Today my guest is middle grade author Kimberly Baer and she's here to tell us about her book MALL GIRL MEETS THE SHADOW VANDAL. The star of the book, Chloe Lamont will tell us the top 10 things about living in the mall. Take it away Kimberly and Chloe!
The Top Ten Great Things About Living at the Mall
Hi, my name is Chloe Lamont, and I’m the star of Kimberly Baer’s new middle-grade novel, Mall Girl Meets the Shadow Vandal. My mom and me, we have a weird kind of living arrangement. Our house is in the middle of a shopping mall. You’d think a kid would love living at the mall—but, trust me, it gets old. Especially now that somebody’s trying to frame me for vandalizing stores. Still, sometimes life at the mall isn’t so bad. (Don’t tell my mom I said that!) Here, in no particular order, are some good things about living in a shopping mall:
1. You never have to worry about running out of clean underwear. Just run to the nearest department store and buy more!
2. Want to enjoy puppies and kittens without having to take care of them? Hang out at the pet store.
3. Every day is a party. Lots of noise, lots of people, lots of merriment.
4. A mall is essentially an indoor town. Mine has stores and restaurants, but also a bank, a movie theater, a hair salon, and an eye doctor. And you can get to all those places without having to put on a coat or get in a car.
5. Hungry for Chinese food? Tacos? Pizza? The food court is thirty seconds away.
6. There’s an ATM in your back yard.
7. If you’re lucky, people will throw money down your chimney. Sometimes they miss, and the coins end up in your yard. But, hey, it’s still free money.
8. You never have to shovel snow, rake leaves, or mow the lawn. (But you do have to vacuum the fake grass.)
9. Your mom doesn’t have heating or cooling costs—which means she has more money to spend on YOU.
10. Your next-door neighbor is your favorite clothing store.
Blurb for Mall Girl Meets the Shadow Vandal (a middle-grade novel):
"A lively, jaunty mystery with a terrific cast of characters." - Kirkus Reviews
Chloe Lamont doesn't live in a neighborhood, like most kids. Her house is in the middle of the mall. And now someone is stealing items from her house and using them to vandalize stores. Who is trying to frame her? And how are they getting into the house?
Desperate to catch the real vandal and clear her name, Chloe seeks help from the kids in her Mystery Reading Group at school. While searching for clues, the Mystery Groupers make an astounding discovery. And then things get really crazy…
Excerpt:
I hate getting up early, so it’s a blessed relief when Saturday morning rolls around and I get to sleep in.
Then I wake up and find out there’s been another egging.
Mom tells me about it when she comes home at lunchtime. This time Maynard’s Shoes was the victim. A bunch of shoes on display out front got hit. Like last time, the police think the crime took place in the middle of the night.
“How many—” I begin.
“Eight. They used eight eggs.”
We eye each other uneasily. Outside the living room window, a lady says contemptuously, “She acts like she’s the first woman on earth to ever have a baby.”
Mom turns abruptly and heads into the kitchen. I’m right behind her. We park ourselves in front of the refrigerator.
“I bought a new carton on Thursday,” she says, twisting her opal ring around and around on her pinkie. “I haven’t used any eggs at all. If you haven’t either, there should still be a full dozen.”
“I haven’t used any,” I tell her.
She takes a deep breath and tugs open the refrigerator door. She has the grim demeanor of a fourteenth-century villager about to open a vampire’s coffin. She takes out the egg carton and places it on the counter. Gingerly, she lifts the lid.
There are four eggs inside, crowded together at the left end of the carton. The rest of the carton looks starkly empty, like eight tiny bird’s nests emptied of occupants.
“Oh!” Mom clamps a hand over her mouth. “How can this be?”
I can only stare at the carton in silence, dazed by the undeniable truth. Somebody is taking our eggs and using them to attack mall stores. I just don’t know who or how or why.
View the Mall Girl book trailer
Buy links:
Author Bio:
Kimberly Baer wrote her first story at age six. It was about a baby chick that hatched out of a little girl's Easter egg after somehow surviving the hard-boiling process. Nowadays she enjoys writing middle-grade and young adult fiction. She lives in Virginia, where she likes to go power-walking on days when it's not too hot, too cold, too rainy, too snowy, or too windy. On indoor days, you might find her binge-watching one of her favorite TV shows: Gilmore Girls, Friends, or The Office.
You can call her "Kim." All her friends do.
Social media links:
www.kimberlybaer.com
I'm totally intrigued by her living at the mall. It would have been my ultimate fantasy as a teen!
ReplyDeleteMe, too, Jennifer! You walk out your door and have retail heaven at your fingertips! :)
ReplyDelete