The Next Great Jane

by K.L. Going

Jane Brannen wants nothing more than to become a famous author like Jane Austen--she just needs to figure out the key to literary success! Her chance to uncover the secret arrives when famous author J. E. Fairfax visits the tiny lobster town of Whickett Harbor, Maine. Unfortunately, a hurricane rolls in and Jane gets stuck with the author's snobbish son, Devon, instead. But when the skies clear, Jane realizes the wind has blown in something worse than annoying boys: Her mother, Susan, and Susan's new fiancé, Erik, have flown all the way from Hollywood to file for custody and bring Jane back to California. Now she needs to find a mate for her marine biologist father and figure out what's truly important about Whickett Harbor, so she can prove to her mother that this is where she's meant to stay.

Genres: Middle Grade, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Young Adult, Childrens, Family

240 pages, Hardcover

First published May 19, 2020

About the author

K.L. Going is the award winning author of numerous books for children and teens. Her first novel, Fat Kid Rules the World was named a Michael Printz Honor Book by the American Library Association, and was included on YALSA’s Best Books for Young Adults list and their list of Best Books for the Past Decade. Her books have been Booksense picks, Scholastic Book Club choices, Junior Library Guild selections, NY Public Library Best Books for the Teenage, and winners of state book awards. They’ve been featured by Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Children's Book Council as Best Books of the year. Her work has also been published in Korea, Italy, Japan, Germany, and the UK, and her novel Fat Kid Rules the World is soon to be an independent film!

K.L. began her career working at one of the oldest literary agencies in New York City. She used this inner knowledge of publishing to write Writing and Selling the Young Adult Novel -- a how-to book for aspiring writers, published by Writer's Digest. She has also written short stories for several anthologies and currently has multiple picture books under contract. She lives in Glen Spey, NY where she both writes and runs a business critiquing manuscripts. She’s also a mom to the world’s cutest little boy.

To visit KL on-line go to www.klgoing.com, www.facebook.com/klgoing, or at http://twitter.com/#!/KLGoing.

Reviews

[Jessica - How Jessica Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve always, always wanted to go to Maine, so I loved that Jane, who is 12, and who wants to be an author like Jane Austen; lives with her single father — a plankton researcher — in a tiny Maine harbor town.

I learned a lot about plankton and I loved the nods to Pride and Prejudice. It was a super cute book and I’m so glad we read it together. #greatjanereadalong

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a fun middle grade novel with some Jane Austen references....lack of any knowledge of Jane Austen won't hinder your enjoyment in reading this book. Can't wait to recommend this to my students.

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A determined writer and a haughty science geek find themselves stuck together during a hurricane. When the wind winds down and the rain stops falling, they find their lives ever complicated by that day.

Jane's voice shines through brightly in The Next Great Jane. She knows who she is. She knows she loves her small seaside town of Whickett Harbor. Most of all, she knows she loves her father and couldn't bare to be taken away from him. I felt like I really got to know why Jane loved her small town. I could imagine myself smelling the sea air which added to a wonderful atmosphere that reminded me of summer in Florida. The added environmental discussion was surprisingly interesting as I was not bored reading about plankton. Who would have thought? The tenuous relationship between Jane and her mother was well thought out. I was invested in seeing how her relationship with her mother would change throughout the story. At first, I thought her father's absent-mindedness with forgetting to buy food (Anna, the babysitter, stocked up their refrigerator) and his overall silliness in the beginning of the story would become a problem with me liking his character. However, you really see him as a strong and caring father figure in Jane's life later on in the story. I liked seeing Jane and Devon discovering that maybe you shouldn't judge someone right away because there might be more to them than first meets the eye. Lastly, Jane's writing progression was so well done. She had ups and downs when it came to her writing but ultimately it came together in the most perfect way.

The main weakness I found was that I would have liked to get more of Devon's side of things regarding his parent's divorce and his feelings on his absent father. His family dynamic mirrored Jane's so it would have been nice to see a conversation between him and his mother since he had some pent up frustrations towards her at the beginning of the story. Explorations of his brother and sister's thoughts and feelings would have been interesting too. Kitty was another figure that could have been examined more as well since she was raised by her grandmother and lost her parents. She could have added more layers within the story instead of just being an ordinary side character. However, I truly didn't think about this while I was reading. I was thoroughly immersed with K.L. Going's writing and enjoyed my reading experience.

