Tout Est Bien Qui Finit Bien

The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes #3

by Anne Mazer

Stuck in the middle of her super-accomplished family, Abby Hayes keeps searching for her own moment to shine. Could the school production of Peter Pan give her a chance to show her stuff?

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Chapter Books, Contemporary, Juvenile

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2000

About the author

Quite a lot of Anne Mazer’s writing education took place while she was unconscious. Her parents wanted desperately to become writers and made themselves get up at 4:00 a.m. Every morning in order to have writing time before their three young children awoke. The first thing Anne heard every day was two big, noisy electric typewriters. The furious sound of typing was her childhood wake-up music. During the day, her parents endlessly discussed ideas, plot, and character, and before she was seven years old, Anne knew about revisions, first and second drafts, and rejection slips. It was like growing up in a twenty four hour, seven day a week writer’s boot camp.

In order to escape from her parents’ obsession with writing, Anne turned to books. She was an avid reader from an early age and credits her love of reading for her writing career. Her favorite works were fantasy, fairy tales, historical fiction, humor, realistic fiction, and adventure. Her other interests were language, art, history, and science. At the age of twelve, she wanted to be an actress, a ballerina and a nuclear physicist. These careers were rapidly eliminated as she realized that a) she couldn’t dance, b) she couldn’t act; and c) she hated math.

Although at the time Anne thought writing was nothing but a nuisance, she now considers herself very lucky to have grown up with two aspiring writers. She learned a lot about discipline, perseverance and dedication to a craft from witnessing her parents’ struggle. They eventually became successful and award-winning young adult novelists.

It took Anne a long time to figure out that she, too, wanted to be a writer. During early adulthood, she worked as an au pair, a bank teller, a pill bottle labeler, a receptionist, an English tutor, and an administrative assistant, as well as other jobs that she was ill-suited for. She attended three universities, spent several years in Paris, traveled throughout Europe, and worked in Boston and New York City.

Anne’s “eureka” moment about writing came while she prepared a research report for one of her bosses. As she lovingly polished each sentence, and meticulously organized the paragraphs, she realized that no one really cared how beautifully she wrote about the latest models of air-conditioners. Except her, of course.

Using her parents’ model of daily writing and discipline, she began to write. It took her seven years to publish her first book, a picture book inspired by her then two year old son, Max.

Anne is the mother of an adult son and daughter. Over the last twenty years, she has written over forty-five books for young readers. She has enough ideas to last for another quarter century and hopes that she will be writing for a very long time.

Fun Facts About Anne Mazer

Her favorite foods are popcorn, rice pudding and blueberries.
When she was a kid, she would sometimes read up to ten books a day.
If she had magic powers, she'd choose invisibility.
She painted the rooms in her house yellow, orange, and violet.
One of her favorite childhood books was The Twilight of Magic, by Hugh Lofting.
When Anne was a teenager, her room was so messy that she needed a map to get from the door to the bed. (sort of)
In school Anne often flunked her favorite creative subjects, like writing and art.

Reviews

[Haley Hoch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like these series alot! They give me a break on all of the fantasy books like Twilight, and those books, these are good books. When I am sick of Fantasy books (Twilight, ETC) I come to these books!
Or simply I just read them for fun!

[Ren · Rating 4 out of 5]

my childhood once again :')

[Edward Creter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abby Hayes is still in 5th grade...and still kickin it for fans of all ages. In this one, her sisters still argue, and everyone in the Hayes Clan is still more talented than her...but all that is about to change. Abby is trying out for the play version of Peter Pan, which I would've found questionable at best. After all, Peter Pan is a boy threatened with death by older man Captain Hook and the Lost Boys--mere kids--kill off older gent pirates but since it's a kids' classic, I think it's cool. Who knows? Abby's classmate Natalie could be the Mary Martin of her day, and some lissom "pro" ballerina could be a good Wendy (imagine the scene with the "special kiss". And PETER played by a GIRL? Odd, I know.). Abby needs some self-confidence stat, and her creative writing teacher could give her the boost she needs. Wonderful addition to the Abby Hayes canon...even if it honors that bothersome Pan. (Does the croc still have too much time on his hands...and in his MOUTH? Lol.)

[M Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book that is for young readers but can be enjoyed by teens as well. In this installation, Abby's class is performing Peter Pan and she does not know which character to play. On top of that, she is jealous of one of her friends' acting abilities and knows that if she wants to play a main character she will likely be competing against the self-proclaimed best actress in the class (the ever-bragging Brianna). Join Abby as she finds her identity and learns that you don't always have to be onstage to be famous.

[Ck]

This is one of my favorite Abby Hayes books so far. I did like that the story wasn't what you thought at first. Abby and her calendars, the one that I laughed the most about was on Chapter 6 "Genius is patience" - Paper Clip Calendar.. and Abby writes in her journal "Oh yeah? Without patience, nothing would ever get done" and that is very true! lol

[Melz (mele) manako · Rating 3 out of 5]

i think its very inspiring and friendly what happens in the start is that abby was exited about the peter pan play and the whole school is in it and at the end it talks about how the good luck actually worked on her cause she was really good at it.:)

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

How is Abby Hayes supposed to stand out, considering that one sister's a genius, the other one's a superathlete, and her younger brother's a child prodigy? Abby takes comfort in her journal-and that is exactly where her own special talents shine.

[Alayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love this book and it reminds me of jillian and i when we did the play alice in wonderland. And i know how people could get jelouse just like in this book.

[Abbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok, i have to admit one of the reasons i love the "Abby Hayes" books is that she has my name. but i really used to read all of those books in fourth grade.

[✿ ~Yessenia~♥︎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok not that bad of a book has interesting part good for grades 3-5 nice with vocabalary and grammar fun.

[Anna Hardesty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved these books when I was in elementary school. They're a great read for girls of that age. They're funny too. (:

[Anjelica Juarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

a well done book

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't want to like it-- but I did. 2nd grade girls love this series, and I see why. Abby's creative and silly and I'm buying the books for my library...

[pinky]

if u luv acting...........

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was probably the best out of the ones i have read

[Tori · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thougt this was cool explaining!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have read twice! Read a couple weeks ago....
Really good! Abby gets an amazing chance, so read on!!!

[Melissa Nunez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in febuary 5 , 2009 . I found this book in Ms,. Woodards new book bin .

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay, and an easy read about a classroom who puts on a play;the play was Peter Pan.

[Muneeba · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice dairy type

[Marissa Lipschutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good book and I love how much abby is like me!

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I like the realism in these books. Glad things don't always work out perfectly and teaches the readers that sometimes things stink but you can still get past it.

[Mustang · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked this book because she changed the whole sript.And she tryed out for peter pan and did not get the role she was a little up set then she got over it

[Rachel Bush · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abby is so amazing she is a ten year old girl and she was going to be in a school play. Called Peter Pan.She wanted to be Wendy but she didn't get to be.

[Kris DeLabio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Series. Part journal, part story. All the adventures of Abby, her family and friends.

[Michelle Kidwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute kids book, good for middle readers, I think many kids will enjoy this book!
In Christs Love
Michelle~

[Rosaleen Leclair]

I thought this book was great. It taught me something very important. I'm loving the series so far.

[stars4000 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very good. I think that Abby was an awesome star. She tried her best on rewriting Peter Pan and she did amazing. This book is all about hard work and it is awesome!!!!!!!!

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite part of this book was seeing Abby acting the different characters of Peter Pan, and trying to "become" inanimate objects. She was so funny!

[Natalie Tulone · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like drama then read this book.