Best Foot Forward by Joan Bauer

Jenna Boller is back from her life-altering trip to Texas, dripping with instant maturity. She’s got a new job as assistant to Madeline Gladstone, Director of Quality Control for Gladstone Shoes, and a handsome protégé named Tanner Cobb.

But balancing all these responsibilities with the angst of junior year and her needy family isn’t easy, especially when she’s uncovering nefarious dealings at a mysterious shoe factory called Plant 453 and her protégé happens to be a shoplifter. Jenna finds it difficult to trust Tanner, although his street smarts might be just what she needs when the going gets tough—filling so many shoes is a tall order! But Jenna’s sense of humor keeps her grounded and helps her understand maturity is a work-in-progress. 

Meet the Author

Excerpt from the Author's Website: (http://www.joanbauer.com/bff-info.html)

From Joan:

I was angry and hopeful when I wrote Best Foot Forward—

• Angry at the corporate corruption that keeps making headlines;
• Hopeful at the power some people possess to do the right thing no matter what.
• Angry at the toll that alcoholism takes on a family;
• Hopeful at how many people are learning to overcome the disease.
• Angry that poor kids don't get the chance to succeed;
• Hopeful that children can find resilience in impossibly bleak situations.
• Angry at a Wall Street system that rewards the bottom line and doesn't always care how the money is earned;
• Hopeful that some of that is changing.
• Angry at people so steeped in denial that they can't fess up when they've done something wrong;
• Hopeful that truth is stronger than falsehood.

Best Foot Forward has all of this packed inside. I plunged my narrator, sixteen-year-old Jenna Boller, feet first into the thick of it. And as I watched her sink a little and swim a lot, I saw that it's fairly easy to do your best when everything is going well, but it takes a special kind of courage to summon up the best you've got when close to everything around you shouts that it won't make a difference.

We need that kind of courage today. I believe when people grab hold of it they're fully at their best

Lexile 640
183 pages