Giveaway and book news: Sure Signs of Crazy by Karen Harrington

Little, Brown is hosting a Goodreads giveaway of 30 copies of my upcoming book, Sure Signs of Crazy. Follow this link to enter. Deadline to enter is July 20th.

And this just in. The book received a starred review from Booklist!

Sure Signs of Crazy

Written by Karen Harrington

August 2013/ Ages 8-12/ $16.99

ISBN 978-0-316-21058-4

Ebook ISBN 978-0-316-21057-7

For the opening of her middle-grade debut, Harrington cuts right to the heart of her narrator’s grim situation: “You’ve never met anyone like me. Unless, of course, you’ve met someone who survived her mother trying to drown her and now lives with an alcoholic father.” Sarah Nelson was two when that happened; now she is turning 12 in a small Texas town and “looking for any signs of going crazy.” Don't think this will be a hard sell to readers, though, for Harrington has created a protagonist who is, in her own way, as clear-eyed, tough-minded, and inspiring as any dystopian hero. Sarah faces down threats from all sides: “The more information I gather, the better I can defend myself against the world, against the brain inside me that may or may not be like hers.” And even as her father repeatedly fails her (as when he drank/slept through her birthday), Sarah finds allies and role models, from an English teacher to a home from-college neighbor to Atticus Finch, who shows Sarah how to be a caring human being. Harrington doesn’t leave out humor—she has fun with Sarah’s romantic illusions—but makes it clear that it’s Sarah’s courage and urge to communicate that will push her beyond her traumatic childhood.