Books with author Joan Newcomb

Eleven-year-old Lida Mae Braithwaite sees the world through colorful lens. Her take on WWII, social inequities, stick ball, Martians, scarlet women, holidays, bullies, loss and death, ethnic food, families, and relationships are uniquely hers. Lida Mae and her best buddies, Jaime, Rufus, and Dwight, confront the realities of childhood during the turbulent years of WWII. Together they learn one of life's most important lessons: that the definition of family is not restricted to biology or marital ties, but that if we are truly fortunate, our shared experiences create families of the heart, such as the one she shares with her friends.

IT’S 1976, AMERICA’S BI-CENTENNIAL, AND RIVERVIEW, A SMALL AGRICULTURAL TOWN IN CALIFORNIA’S CENTRAL VALLEY, LIKE MOST OF AMERICA, IS CAUGHT UP IN THE EXCITEMENT OF THE NATION’S CELEBRTION. BUT SOME EIGHTH GRADERS AT JOHN MUIR ELEMENTARY ARE MORE CNCERNED ABOUT THEIR OWN PROBLEMS, THAN IN THE FESTIVITIES. ALEXANDER POPE, A BIG, MEAN, NASTY BULLY, HAS TERRORIED KIDS FOR YEARS. DOING SOMETHING ABOUT ALEXANDER IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MAKING POSTERS OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. BUT WHAT CAN A GROUP OF EIGHTH GRADERS DO AGAINST A BULLY WHOSE FATHER IS AN EVEN BIGGER BULLY? ESPECIALLY WHEN THAT FATHER IS THE LEADER OF A MILITANT HATE GROUP WITH GUNS? HIRE A HITMAN?