Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2012
PB: 978-0-3126-7430-4
Ages 9-12
The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester
Available in paperback and ebook
Four friends.
A frog.
One fantastic secret.
And a summer they’ll never forget.
An amazing secret has tumbled off a freight train into Carter, Georgia, and Owen Jester is the only person who knows about it. If he can simply manage to evade his grandfather’s snappish housekeeper, organize his two best friends, and keep his nosy neighbor, Viola, at bay, he just might be in for a summer of a lifetime.
A fantastic fable of friends, enemies, and a superbly slimy bullfrog.
Videos
Book Trailer
Barbara reads Chapter 1
Downloadable Resources
Awards and Distinctions
- Capitol Choices 2011
- Junior Library Guild Selection
- School Library Journal Best Books of the Year 2010
- Kirkus Best Books of the Year 2010
State Awards
- Georgia Book Award Nominee 2012
- Kentucky Bluegrass Award Nominee 2012
- Louisiana Young Readers Choice Award Nominee 2013
- Maine Student Book Award Nominee 2012
- Massachusetts Must-Reads 2011
- Nebraska Golden Sower Award Nominee 2013
- New Hampshire Great Stone Face Award Nominee 2012
- New York Public Library 100 Books for Reading and Sharing 2010
- Oklahoma Sequoyah Children's Book Award Nominee 2013
- South Carolina Children's Book Award Nominee 2013
- Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award Nominee 2013
- Vermont Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award Nominee 2012
- Virginia Young Readers Award 2013
- West Virginia Children's Choice Book Award Nominee 2012
Reviews
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O’Connor has spun a lovely read that perfectly captures the schemes and plans of school-age kids in the long days of summer.
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This well-crafted novel creates a charming mix of the commonplace and the extraordinary….Appealling and authentic, this tale of summertime adventure will be a hit with readers year round.
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O’Connor masterfully twists the two plot threads….[and] fashions a geography of childhood freedom.
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“Owen Jester tiptoed across the gleaming linoleum floor and slipped the frog into the soup.” This opening line, like much of O’Connor’s storytelling, strikes with lightning-fast characterization.... O'Connor's funny, triumphant tale reveals the wisdom of listening to one's inner voice over the noise of one's peers.
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