Mortician's Daughter (eBook)
348 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-5306-0 (ISBN)
Natalie Vázquez was born in La Isla de Encanto, Puerto Rico. She is the author of the new series of middle-grade books, The Mortician's Daughter. She graduated from film school, and thanks to outstanding teachers, she fell madly in love with writing. You can find her dreaming up new stories, talking to plants, or filming a new project in her spare time. She is passionate about social advocacy, inclusion, and fart jokes. Her dream is to help create a world where LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC kids can see themselves represented on screen and in the books they read. The Mortician's Daughter: Undertaking the 6th Grade is her debut novel. Find her on social media at: Instagram: @natalievazquezauthor https://www.instagram.com/natalievazquezauthor TikTok: @natalievazquezauthor https://www.tiktok.com/@natalievazquezauthor Facebook: Natalie Vázquez Author https://www.facebook.com/profile.php
For 11-year-old Luna, making friends was easy-that is until she revealed she lived in the town mortuary. Discouraged and unwilling to chase down another screaming would-have-been-bestie down the street, she enters the halls of her new middle school, where everyone already knows who she is. Just when she thinks she's doomed to loneliness, she meets Sol, who doesn't seem to mind the dead people in her basement. The two hit it off, but Luna quickly catches the attention of Ava the school bully who is determined to embarrass her in front of the whole school. Luna and Sol join forces with Nova, the AV club president, who believes the only way to save Luna's reputation is to film a show revealing the secrets of The Mortician's Daughter. Follow the hilarious adventures of the Mortician's Daughter and her two best friends as they Undertake the 6th grade.
3 I Love Blood!
Luna stood outside her classroom caressing dead grandma’s hair, hoping her confidence would rub off on her. She took long, deep breaths as she mustered up the confidence to walk in and flee to the back. It was safer there…From the back, you can see everyone who enters and be far enough from the teacher that maybe, just maybe, she’ll forget you’re there, and you won’t have to answer any questions or read out loud all year. That was Luna’s reasoning. When she thought no one was looking, she made a break for the last seat in the back row, far enough from the cool kids so as to not draw any attention to herself. Success! She thought, as she slid into her chair.
As the minutes passed, Luna watched a pattern evolve: her fellow students entered the classroom, locked eyes with her, and their smiles would fade. Then, they’d sit as far from her as possible. Eventually, something interesting happened. A girl with voluminous textured hair and a confident stride walked in. Her yellow shirt highlighted beautiful brown skin punctuated by amber eyes. She seemed to scan the room and muttered something under her breath.
“Too happy, too chatty, too stuffy.”
Suddenly, she saw Luna, clinging to her backpack and staring at her intensely. The girl gazed back as she made her way to the empty seat next to Luna.
“Hi, I’m Sol!” she said with a wide grin.
“Luna.”
“I love your outfit!” Sol said.
“Thanks!” Luna said, relieved. “I was worried it would be too much.”
“I think it’s awesome!” Sol replied.
“Thanks!”
“Did you know lace wasn’t mass manufactured until the Victorian Era?” Sol asked.
“I didn’t!” Luna replied.
“Before that, a dress like yours would’ve only belonged to a really rich person,” Sol added. “So, who died, Countess Fancy Pants?”
“My social life, apparently.” Luna gave Sol a playful smile.
The bell rang, and all the students settled into their seats.
“Good morning, class! My name is Ms. Ryan. I’d like to welcome you all to the 6th grade,” a friendly yet commanding voice silenced the room. “I have an exciting year planned for us! This is your homeroom; we start and finish our day here. This period is typically used to make announcements, study, or do homework, but because I’m not your typical teacher, I’m going to propose we use this hour however you want. We can chat, talk about things you might not want to talk to your parents about, get things off your chest...This is a safe space, and we are going to treat it as such. But since today is the first day, we’re going to—”
“Don’t say go around the room, don’t say go around the room,” Luna whispered.
Sol watched her new friend quietly panic.
“—go around the room and introduce ourselves!” Ms. Ryan said.
Groans echoed throughout the room.
“Just kidding, I hate that. Such a lack of creativity! And talk about anxiety-producing!” Ms. Ryan said.
“Oh, thank Betelgeuse,” Luna said to herself.
Ms. Ryan put a brown paper bag on her desk. “In this bag, I have three items that tell you about me. We’ll pass the bag around, and when one of you guesses an item in the bag. I’ll tell you all about it.”
The first kid felt around the outside of the bag, shook his head, and passed it to the next kid.
“There’s something rubbery and bouncy…it’s long and curvy. Is it a toy?” he asked.
“Sure, but what kind?” Ms. Ryan asked.
The kid thought for a moment and passed it to the next person.
“Oh! It’s a snake!” the student yelled.
Ms. Ryan walked over, reached into the bag, and pulled out a long rubber snake.
