Unstuck - Dee Barbara

Both relatable and inspiringan entertaining and heartfelt read. Janae Marks, New York Times bestselling author of On Air with Zoe Washington From critically acclaimed author Barbara Dee comes a middle grade novel thats this generations Dear Mr. Henshaw (Kirby Larson, Newbery Honorwinning author of Hattie Big Sky) about a girl whose struggles with anxiety and writers block set off unexpected twists and turns, both on and off the page.Lyla is thrilled when her seventh grade English language arts class begins a daily creative writing project. For the past year, shes been writing a brilliant fantasy novel in her head, and heres her chance to get it on paper! The plot to Lylas novel is super complicated, with battle scenes and witches and a mysterious one-toed-beast, but at its core, its about an overlooked girl who has to rescue her beautiful, highly accomplished older sister. But writing a fantasy novel turns out to be harder than simply imagining one, and pretty soon Lyla finds herself stuck, experiencing a panic she realizes is writers block. Part of the problem is that shes trying to impress certain peoplelike Rania, her best friend whos pulling away, and Ms. Bowman, the coolest teacher at school. Plus, theres the pressure of meeting the deadline for the town writing contest. A few years ago, Lylas superstar teen sister Dahlia came in second, and this time, Lyla is determined to win first prize. Finally, Lyla confides about her writing problems to Dahlia, who is dealing with her own academic stress as she applies to college. Thats when she learns Dahlias secret, which is causing a very different type of writers block. Can Lyla rescue a surprisingly vulnerable big sister, both on the page and in real life?