TITLE: SECRET
GENRE: MG SECRET
The trouble started with a stone. Not the pebbles that shot up from Tristan Matterhorn’s giant footsteps and lodged in his sneakers. Something bigger. He pounded over the hard-packed playground toward the street. Why’d you have to bring a rock to school, Clara?
He knew the answer: she couldn’t help it. She was only the latest in a long line of mineral-obsessed Matterhorns. Chunks of quartz, granite, and lava lined the windowsills and the potted plants in their house. Even the back of the toilet. They perched on every surface like mute gray toads.
Needles of rain pricked Tristan’s eyes. He veered across a gravel parking strip. The last school bus roared past, a cloud of exhaust lingering in its wake. Despite the cool spring shower, he began to sweat.
“Heard your big sister cracked a window during one of her tantrums,” Oliver Diamond had whispered in Social Studies, the
Miss Snark's First Victim
Fantasy Adventure
ReplyDeleteFeel like the stones will have magical properties :)
Fantasy
ReplyDeleteThe first line made me think that.
I can't tell, but I'd guess historical or contemporary.
ReplyDeleteFantasy.
ReplyDeleteSo much to mine in this story!
Contemporary (though there is a underlying fantasy tension, IDK yet)
ReplyDeleteContemporary adventure.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this could be the real-world set up for a Percy Jackson type of fantasy.
Contemporary Mystery
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna guess there's something special about that stone, and someone will try and steal it.
Fantasy. The names (Matterhorn, Diamond) make me think this is going in a Fantasy direction.
ReplyDeleteFantasy, I think it could be a family of giants.
ReplyDeletecontemporary
ReplyDeletesounds like a family that doesn't quite fit
Adventure
ReplyDeleteA special kid with special stones that lives adventure in his head
Adventure or mystery. I think the giant footsteps are making people think fantasy. But the schoolyard, bus, and social studies set this in current times for me. And having rocks all around the house is normal for families with geology/mineral/fossil hobbies.
ReplyDeleteContemporary.
ReplyDeleteThe stones seemed like it could end up being fantasy but that's just a guess -- the setting and hints at conflict both point to contemporary for me. Also, love that first line!
Contemporary. I was thinking it was about a quirky family, but I can see why people would think fantasy too.
ReplyDeleteThank you, everyone, for your guesses and your explanations - it's been very enlightening! This is the current beginning of my MG fantasy-adventure, "The Rift in the Rock."
ReplyDelete