Best Foot Forward [Audio Cassette]

Joan Bauer (Author), Kathe Mazur (Narrator)

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Random House (NY) (January 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307246124
• ISBN-13: 978-0307246127
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

More About the Author

"I had moved from journalism to screenwriting when one of the biggest challenges of my life occurred. I was in a serious auto accident which injured my neck and back severely and required neurosurgery. It was a long road back to wholeness, but during that time I wrote Squashed, my first young adult novel. The humor in that story kept me going. Over the years, I have come to understand how deeply I need to laugh. It's like oxygen to me. My best times as a writer are when I'm working on a book and laughing while I'm writing. Then I know I've got something." Joan's first novel, Squashed, won the Delacorte Prize for a First Young Adult Novel. Five novels for young adult readers have followed: Thwonk, Sticks, Rules of the Road (LA Times Book Prize and Golden Kite), Backwater and Hope was Here (Newbery Honor Medal). Joan lives in Darien, CT with her husband and daughter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bauer's best foot forward!, August 12, 2005

By 

Ei "crzybookmoovielover" (Seekonk, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best Foot Forward (Hardcover)

This is a great sequel to an equally stunning and entertaining read, "Rules of the Road".
Bauer has vastly impressed me with all her books I've read thus far, but this one was like a big fat cherry along with the whipped creme on top of the hot fudge sundae known as "Rules of the Road".
Jenna Boller is back, back with a vengence alongside the owner and her boss, Madeline Gladstone. There are some new characters that add flavor to an already sweet treat of a story.
For anyone who just likes a good plot and lots of laughs, I recommend this. It may be targeted at teenagers(those teenagers are darn lucky cuz there were no writers like this in my teen days), but at 36, I have grown into a great fan of Joan Bauer's writing. She is very talented at telling a tale that is funny and endearing. It is a really easy read that I know younger girls will really enjoy because while I may be 36, deep down, I am still a teenager at heart.

Eileen F.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Foot First, Heart in the End, November 8, 2005

By 

Stephen T. Romaine "Steve Romaine" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Best Foot Forward (Hardcover)

One person can make a difference. That's the big lesson Jenna Boller learns outside of the classroom and it changes her forever. As she returns to school in the Fall, she immediately realizes how much she has matured over the summer. It's as if the other students were frozen in time. Jenna grew up at Gladstone Shoes. At first, she is consumed in her own problems, most notably fixing the strained relationship with a dysfunctional alcoholic parent she helped put in jail. A sister obsessed with her own appearance is also scarred by family problems but refuses to deal with them. At work, Jenna's boss, an elderly women, Mrs. Gladstone, seems out of touch and too gullible, giving the wrong people, like the troubled Tanner, a second chance. As Jenna learns, it was all a matter of having the right person redirect Tanner's high energy in a more positive direction - and Mrs. Gladstone make Jenna his boss, partly responsible for the transformation. Mrs. Gladstone knows that in her heart Jenna does not understand her methods. Jenna believes Mrs. Gladstone is soft, an easy mark. As the story unfolds, Jenna observes as Mrs. Gladstone takes on her own son, exposing the corruption that has infested Gladstone's new corporate offices. As her mentor, Mrs. Gladstone explains, "I want you to learn from this. I want you to write it in your heart." In the end Jenna intuitively creates her own mentoring role, helping someone else put the best foot forward. Joan Bauer has written a most enjoyable, uplifting book that will not only resonate with young reasons, but with all who read it. It kept me smiling.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good, but...., December 13, 2005

By 

terryannlibrarian "terryann" (phoenix) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best Foot Forward (Hardcover)

j is back in a good way and in a bad way. again, the dialog is snappy, the main character is fun and witty and likeable. however, the issues are huge and therin lies the problem. bauer tries to tackle an alcohalic parent, a (maybe) annorexic sibling, a grandmother with alzheimer's disease, a thieving co-worker, the issue of unethical overseas labor tactics and the maturing of her main character all at the same time. the book treads on all of these issues but fails to tackle them realistically. the theiving co-worker for instance does not feel like a real teenager. in fact, he comes accross almost as an idiot...i could have pulled off a better scam than that guy:) anyway, it IS still a fun read, just don't look for any realness in it.