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A whimsical middle-grade adventure about a young girl, a wacky museum, and a local monster, exploring the transformative power of imagination.
For kids ages 8-10 who love Rebecca Stead and Dan Gemeinhart!
Every year, 10-year-old Meridian spends her summer with Grandpa Frank on Wide Eye Lake, where she helps out at his quirky museum dedicated to the mysterious Wide Eye monster.
But this year, something is different. Tasked with organizing the museum's old files, Meridian stumbles across more than just faded photos and scribbled sightings of mysterious paw prints. Hidden among the clutter are some old mementos that unlock a long-buried family secret-one that turns her entire world upside down.
Not only does Meridian have a family mystery to solve, but this summer she has to avoid 2 prankster classmates who just so happen to be vacationing nearby. Summer at Wide Eye Lake really isn't turning out to be the magical escape it used to be. Can Meridian rediscover the magic of the lake and the local stories she once loved, or will her family be forever changed?
Wide Eye is a heartwarming, family-focused middle-grade adventure that explores the power of imagination and the healing nature of friendship. Jennifer Liss has worked in educational publishing for 20 years. She has written dozens of books for struggling readers, and is the 2022 recipient of the merit-based Highlights Foundation Lee Bennett Hopkins Scholarship. Jennifer lives in California and enjoys spending time in small, out-of-the-way towns like Wide Eye, that harbour lots of secrets. Nobody knew for sure how Wide Eye Lake got its name. Some said that it came from the first white settlers who were struck wide-eyed with its beauty, while others said it came from the lake's strangely symmetrical, eye- like shape. Ten-year-old Meridian Cunningham-Frank insisted the name came from the monster itself, with its large, glowing eyes.
She wasn't the only one. Frank Frank, her grandpa, did too.
Meridian and her grandpa co-managed the museum at Wide Eye Lake, where she should have been going, this first Saturday morning of summer. But Meridian's mom, Lupine Frank, was holed up in her bedroom, like always, doing who knows what.
Slumped against her duffle bag in the hallway, Meridian stared at her parents' half-closed door. She fiddled with her necklace of monster teeth, tapping them against each other like beads on an abacus.
For as long as Meridian could remember, her summer plan unfolded in the same way. First, Meridian and her mom drove the four hours and twenty minutes to Wide Eye Lake, while Meridian's dad, Christopher Cunningham, stayed behind to play pickleball and work his job as a regional assistant sales associate, whatever that meant. Her mom, a freelance cookbook illustrator, could draw roasted carrots and minced dill anywhere. While Meridian assumed her museum duties, her mom trekked off alone to a remote shack deep in the woods of the Wide Eye Lake basin. What did Lupine do by herself in the forest for most of the summer? Meridian didn't ask because her mom wasn't exactly known for her detailed responses. She was like the dented desktop safe Meridian had bought for a buck at a garage sale. Punching in the right passcode didn't always get you in.
Furthermore, while Meridian loved her mom, loved to watch the way she could magically make a stroke of cobalt paint become a ripe blueberry, loved to bury her face in her mom's frizzy hair, she didn't need Lupine or Christopher over the summer. She had Grandpa Frank Frank and a responsibility, a big one.
Meridian's summer plan, tried and true.
But now she loitered in the hallway, willing her mom to emerge, willing the summer plan to commence. Her parents spoke in hushed voices.
"You know I love the big weirdo and he's always treated me like a son, as different as we are. But Meridian is getting older and-"
Lupine interrupted. "And what, Christopher?" Meridian heard
For kids ages 8-10 who love Rebecca Stead and Dan Gemeinhart!
Every year, 10-year-old Meridian spends her summer with Grandpa Frank on Wide Eye Lake, where she helps out at his quirky museum dedicated to the mysterious Wide Eye monster.
But this year, something is different. Tasked with organizing the museum's old files, Meridian stumbles across more than just faded photos and scribbled sightings of mysterious paw prints. Hidden among the clutter are some old mementos that unlock a long-buried family secret-one that turns her entire world upside down.
Not only does Meridian have a family mystery to solve, but this summer she has to avoid 2 prankster classmates who just so happen to be vacationing nearby. Summer at Wide Eye Lake really isn't turning out to be the magical escape it used to be. Can Meridian rediscover the magic of the lake and the local stories she once loved, or will her family be forever changed?
Wide Eye is a heartwarming, family-focused middle-grade adventure that explores the power of imagination and the healing nature of friendship. Jennifer Liss has worked in educational publishing for 20 years. She has written dozens of books for struggling readers, and is the 2022 recipient of the merit-based Highlights Foundation Lee Bennett Hopkins Scholarship. Jennifer lives in California and enjoys spending time in small, out-of-the-way towns like Wide Eye, that harbour lots of secrets. Nobody knew for sure how Wide Eye Lake got its name. Some said that it came from the first white settlers who were struck wide-eyed with its beauty, while others said it came from the lake's strangely symmetrical, eye- like shape. Ten-year-old Meridian Cunningham-Frank insisted the name came from the monster itself, with its large, glowing eyes.
She wasn't the only one. Frank Frank, her grandpa, did too.
Meridian and her grandpa co-managed the museum at Wide Eye Lake, where she should have been going, this first Saturday morning of summer. But Meridian's mom, Lupine Frank, was holed up in her bedroom, like always, doing who knows what.
Slumped against her duffle bag in the hallway, Meridian stared at her parents' half-closed door. She fiddled with her necklace of monster teeth, tapping them against each other like beads on an abacus.
For as long as Meridian could remember, her summer plan unfolded in the same way. First, Meridian and her mom drove the four hours and twenty minutes to Wide Eye Lake, while Meridian's dad, Christopher Cunningham, stayed behind to play pickleball and work his job as a regional assistant sales associate, whatever that meant. Her mom, a freelance cookbook illustrator, could draw roasted carrots and minced dill anywhere. While Meridian assumed her museum duties, her mom trekked off alone to a remote shack deep in the woods of the Wide Eye Lake basin. What did Lupine do by herself in the forest for most of the summer? Meridian didn't ask because her mom wasn't exactly known for her detailed responses. She was like the dented desktop safe Meridian had bought for a buck at a garage sale. Punching in the right passcode didn't always get you in.
Furthermore, while Meridian loved her mom, loved to watch the way she could magically make a stroke of cobalt paint become a ripe blueberry, loved to bury her face in her mom's frizzy hair, she didn't need Lupine or Christopher over the summer. She had Grandpa Frank Frank and a responsibility, a big one.
Meridian's summer plan, tried and true.
But now she loitered in the hallway, willing her mom to emerge, willing the summer plan to commence. Her parents spoke in hushed voices.
"You know I love the big weirdo and he's always treated me like a son, as different as we are. But Meridian is getting older and-"
Lupine interrupted. "And what, Christopher?" Meridian heard