“Correct! I own a royal python named Princess. She’s about four feet long and weighs four pounds. Her enclosure takes up a whole room in my house.”
“Whoa!” the kids responded.
“My girl needs her space; she is a princess, after all!” Ms. Ryan said. “All right, pass the bag! We have two more objects in there!”
The bag made its way to Luna. She felt around and asked softly, “Is it a mushroom?”
“That was fast!” Ms. Ryan once again reached into the bag and, this time, pulled out a wooden mushroom painted with a red cap and white dots. “I am an amateur mycologist. I’m a huge science nerd, obviously; it’s what I teach. There’s nothing I like more than going into the woods and foraging for mushrooms.”
“Do you eat them?” Luna asked.
“The ones that are not poisonous and are good in a dish, sure! But some mushrooms can hurt or even kill you. That’s why it’s important to go with an expert when you forage.” Ms. Ryan held up the wooden mushroom. “For example, this popular mushroom is called Amanita muscaria, or the fly agaric mushroom. It can make you very sick.”
Sol raised her hand. “Ms. Ryan, could you take us foraging one day?”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” she replied after seeing her kids’ faces light up. “Maybe I can get Principal Richards to agree to a field trip,” she replied.
The class became excited and started suggesting places to go.
“We’ll figure out the details later! In the meantime, there’s one more item in the bag.”
Luna passed the bag to Sol.
“There are these round things, like beads, but then there’s this flat hard thing. Is it a bracelet?” she asked.
“Close enough!” Ms. Ryan walked over and revealed the last object in the bag. It looked like a bracelet. Sol was right about the beads, and the flat hard thing was a military identification tag. Next to it, a gold pendant with an intricate design.
“Ah, yes.” She touched it fondly bringing it to her heart. This is very special to me, and I’d like to share its story.”
The students all leaned in, ever so slightly.
“Every family has an origin story. Just ask your parents or grandparents how they met. I’m from a blended family, which means my mom and stepdad each brought their separate families and joined them to make one big family. For a while, we couldn’t stand each other. From where I was standing, a stranger wanted to come in and be my dad. Turns out my new siblings felt the same way about my mom, and it created a lot of friction at home.
On our first Christmas, our parents sat us all down and suggested we make something to honor our dead parents, and that would serve as a reminder that they would always be with us. We had never sat in a room long enough to get to know each other, so it came as a surprise that we had all lost our parents to armed conflict.
We had lost our dad to the war, and they lost their mom to a siege on their town by the very same people my dad was fighting. Our shared pain made us realize we weren’t so different. We brought our most precious mementos of our parents and shared them with each other. My sister and I brought my dad’s ID tag.” Ms. Ryan pointed to the tag. “It was the only thing they sent back. And my new siblings brought a pendant their mom wore.” She showed the pendant around the room. “We put them together and made this ornament to honor our parents. It also symbolizes the union of our families. Every year we pass it around, taking turns displaying it on our tree. It doesn’t look like much, but this, right here…” Ms. Ryan held it gently in her hands. “Is the most special thing in the world to me.” She smiled, teary-eyed.
“Oh no! Please don’t cry, Ms. Ryan,” a kid named Finn said.
“It’s okay if I do,” she replied, wiping a tear from her eye. “And it’s okay if any of you do. Crying is important. It heals the soul.”
The bell rang, but the students did not budge.
“I’m okay, I promise. That was a lot of fun! I hope you know me better now than half an hour ago. Tomorrow will be your turn.” She handed out small brown paper bags. “Everyone take a bag home, fill it with three things that are special to you, and bring them back tomorrow.
“I already know what I’m going to put in my bag!” Sol said to Luna. “Do you?”
“No idea. Too many things to choose from,” Luna replied. Lost in a frenzied daydream, she imagined bringing her recently completed mouse skull micro-dome to present in class. The scene unfolded as the skull came back to life, breaking out of the glass with its little teeth, causing the next zombie outbreak.
“Let’s jump right in: today’s topic is mud, specifically its use in Mesopotamia,” Ms. Ryan announced.
Sol excitedly whispered to herself, “I love mud!”
Not having returned fully from her apocalyptic novella, Luna swore she heard Sol say, ‘I love blood!’
To which she replied, “Me too! Do you want to come over after school and see my collection?”
“You have a collection?” Sol asked.
“Yeah—but it’s not gross or anything,” Luna added.
“I’m not grossed out by it. I just want to get my hands in it, maybe put it all over my face, like a mask.” Sol said.
“Oh! Okay, I’m not sure I have enough for that.” Luna immediately began regretting her invitation but then thought, maybe someone who’s that excited by blood might be okay with me living in the town...
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 1.10.2024 |
|---|---|
| Sprache | englisch |
| Themenwelt | Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen |
| ISBN-13 | 979-8-3509-5306-0 / 9798350953060 |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
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