Middle Grade Science Fiction & Fantasy Author
Plotting the Stars 2: SEAGARDEN
REVOLUTION IS WATERED WITH SWEAT AND TEARS.
Available 10.3.23
Forced to hide her new-found magic or risk imprisonment or worse, Myra enrolls in an interplanetary academy exchange program to dig up more about the government’s many conspiracies, but instead uproots even darker secrets that could drown everything she’s grown to trust. The second book in the searing STEAM-inspired Plotting the Stars middle grade series perfect for fans of The City of Ember and Divergent.
Plotting the Stars 1: MOONGARDEN
AVAILABLE NOW WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD
Centuries ago, Earth’s plants turned deadly, and humanity took to space to cultivate new homes. Myra Hodger is in her first year at an elite school on the Moon, and she’s crumbling under the pressure. She doesn’t fit in and, worse, the tattoos that signal her Number Whisperer magic aren’t developing. In her heart, she knows she doesn’t have a Creer, and soon everyone else will, too.
Wandering the halls while cutting class, she discovers a secret lab hidden behind one of the unused classrooms and, beyond that, a secret garden overflowing with plants. Dangerous toxic plants.
As she learns more about the garden, Myra begins to wonder if she does have a Creer after all—one that died out when the Earth did. One that could help solve the food shortages the government doesn’t want anyone to know about.
Re-envisioning The Secret Garden for a new generation, Moongarden weaves together STEAM themes and intense social pressures in a stunning series starter, and introduces a dynamic heroine who might just grow a revolution.
Praise for Moongarden
The Secret Garden meets The City of Ember as an unlikely heroine confronts loneliness and crippling parental expectations, finding her seed of courage to weed out an intergalactic government conspiracy tied to failed climate change policy in this STEM-inspired series starter.
"The storytelling is immersive and engrossing, touching on environmental issues, class structure and prejudice, and the struggle to find one’s truest self. Readers will be eager for the next installment in this marvelous, magical universe."
—Booklist, starred review
Debut author Barry smoothly incorporates contemporary—and perhaps perennial—issues of elite education, pressure to succeed, corporate corruption, class divides, systemic prejudice, and environmental depredation while delivering a boarding school story in a believable off-world setting.
Nicely realized, intriguingly complex, and well set up for sequels.
—KIRKUS
"Moongarden blooms with heart and adventure. A stellar update of The Secret Garden, woven with a little science-fiction, a lot of magic, a vibrant heroine, and a plucky robot sidekick to rival R2D2."
—Victoria Aveyard, New York Times bestselling author
THE BACKSTORY
Michelle Barry was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, though she was later cajoled over the border into Connecticut by her future husband, where she has been happily residing for many years. She holds a degree in Communications from Salve Regina University and has worked as a newspaper reporter, freelance writer and editor, and marketing professional. She currently lives in Connecticut with her charming husband and their two delightful children. Moongarden is her first novel.
“I am sure there is Magic in everything, only we have not sense enough to get hold of it and make it do things for us.”
― FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT, THE SECRET GARDEN
Contact
Mail to: PO Box 346, Granby, CT 06035
Represented by Moe Ferrara of BookEnds Literary Agency
https://bookendsliterary.com