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What to expect

The co-author of Watch Us Rise pens a novel in verse about all the good and bad that comes with middle school, growing up girl, and the strength of family that gets you through it.

Beatrice Miller may have a granny’s name (her granny's, to be more specific), but she adores her Mamaw and her mom, who give her every bit of wisdom and love they have. But the summer before seventh grade, Bea wants more than she has, aches for what she can't have, and wonders what the future will bring.

This novel in verse follows Beatrice through the ups and downs of friendships, puberty, and identity as she asks: Who am I? Who will I become? And will my outside ever match the way I feel on the inside?

A gorgeous, inter-generational story of Southern women and a girl's path blossoming into her sense of self, Reckless, Glorious, Girl explores the important questions we all ask as we race toward growing up.

Critics Review

  • With a beautifully drawn cast of intergenerational characters, Reckless, Glorious, Girl is a joyful, poetic celebration of family, friendship, and growing up.

    Kate Messner, author of CHIRP and BREAKOUT
  • In Reckless, Glorious, Girl, Hagan’s Kentucky leaps off the page with its finger-licking food, Southern charm, and most of all its homegrown, Bardstown girl, Beatrice, who is down to earth but also ready to take flight buoyed by the fierce and unwavering love from her family and best friends. Poignant and heartwarming–a glorious debut.

    Renée Watson, Newbery Honor-winning and and New York Times bestselling author of PIECING ME TOGETHER and SOME PLACES MORE THAN OTHERS
  • Ellen Hagan’s gorgeous novel in verse is a thoughtful, relatable family story, the kind of book that you talk to, because the characters are your friends, your family, the people you know and love–and maybe the ones you don’t love so much, at least not all the time. Reckless, Glorious Girl is bursting with humor, heart, and deep joy.

    Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, author of TWO NAOMIS, NAOMIS TOO, and 8TH GRADE SUPER ZERO
  • An introspective, sensitive tale that readers can grow along with.

    Kirkus Reviews
  • Hagan’s keen understanding of adolescent preoccupations will be enough to hook many.

    Booklist
  • Hagan’s intergenerational family story offers an engaging slant on familiar early adolescent growing pains.

    Publishers Weekly

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