Keep Running, Maggie McRooney

Twelve-year-old Maggie McRooney wants to win the very first sixth-grade poetry contest. She wants to win the blue ribbon. After all, she’s written dozens of poems, and everyone tells her she’s a gifted poet. But life gets in Maggie’s way. She misses her big brother who’s a soldier in Vietnam, and she’s tired of dealing with her annoying kid brother, the Little Mosquito. Then there’s Katrina Lucas, Queen of the Meanies, who takes pleasure in bullying Maggie, especially in front of Maggie’s first crush, Tommy Vidalis. Her Lithuanian grandmother comes to live with Maggie’s family after a car accident, and that means sharing her bedroom with her kid brother. You’ve got to be kidding! What teenager wants to share her bedroom with her little brother?
What could possibly make Maggie’s life worse? The unthinkable … writer’s block! Will Maggie ever be able to burst through that writer’s block and write a winning poem? And will she ever be able to stand up to the bully Katrina?