The Next Great Jane was a wonderfully layered story with a focus on family, writing, environmentalism, and second chances set in the perfect seaside atmosphere of Whickett Harbor, Maine.

Thanks to Dial Books (Penguin Group) and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Next Great Jane in exchange for an honest review!

[Karen Arendt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, charming, and just a hint of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So stinking adorable! Great characters (even the “baddies” were kind of delightfully terrible (looking at you, Erik) and of course not really all that bad in the end), and I adored the Maine setting. Jane and her dad were such a great pair. Also - plankton! Who knew it was so interesting and important?! I loved it.

(Also, I actually don’t have a lot of Jane Austen knowledge and that in now way hindered my enjoyment!)

[Bethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. Such a wonderful book! A small town family story with an environmental flair, divorced parents, new kids at school, hurricane, famous author, and sprinkles of Jane Austen plot points throughout. Simply delightful how things wrap up!

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a gentle feel-good read involving Jane Austen, a custody battle, plankton, a small school, and a mostly hopeful take on climate change. I loved the dialogue and all of the supporting characters, and the plot was definitely very Austen-esque. I think would have actually liked the book to be longer. I didn't feel done with this setting or characters when the story ended.

[Rodica Gavril · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eu am citit ediția bilingvă română-engleză, "Jane și povestea perfectă", tradusă de Iulia Dromereschi și apărută la Editura Booklet Fiction în 2022 (https://booklet-fiction.ro/carti/jane...).
De fiecare dată când mă opresc asupra unei cărți pentru copii, adolescenți sau tineri, mă întreb dacă mai sunt la vârsta ... potrivită pentru ea! Și apoi, o voce mică (dar puternică), din interior, îmi spune: De ce nu?! Să fii copil, să te poți întoarce la copilărie, oricând, cu inima și mintea deschisă, adult fiind, nu e chiar atât de ușor și nu e pentru oricine!
Așa că, de fiecare dată, mă bucur că pot face această întoarcere în timp, intrând în universul atât de special al copilăriei și adolescenței! Iar această carte are și ceva aparte - e atât de directă, sinceră, simplă, firească, încât chiar ai impresia că e scrisă de un copil, precoce și hotărât să reușească, în ciuda problemelor cu care s-a confruntat, de-a lungul celor 12 ani ai săi.
Romanul este și o pledoarie excelentă pentru ecologia sustenabilă, transmisă, pentru înțelegere și receptare, în termenii simpli și firești de care are nevoie un copil. Tatăl lui Jane, oceanologul Emmett, doctor în planctologie și cercetător neobosit, pe teren și în laborator, îi spune fiicei sale:
"- Zână, Pământul este mai puternic și mai rezistent decât crezi tu. Problema nu este dacă lucrurile astea vor face rău planetei, ci nouă. [...] Viața pe Pământ nu va dispărea dacă se încălzește clima, dar anumite specii vor prospera, în timp ce altele vor muri, și am prefera să nu fim în a doua categorie. Dar nu ni se garantează nimic. [...] Dacă ne jucăm corect cărțile, am putea să ne mai câștigăm niște timp la nivel cosmic. Știi că de aceea muncesc atât de mult, nu? Muncesc pentru tine - ca tu și copiii tăi să puteți moșteni o lume la fel de frumoasă ca aceea în care am trăit noi.".
Cât despre versiunea bilingvă, cred că e benefică pentru cititori, mai ales (deși nu numai) pentru cei tineri, care pot descoperi ușor echivalențe și asocieri, învățând astfel mai ușor să se exprime în limba engleză. Pentru mine, a fost încă un mod de a înțelege și de a aprecia, o dată în plus, munca traducătorului, care reconstruiește întregul univers al cărţii în limba cititorului, fără să îi modifice semnificațiile și frumusețea!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just zipped through this whole book in about three hours. It was such a treat and reminded me of Heather Vogel Frederick’s Truly Lovejoy books. There was a lot going on in this book and the author weaves it all together beautifully: a plucky heroine, delightful nods to Jane Austen throughout, a small town and coastal setting, science and a fateful trip out to sea, school scenes and a faithful best friend, a little bit of romance, some family dynamics, a famous writer and advice to young writers, and more. I’ll definitely be re-reading this.

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-1/2 stars

This middle grade novel had a lot of good elements to it. . . great setting (coast of Maine), small harbor town, aspiring young writer, tension with relationships, some light romance, and a distant connection with Jane Austen.

