All ten years of her life Appie has felt like a yawnsome borington compared to her fabbletastic twin sister Dotty. So when she finds a bottle labeled Fly Bubble Mixture in her mum's workshop, she gulps it down. A superpower would be just the thing to make her stand out.
Trouble is, being the human equivalent of a rubber bouncy ball isn’t the simpleasiest superpower to control. Appie accidentally bounces onto the roof of a double-decker bus, then onto the neck of a rather surprised giraffe at the zoo, finally splash-landing in the stinky seal pool! Appie ends up far from home, and if she doesn't get back before supper, Dotty will reveal all to their parents. Appie will be grounded for life – literally.
Desperate not to lose her unique ability, she has to think for herself – something she's not used to doing with Dotty around. But as a result, she discovers that doing things her way can be way more colorful!
BOUNCE! is a MG adventure story complete at 25,000 words. It will appeal to readers who have outgrown CLEMENTINE or CLARICE BEAN but still enjoy a rib-tickling laugh.
I am an experienced journalist, writing regularly for magazines such as Parenting, Pregnancy, and Junior. As I moved to the US from London four years ago, I now have excellent media contacts in both countries. You can read more about me at www.franziskagreen.com.
I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your time,
Franziska Green
First 500 words:
We have red, white and blue rules in our house. The white rules are things like don’t bite your toenails or use all the dental floss to make a tightrope for the tooth fairy. Blue Rules are a little more serious – don't store crayons on the radiator or put dried dog food in your sister's cereal. And then there are Red Rules. Do not hide in the fridge. Do not sword-fight with skewers. And do not ever touch mum’s prototype sneakers.
In my defense, Dad always says, “Appie, never forget that there are exceptions to every rule.” When he says that he’s actually talking about English grammar rules, but this was an exceptional situation. It made perfect sense. At the time.
The sneakers were grass green with a bright pink flash down the side. But that’s not what made them special – these were one of my mum’s yet-to-be-approved performance enhancing sneaker designs. (Performance enhancing as in the posh way of saying ‘better.’) She had created running sneakers with the motorized fans in front and back, football boots with ribbed tips to give extra grip on the ball and even ones with extra weight for shot-putters. But I had my eye on the Wall-Walkers.
Dotty, my twin sister, and I knew we were never to touch one of her prototypes.
“You could hurt yourselves,” my mum told us.
“And our bank account,” added my dad. “Those sneakers keep the roof over our heads.”
I’ve always been good at sticking to rules that make sense, but I never really understood why we shouldn’t touch the sneakers. Seemed to me they were wasted on adults – they just used them for sport. I’d use them for fun! Plus there was something I just had to see, and for that I needed the Wall-Walkers. On top of mum’s craft shelf was a bottle with a label on it. It simply said:
FLY BUBBLE MIXTURE
I didn’t know if it was meant to be used on flies (as in the insect kind) or to help a person fly, but I had to find out.
For as long as I could remember, I had dreamed of flying. Unlike Dotty, I wasn’t graceful. She was as light as a butterfly on her feet; I moved like a crab with cramp in its legs. But I convinced myself that gravity was at fault. I was sure I would discover my inner ballerina if only I could figure out how to fly. So when I was little, I slept in my fairy wings every night in the hope that I’d wake up airborne. I never did. I just fell out of bed a lot. Something Dotty found hilarious.
I was just an inch or so too short to reach the mixture while standing on a chair, but with the Wall-Walkers I could, in theory, go as high up the wall as I wanted.
My heart lolloped as I loosened the laces, but the fly bubble mixture was calling me.
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