Finding Serendipity: Chapters 1-5

By Angelica Banks

Download the first five chapters of FINDING SERENDIPITY for FREE!

When Tuesday McGillycuddy and her beloved dog, Baxterr, discover that Tuesday's mother—the famous author Serendipity Smith—has gone missing, they set out on a magical adventure. In their quest to find Serendipity, they discover the mysterious and unpredictable place that stories come from. Here, Tuesday befriends the fearless Vivienne Small, learns to sail an enchanted boat, tangles with an evil pirate, and discovers the truth about her remarkable dog. Along the way, she learns what it means to be a writer and how difficult it can sometimes be to get all the way to The End.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Dec 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9781466885240

Angelica Banks

Angelica Banks is not one writer but two. Heather Rose and Danielle Wood are both award-winning authors of adult literary fiction and have been friends for years. They had much more fun than you can imagine writing Finding Serendipity and A Week Without Tuesday and spent a lot of time eating chocolate custard and strawberries.

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Contents

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Copyright

To BAFFIX,

Every day is magic.

And in memory of Axel Rooney, best of all dogs.

Chapter One

Good-bye, school shoes, said Tuesday McGillycuddy, dropping her battered black lace-ups into a bin full of lunch wraps and orange peel. It was the end of school, for the day, for the week, for the year. By the time school started again in eight whole weeks, even if those old shoes could be mended, she’d have grown right out of them.

From her bag, Tuesday took her beloved emerald green roller skates, slipped her feet into them, and firmly tied the laces. Then she hoicked her bag onto her back and coasted gleefully out the school gate, her gingery-blond braids drifting behind her. Tuesday was reasonably tall for her age, and fast on her roller skates. She zipped to the end of the street, turned left, carefully crossed a road, and glided into the leafy shade of City Park. Waiting for her by the fountain, as usual, was her dog, Baxterr, with a double r.

Baxterr was a smallish dog with a whiskery face and shaggy hair in every conceivable shade of brown. He trotted toward Tuesday, holding his leash in his mouth and waving the hairy curtain of his tail in greeting. Baxterr didn’t need a leash, of course, but he didn’t mind pretending if it helped keep Tuesday out of trouble with the City Park officials, who were fussy about dog leashes and litter and bicycles. Tuesday took Baxterr’s leash, and together they turned in the direction of home.

Hang on a minute, doggo, there’s something I need to do first, Tuesday said.

Rummaging in the compartments of her school bag, she found two coins, one gold and one silver. Although the gold one was bigger, and worth more, Tuesday felt certain that it was the silver one she should use. Wishes were silvery things. Maybe because wishes rhymed with fishes.

Tuesday held the silver coin tightly in her hand, as if she could somehow squeeze her wish into it. Then she solemnly cast it into the fountain, where it plinked into the water. Baxterr put his paws up on the stony rim of the fountain to watch. And all the while, Tuesday, with eyes scrunched and fists clenched, wished. Please, please, oh please. Finally the coin settled on the smooth tiles at the bottom of the fountain, next to all the other wishes that lay there. Baxterr pricked up his coarse-furred ears and looked at Tuesday quizzically.

Tuesday looked deeply into her dog’s golden-brown eyes. In the mirror of his pupils, she could see two tiny images of a girl with slightly messy braids, blue-green eyes, and eyebrows that had a tendency to scrunch together in puzzlement whenever she was thinking hard, which she often was.

Come on, Baxterr, you know wishes don’t come true if you tell, Tuesday said. Please, she had wished. Please, please, oh please, let today be the day that she finishes the book.

*   *   *

It was a year since Serendipity Smith’s last book, Vivienne Small and the Mountains of Margolov, had been published, and on that extraordinary day, lines of excited readers had snaked out of the doors of the bookshops of the world. There were children lined up along streets, around city blocks, down the middle of shopping centers, and out into car parks. A year later, almost everyone had read Vivienne Small and the Mountains of Margolov, and many knew the story by heart. Almost all the copies of Vivienne Small and the Mountains of Margolov were tatty and torn with loving, and everyone was desperate to know what would happen to Vivienne Small next.

Tuesday McGillycuddy loved Vivienne Small and her adventures as much as the next person. She couldn’t wait to have her very own copy of Serendipity Smith’s new book, which was going to be called Vivienne Small and the Final Battle.

Reviews for Finding Serendipity

[mcorbink · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful novel of a young girl becoming a writer. She finds herself inside her famous mother's novel, on the adventure of a lifetime.

[fingerpost_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really wanted to like this book a lot more than I did.Tuesday McGillicuddy is the daughter of the most famous writer in the world. When her mother is missing, apparently having departed the house out her fourth floor window, Tuesday goes to find her... in a magical land where stories are written. She ends up getting involved with the characters from her mother's book, which is evidently a sort of Peter Pan like story with a female character in the Peter Pan role.The fantasy elements were fun, but difficult to swallow. The more magical things there are in a book, the more difficult it is to pull off believably, and I don't think this one was terribly successful. Tuesday's personality was not well developed enough for the reader to care deeply about her. This is the start of a series. I hope the others improve. I do like the concept and will probably read the second book to see if it gets better.(Irrelevant side note: Vivienne Small is described as having a pointed ear on the right side but not the left. Her picture on the cover of the book is correct. In all of the illustrations within the book, it is her left ear that is pointed.)

[cwidderick · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a Fantasy book, about a girl named Tuesday trying to find her mum in a world that her mum wrote a book about. Tuesday gets lost in the world. At the same time her mum has come home. I would recommend it to Year 5.

[anyaejo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So delightful! If you're an aspiring author of any age, you can't miss this one, it's also great for fan of fan fiction ;). Really wonderful writing and present parents, just a winning mg all around!

[breony-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Definitely describes the process of writing, being stuck, the excitement of the adventure, the pressures of being a well known writer. It opens the doors to what its like to be a writer for young readers. Some very sweet and beautifully written parts. Easily read. Themes for thought before recommendation include: deceit, blackmail, some g rated torture and blood, decription of a 'dead body".

[foggidawn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tuesday's family seems ordinary to most observers, but that's because they don't know the truth: Tuesday's mother is the world-famous novelist Serendipity Smith. Tuesday loves her mom's stories, but her favorite times are when her mom is not writing and the family can enjoy time together. On the evening of the last day of school, Tuesday enters her mother's writing room, hoping to find that her mother has finished her book and family vacation can commence. Instead, Tuesday finds her mother missing, with only a mysterious thread and an open window as clues to her whereabouts. Following the thread, Tuesday finds herself in the world of story, where she's convinced her mother is being held hostage by the villain of her books. Can Tuesday rescue her mother, or will her efforts ruin the story and trap both of them there for good?I liked this story well enough while reading it, though it has a few weaknesses in writing and plot. I think kids in grades 3-6 will really enjoy this story, though I probably wouldn't recommend it to most adult readers -- if you like the premise, try a different series about a woman named for a day of the week: Thursday Next.