Jane Brannen feels like she's missing the key to good writing, so she is ecstatic when a well-known writer shows up in Whickett Harbor. But along with this writer comes her uppity son, Devon, that Jane doesn't care for. Jane and Devon get thrown together in school and learn that first impressions aren't always lasting ones. Tossed in the mix is Jane's airhead mom who shows up in Whickett Harbor with her boyfriend Erik and decides it's time for Jane to come and live with her in Hollywood. But Jane has no intention of leaving her marine biologist father, Emmett, who's main love in life is plankton!

I thought the story read well, and had a great ending. It bogged down a bit in the parts where Emmett is explaining about plankton, but overall it was quite a satisfying read.

I saw this recommendation on one of Anne Bogel's sites.

[Tamara York · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A quick read set in a small town in Maine. The main character is a writer and deals with a new snooty family in town and her mother’s return for custody, mild Jane Austen references. This one would be more appealing to its targeted middle school audience. The setting and marine biology aspect were my favorite parts of the story. Younger readers would like the first date and aspiring writer themes.

[Maren bosley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a charming book! I loved that it wasn't too mature for the age group it was written for--and that the young characters were fun and innocent. I also appreciated the authors approach to honoring Jane Austen--just enough Austen to find charming but not too much that the story isn't it's own experience.

[Laura Bang · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those books that hit me closer than I expected.... I really loved Jane and her struggles with her parents and her writing craft. The small-town Maine setting was also great. The ending was very rushed, but overall it was still an enjoyable read. And I would have adored this as an earnest 12-year-old writer.

[Samantha Neeb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you #NetGalley for the eARC of #TheNextGreatJane. To me this was mostly a modern day middle grade Jane Austen book, except for the science. I really appreciated that the author gave a lot of insight into their science project, which allowed for the reader to learn new things, and move this beyond a modernized Jane Austen book.

[✨Arline✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super sweet and funny! If you have any appreciation for Jane Austen (especially P&P), then you’ll enjoy this book.

And no need to love plankton before you begin, bc you’ll at least appreciate it when you’re done. :)

[Erin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable middle grade! If you've got an aspiring young writer in your life, this is one to share for sure.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a love letter to Jane Austen, headstrong girls, and science. This is going to rock the world of just the right kind of reader.

[Carol (Reading Ladies) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhhh....this is a fun story! I especially love the writing and science themes! Perfect for daughters of Jane Austin fans!

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A middle-grade novel with well placed Jane Austen characters and references and a dad who loves plankton and climate change research, pretty much the perfect book for me.

[Casey Sitze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice story for young adults. Liked the Maine setting.

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. Great middle grade book with spunky female lead.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC through BookCon.
Jane is an aspiring writer who lives with her dad in a small coastal Maine town. She's thrilled when a well known romance writer comes to speak at their local library. Unfortunately, children are not allowed to attend the event. This launches the series of adventures that drives the rest of the book. Middle grade Jane tries to sneak back in the library through the attic. There she meets Devon who is hiding as his mom speaks. She dares him to go out in the storm which leads to both of them getting caught outside in a hurricane. The solution is to break into the library for safety. From there, the story builds on this relationship - hate may be close to love at that age, along with the drama of her mother returning from Hollywood with fiance in tow, eager to bring Jane back with her.
Readers will relate to the humor and frustrations as Jane figures out who she is and how to make her family see her needs and wants. Going creates likeable characters who show their flaws along with their strengths. She captures the small New England town feel with her descriptions. She wraps the story at just the right moment so readers can decide for themselves whether everything will be happy ever after or still challenges to come.

[Deja Roden · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In a sea of butterflies, I'd found a fellow crustacean"

This was a perfect read for me! As a chaste adult reader, it's books like this that continue to help me cultivate a love for reading. The world is a messy and ugly place, so when I wake up on a Sunday morning with my cup of coffee; I want to dive into a world of characters that I can root for and an ending that will wrap my little heart with a hug. Jane was smart and witty. She didn't whine about her trouble, and dug deep to be authentically herself. The children were actual children in this book. There was no language, sex or drugs. Do you know how refreshing it is to not see that among our youth? I enjoyed every common, every word and every plankton in this novel. Bravo K. L. Going!

"Fear is the opposite of love because when we're afraid, that's when we don't tell the truth. We try to be something we're not. And Jane," she said, very seriously, "writers must never lie."

