New Jenny Grant Covers

June 1879: Introduces family, logging and mill operations. Last day of school. June, and all it does is rain. The rain ends up with the Puyallup River overrunning its banks, trapping Jenny and her brothers, as well as their “nemesis” Marshall Dickson. To complicate matters, a log jam closes the river, threatening all of the settlements inland from the riverbank. The logjam must be broken up, but unknown to the lumberjacks, a group of kids are nearby . . . and so on. A fan, Valerie K, came up with some good plot ideas. I like this one a lot: After the explosion Jenny and Micah get swept away and cling to a floating tree, while Gideon and Marshall are stranded on a log island. She added a lot of back story that I didn’t have room to put here.

Mount Rainier Rescue? The Grant family could take an overnight trip to Mount Rainier to celebrate Jenny’s bday. A few sunny days makes it all worthwhile, but hiking near the mountain has its dangers–the glaciers are melting fast, which cuts off the family’s return home . . . and so on.

July 1879: Something strange is going on at the old, abandoned Point Defiance military area. It’s a favorite place for Jenny and her brothers to ride and explore. But dead animals are being used as a warning to “stay away!” When the kids discover huge, ape-like footprints on the muddy trails, things really start to heat up. Is this creature the sasquits that Jenny’s Salish (Indian) friend insists it is? What do you do when Jenny’s older brothers and even her parents brush it off as “legend nonsense.” A fan, Lily L., suggested Jenny and Gideon get lost in the woods. This is a good idea, as it would lead them to places they ought not to stick their noses into. An abandoned campfire/site would make them quite suspicious.

Or give me a title that goes with this cover and a one-sentence summary. It needs to be set in the woods, but not necessarily in Point Defiance. The forests are everywhere, so the kids don’t have to go far to find the woods. But Point Defiance butts right up to the water (a huge bluff overlooks the Sound), so I thought it might be a good setting. Other titles and summaries?

August 1879: Reading history, I discovered that a fire tore through the center of Vashon Island in the late 1800s. Jenny & brothers are caught too close and need to make their escape off the island (where they were expressly forbidden to go, due to the fact that their little skiff (a homemade sailboat built by Micah) is not that watertight or sound. They are only supposed to sail near the shoreline, but of course, Micah and Jenny want to try their luck with sailing, and after all, Vashon Island is not very far from Tacoma . . . especially if they set sail from Pount Defiance (it’s a 20-minute ferry ride today).

The kids make it to the island and end up in the middle of a frantic evacuation–the smoke from the forest fire can be seen from the mainland. They get in the skiff and try to sail back to Commencement Bay, but the current and a sudden storm takes them through the Narrows and far to the south. (I’ve been in a boat when the motor gave out, and we had to be rescued by the Coast Guard. That current is strong!) How do they get home?

January 1880: After a horrendous storm, Jenny and sidekick Micah discover a weatherbeaten chest on the beach half buried in the sand. Inside is  valuable–??? Silver tea set? Jeweled necklace? A card with a name and a long-ago date? Due to the business being shut down for an unusually long fire season, family needs the money it will bring. But the right thing to do is to find out if there are rightful heirs to the plunder. Or they could even find a washed-up person–ragged clothing? A lady? Maybe she’s lost her memory and the kids help her find her family?

Maybe it’s pirate plunder? Smugglers? Let me hear your thoughts!

June 1880: My friend Colleen just jotted down a bunch of ideas for this. Anyone care to expand?

A lazy or careless logger is fired. He vows revenge. Starts sabotage. Puts equipment out of commission or better, starts a fire that sets the forest aflame and endangers lives. (wild men and wild animals disrupting camp) Logger’s Rodeo?

Horses pulling the logging wagons. Eli is managing, but the load shifts and the logs start falling. Horses startle, traces and reins snap. Horses break free. Load injures someone? Has it been sabotaged? And if so, by whom? And why?

A flume to the river? Riding the flume?

August-September 1880, From Colleen: The last thing Jenny Grants wants is to be shipped off to a private girls’ school in San Francisco. It is worse than she expects. Snobby girls look down on her for being a logger’s daughter in a place many of them believe is so wild and backwoodsy that folks are in danger of being scalped by Indians. She finally makes  a good friend—only to have her move away. Just when Jenny is at her lowest ebb, Andi Carter arrives (and clearly that is at the end of the book).

From Emma (fan): Jenny gets in trouble for playing hooky from school to watch her father’s lumberjacks fell the biggest tree this side of Puget Sound. It gets even worse when Jenny is almost crushed by the tree. At the same time, her parents receive a letter from a close friend (Mrs. M thinks Grandmama could visit just as this is happening, and as a result of her shock at such behavior, could recommend the school for young ladies in SF). Jenny is shipped to the school soon afterward. Jenny travels by steamship to San Francisco. She befriends the captain of the ship and soon learns to pilot the ship. They reach their destination and she is picked up by the worst possible person- Rebecca Carter. Then on the first day at school, Jenny is in trouble for climbing a tree and being late for supper. Jenny feels very alone and wishes to be home. Just when she can bear it no longer, a dark-haired girl her age moves to the school and is her roomate. The girl’s name? Miss Andrea Rose Carter.