. It combines the themes and narrative style of Rebecca Stead’s Liar & Spy with the science fiction tropes of Stranger Things.