[Rajiv · Rating 4 out of 5]

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This was such a cute story! As a fan of Jane Austen’s work, I loved how the author incorporated some themes from Austin’s novels into this book. The main reason this story works is because it focuses more on character’s personalities instead of the plot, similar to Austen’s novels.

The author wrote the characters very well!I loved Jane as the main character. She is complex and vulnerable, yet head strong to succeed. I loved her friendship with Devon as well. Devon and Jane reminded me of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice , and Jane’s date reminded me of Mr. Woodstock from Emma . Susan, Jane’s mother is also one of those character you just love to hate. Erik is hilarious and gave a humorous spin to the story.

Another reason why I really liked this story was on the interesting information provided on marine ecosystems. I had no any idea about plankton and how vital they are for our environment, until I read this book. I really wish that the author wrote my science books as well when I was in school because she makes science sound so interesting by highlighting the important of why they are important and what would happen without them.

The only criticism I have for the story is in the details. I wished it had been longer. Even after reading the story, I feel like we didn’t get to know any of the characters very well except Jane and her father. I wished we knew more about Devon at least, if not any of the other characters. Moreover, I also thought Ana was very complex who we don’t get to know.

Apart from that, I really enjoyed reading “The Next Big Jane” I know Jane Austin enthusiasts would also enjoy reading it.

[Megan Bowden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Girl growing up in small town Maine with a nerdy scientist father wants to become the next Jane Austen. What's not to love about that cute premise?

Unfortunately, this book strayed hard from that promise. Instead, it focused more her obnoxious, Hollywood starlet mom and her new fiancé coming to visit and Jane's attempts at trying to set her dad up on a date. And the two women she wants him to date? Her babysitter and her crush's mom. Ew! (Also I was constantly annoyed that the author kept referring to the dad as "old" when he is only 35. Jesus Christ.)

Not only are the "romances" in this book questionable and problematic, but so are the characters. Jane's best friend, Kitty, is into modeling and touts the fact that models shouldn't eat and is very materialistic. Her dad makes toxic jokes about wanting her to be successful as an author so she can take care of him in his old age. Her mother is a complete narcissist, whom her dad makes her play nice with because "she's your mom". Erik, the fiancé, is a total idiot, whom we are supposed to find charming and similar to "Bob" from Stranger Things, but is a merely a man-child. While I don't expect literary level characterization from children's books, everyone within is such a caricature that, even though this is realistic fiction, it feels so inherently false to real life.

I think that's because the author based her characters on tropes rather than taking inspiration from real life people. All the adults are painfully one-dimensional, dumb, and clueless--more so than all the twelve year olds. But the kids are inconsistent too. Jane reads books like Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations, but doesn't know the difference between a fajita and a frittata. Devon, the new kid is extremely pompous...until suddenly he's not (a very poor Mr. Darcy adaptation).

I would argue that this is not a book that challenges kids. In fact, I don't think it event meets them at their level. It writes down to the audience the whole way through. That, paired with the fact that it has very little to do with a girl's desire to become a great writer--the entire selling point of the book--makes this a total waste of time.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

RECOMMEND WITH CAUTION

This story had so many lovely and endearing qualities about it! I loved Jane's relationship with her father. He is “boring” and loves to talk plankton but she adores him. He is also a strong, masculine character portrayed as a protector, which is not something that happens often in today's culture. I'm from a small town and the people characterized in the story felt like what I grew up with and I loved it. The story has a great message about working hard doing what you love to do, it isn't just given to you. And obviously, there are many allusions to Jane Austen that I absolutely loved!

The reason I don't feel like I can officially recommend it is because climate change is discussed quite a bit. From what I understand of the issue, it was handled fairly well here. Plankton is good source for cleaning out carbon dioxide from the air, even more so than trees. But as the earth gets warmer, the plankton dwindles. The father talks about how he isn't worried about the earth surviving so much as he is worried the human species will not survive. I found this to be a bit too much of an alarmist attitude. While we are to take care of the earth since it is what God has given us to do, we should not fear our extinction.

The other issue is the mother and her fiance. It took me halfway through the book to realize they were living together. Nothing is mentioned that makes it glaringly obvious and maybe readers won't make the connection. But in an effort to look for a whole list of other things (LGBTQ etc), I don't want to miss other things that God calls evil.

