I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the MOONGARDEN by Michelle A. Barry Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
Michelle A. Barry grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts, and was later cajoled over the border into Connecticut by her future husband. She 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.
Title: MOONGARDEN (Plotting the Stars #1)
Author: Michelle A. Barry
Pub. Date: November 1, 2022
Publisher: Pixel+Ink
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 368
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 R2-D2." —Victoria Aveyard, New York Times bestselling author of Red Queen The Secret Garden meets The City of Ember. Failed climate change policy, an intergalactic conspiracy, and the magical, unlikely heroine who could unearth it all. An explosive STEAM- inspired series starter perfect for young change makers.
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.
Plotting the Stars 1: Moongarden
By Michelle A. Barry
Excerpt for Rockstar Book Tours
CHAPTER ONE
Second Month, 2448
I peer through the door at the lone empty seat in the classroom—my empty seat. When most kids cut class, they get as far away as possible, and I will, too. But first I like to check and see if they notice I’m missing. Or listen to what the other kids say when I’m not there.
A chime pings through invisible speakers embedded in the walls. I crouch just out of sight.
Our teacher, a Number Whisperer like my parents, glances around the class. Light from one of the overhead panels glints off the pin clasped to her chest, mirroring the flash in her eyes as they settle on the one empty workstation in the rows and rows of seats.
“Has anyone seen Myra Hodger today?” Ms. Goble’s dark braid whips off her shoulder as she scans the room, looking for the flicker of a hand.
There isn’t one. I knew there wouldn’t be.
“She’s probably off inventing some new algorithm to teleport us all back to the Old World,”
some round-faced, curly-haired boy calls. Other kids snicker, and I roll my eyes.
“We don’t need to teleport back, genius,” I whisper. We have ships that could take us from the Lunar Colony to the Old World. That’s not the problem. It’s the fact that we can’t breathe theair there anymore.
Ms. Goble waits for another moment, then makes an entry on the school-issued pendant
hanging around her neck. Walking to the front of the class, she twists her braid into a tight bun
beneath her ear and settles into the lesson. The laughter dies away. The class watches in a
mixture of awe and envy as she swipes her hand through the air, leaving a trail of complicated-
looking formulas glowing in its wake.
I quickly decipher the theory outlined in the misty, floating numbers. Contouring decimal
equations. Easy stuff for most of the class, an assortment of twelve-year-old wannabe Number Whisperers. They’re called that because hundreds of years ago, before we knew about the fusion of magic and science, people used to say the numbers whispered to a chosen few, telling them their secrets.
Convinced no more questions about my absence are looming, I back away from the door and set off down the hall with my head held high and my steps brisk but not rushed. Rule Number One of cutting class is to always act like you know exactly where you’re going.
I don’t. I never do.
Excerpt from Plotting the Stars 1: Moongarden / Text copyright © 2022 by Michelle A. Barry.
Reproduced by permission from Pixel+Ink. All rights reserved.
1 winner will receive a finished copy of MOONGARDEN, US Only.
End November 8th, midnight EST.
