Only the Lonely: From the Files of Madison Finn Series #1 by Laura Dower, Stephanie Power (Illustrator)

From Barnes & Noble

Her friend Fiona is already setting her sights on Harvard, but Madison Finn can't contemplate anything beyond summer vacation before that dreaded seventh grade. But life, like fashion disasters, happens even when you're not looking. Which, if you're Madison, is soon enough.

From the Publisher

Madison Finn isn't sure that she can survive the end of the summer, let along the beginning of a new school year. Middle school is a whole new world, and with her parents' divorce and new classmates at school, life is all about changes. Madison uses her laptop and the internet to help her through the trials and tribulations of seventh grade.

Publishers Weekly

The chatty debut installment of the From the Files of Madison Finn series introduces a high-strung and contemplative heroine who pronounces herself "allergic" to change. The summer before seventh grade, Madison is still reeling from her parents' divorce a year earlier. With her two best pals, Aimee and Egg, away at camp, she feels bored and lonely not to mention anxious about the impending start of junior high. When she becomes friends with a new girl in her neighborhood, Madison worries about juggling this relationship with her tried-and-true friendships, then agonizes about whether she still has as much in common with Aimee and Egg as before. The novel's title refers to one of the files that Madison keeps on her beloved laptop, on which she records her feelings, fears and fixations. The computer also gives rise to e-mails and chat room dialogue, faithfully recorded here ("evry one is @ a party except 4 me"), which supplement the often long-winded narrative ("Madison went into her super-special computer files. She accessed the files with a specially selected, super-special password which was so super-special that even she forgot it sometimes"). The issues are real enough and credibly handled, so that readers who identify with Madison's angst may well want to reach for the series' second book, Boy, Oh Boy!, due out the same month. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Carol Lynch - Children's Literature

Madison Finn is a typical preteen—she worries about friends, clothes, her dog and her divorced parents. In the introductory story of this new series, Madison is bored during a long summer while her two closest friends are away at camp. Things change when a new neighbor appears; she is just the right age and seems to be exactly what Madison wants in a friend. However, Madison is unsure about what Fiona thinks of her, and she also feels a little worried that she might be betraying her old friends by making a new one while they are away. One of Madison's favorite pastimes is playing on the computer, so as she struggles to make sense of things, she keeps all of her thoughts in separate files on her hard drive. Everything comes to a head when school begins, and Fiona is swept into a crowd that is headed up by Madison's worst enemy. It takes a great effort from each friend to work out the kinks in their new expanded group. This book has a unique appeal because it draws upon many teen culture standards-computers, chat rooms, fashion, pop phrases and group membership. Part of the "Only the Lonely" series.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-Fluffy reading loaded with computer messages is the gimmick here for wired girls. Madison Finn is "allergic to change," and this summer her life is fraught with "flux." Instead of hanging out with her best friends, she goes with her mom to Brazil to scout a location for a nature documentary. When they return home, the 12-year-old's pals are in camp and her parents are getting a divorce. Bored, lonely, and filled with angst at the thought of entering seventh grade, she searches chat rooms for new friends only to find one in her neighborhood. (Fortunately, Madison is savvy enough not to exchange intimate information.) Then Egg and Aimee return from camp, and the beginning of seventh grade is not what Madison expected. Her new friend Fiona makes the mistake of connecting with Maddie's archenemies at school. The first in a projected series, this novel has no heavy messages to weigh down a light summer read.-Marilyn Payne Phillips, University City Public Library, MO Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Product Details

• Interviews & Essays

Interviews & Essays

Barnes & Noble.com: Name a few of your favorite children's books. Why have you chosen them as favorites?

Laura Dower: A few? When I was younger, I worked my way through the children's library in my town until I'd read almost everything! Spending summers in Maine as a kid made me love Robert McCloskey all the more -- especially Blueberries for Sal, One Morning in Maine, and Make Way for Ducklings. I also read each of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie books at least ten times (partly because my name was Laura, I am sure). Other favorites: the Frances books by Russell Hoban; Amelia Bedelia; The Velveteen Rabbit; Roald Dahl's books; and the Nancy Drew mysteries. Finally, I read everything by Judy Blume (when I read Are You There God, It's Me Margaret? back in the late '70s, I knew I wanted to be a writer, too).

B&N.com: What inspired you to create the character of Madison Finn? What do you like most about Maddie?

LD: While brainstorming ideas for a seventh-grade book series with my editor, the idea for Madison tumbled out of my brain. Actually, her name was originally "Morgan" inside my head, but I decided to change it because I liked the idea of calling her Maddie as a nickname. Sometimes character names happen because they just sound right, whereas the "insides" of the characters come from a deeper place. I like Madison because she is in the middle of everything -- not at the top, not at the bottom. That's where most of us sit. I also admire how she stays interested and committed to her ideas. The files are a way to organize her thoughts -- but they're also a way to preserve and explore her wide range of feelings. Best of all, Maddie is a little bit of a spaz (like I was in seventh grade and like I still am -- LOL).

B&N.com: Where do you get your ideas for each of the new story lines in every book?

LD: I keep my eyes and ears open all the time. My desk is packed with files of clippings, articles, and random doodles. The Internet is a great idea sparker, too. I go to a search engine and plug in a word. Each new web page triggers another new idea, and so on. Then I sit back and pull them all together, thinking about how the characters in my books would react and respond. Ideas come from taking a walk outside, talking to my best friend on the phone, anywhere. The key is that I write things down. I may not need one idea today -- but I will need it someday. Ideas are sneaky -- they will disappear if you don't jot them down. I carry around a mini-notebook everywhere I go.

B&N.com: Are any of your characters from From the Files of Madison Finn based on people from your real life?

LD: Sure! There are bits and pieces of my friends and family in everything that I write. Madison has a lot of me in her, especially the "overthinking" part. I, too, am an only child, and my parents also divorced (but when I was much younger). Ivy is every girl in school who ever made fun of me, talked about me, or picked on me -- help! There were lots of those, unfortunately. But I also had great friends -- Fiona, Aimee, and Lindsay are all composites of the people from my real life. Many of the junior high teachers are also based on my own experiences from seventh grade. Mr. Gibbons and Mr. Danehy were, in fact, the names of my real English and science teachers back then, although I've changed their personalities in the books quite a bit. And I have a real Gramma Helen who is just as sweet as the one in the books. B&N.com: What do you like best about being an author? Do you have any suggestions for aspiring young writers?

LD: Being an author gives me this warm feeling way down in my belly. Writing gives me a reason to be creative all the time. And I have four key ideas about writing to share with wannabe authors:

1. Just READ. Everyone says to be a good author, you should read; and that's truer than true, as Madison would say. To write well, you need to feed your head. Books are the most nourishing, I think, but magazines, comic books, and the newspaper count, too. You can't put out if you aren't putting fuel in.

2. Just WRITE -- anything -- even if you think it stinks. Don't worry about mistakes, dumb ideas, or even bad spelling. You will improve! Carry around one of those little notebooks. At first, you probably won't even take it out of your bag, but wait! One day, during a beautiful sunset or on a long bus ride, it will be there, and you can write everything down at the moment when it happens.

3. Learn how to REWRITE. Once you write in your notebook or on the computer; then try to revise. Have fun crossing stuff out and writing new stuff to take its place. Play around with words. Don't be afraid to say something with fewer words. Spend your time searching for the right ones by using a dictionary, thesaurus, etc.

4. Be PATIENT. For all the words you write down that don't make sense, there will be that one page, paragraph, or sentence to make you say, "Ahhh! That's it!" Believe me, it's worth waiting for.