If you would like your reader (especially the girls) to give this one a try, I would read it together so you can discuss it. There were so many great things about it that I loved.

[Kristen Blackton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Next Great Jane follows the protagonist Jane Brannen, a junior high student who aspires to become a great writer. The book begins with her meeting a new "enemy" in Devon Fairfax, the son of a great romance author who has recently moved to town. The rest of the book follows her attempts to repair relationships, hone her craft, and grow.

The writing on this book was disjointed and seemed like a debut author attempting to find her footing in the genre. Going, however, is not a debut author. For example, the book begins with Jane and Devon literally surviving a hurricane, a plot point that never arises again and seems to play no big part in any character development. Several "big events" and character introductions happen to be almost completely disregarded later. I also thought that many of the story's relationships were quite superficial. Going might have needed more pages to flesh out the characters' intents and qualities.

When I read the author's note, she explained that the book was inspired by many different Jane Austen characters and stories. This was obvious to me, a recovering Jane Austen fanatic, but the references, as sly as many of them are, will completely go over the heads of most middle grade students. So, perhaps, this would work as a family read as parents who have enjoyed Austen's work will appreciate the subtle references.

[Jenni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jane Brannen is an aspiring writer who just wants to meet and listen to the famous romance author that is coming to her town when she is turned a way a the door for being a child. In effort to listen no matter what, she climbs the tree next to the library and breaks into the attic. There she meets the annoying son of the author whom she encourages to see the ocean in the brewing hurricane. By the time they make it back to the library everyone is gone and the library is closed up. Jane thought that getting in trouble for being lost in the hurricane was the worst thing that could happen to her, then she gets home to find her mother has flown into Maine with her fiancé from California and is threatening to file for custody and take her to California. Through her friendship with Devon, the annoying boy, Jane learns to love science and see what her father does and finds a way to explain to her mom that she doesn't want to move. That she loves Maine and the family that she has with her father, but that she would like to get to know mother better and maybe even be friends. This is a fun read and would be a good addition to most juvenile collections.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was disappointing. I had had it recommended on Anne Bogel's blog, as a good middle grade story, as well as one from Maine. It was sweet, but not anything spectacular. Not that memorable, it's only been days and already I'm forgetting what happened in the book. The little girl, Jane Brannen, loves Jane Austen, and so there are some quotes from her books, but not that much. My beef, which was distracting, was that K. L. Going does not know her Maine geography!! The bio says she has summered in Maine for many years, well, I don't think she was paying attention.

Early on in the book, it mentions that Jane's father has water samples from around Monhegan Island. I had to assume that was somewhere nearby, putting the fictional Whickett Harbor maybe in the Rockland-Thomaston-Boothbay area. So, then a character says she stopped in Whickett Harbor once on her way from Bar Harbor to New Brunswick. Huh? It would NOT be between Bar Harbor and N.B., it would be south of both of them. Then it was mentioned that Portland was too far inland to get the effects of the hurricane that hit Whickett Harbor. What?? Portland is right on the coast, just a little south of Boothbay, by water. Crazy!

Then, Jane's mother says she's going to go south to visit Bar Harbor. Sorry, not south! Honestly, this was Soooo distracting to me! And I did read that Whickett Harbor was supposed to be in the Boothbay area, so I was right.

So, I can't give it more than 3 stars, it just wasn't anything great, besides the incredible geographic errors. Doesn't anybody check these things??

[D'Anne Mosby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would a middle grade reader really want to read a romance about parents?? Maybe so. Jane lives in Maine with her dad. Her life revolves around normal stuff like school and friends and, of course, the oddities of her parents. Her dad is a scientist who studies plankton. Her mom is a screenwriter out in CA. And Jane just wants to be a writer. When a famous author comes for a visit, Jane hopes this meeting will give her the secrets to becoming a successful author. But instead, it brings confusion and turmoil. JE Fairfax ends up moving to Whickett Harbor, bringing her twin sons and teen daughter.

And Jane’s mother Susan comes to town with a new man on her arm. Expect love triangles, meet-cutes, jealousy, misunderstandings, and drama!

The title is explained that Jane might become as great a writer and Jane Austen. There are references to how much the characters love her books. And the storyline itself is reminiscent of Pride and Prejudice or Emma.

Going adds an authors note at the end to explain who Jane Austen is and why she is an important female writer to know.

I liked it. I think kids who love happy endings, love stories, and drama will enjoy it.