Brattleboro Literary Festival – Ann Braden

Josie is sure her brain has to be right: that she needs to be perfect or something terrible will happen. Her distress, in Ann Braden’s Hijacked by Goats, leads to a hospitalization. When she’s diagnosed with OCD, her therapist calls it a bully in her brain. Once back home, Josie realizes that the bully in her mind seems to be a lot like Hal, the stubborn, smelly goat her dad is goat-sitting. With help from her therapist, her dad, and her friends, Josie works to find the power to stand up to the bully in her head. (For ages 10 and up.)

A former middle school teacher and a community organizer living in Brattleboro, Ann Braden writes books about kids learning to stand up for themselves even when life is hard. Her debut middle grade novel, The Benefits of Being an Octopus, was one of NPR’s Best Books and  called one of “the essential middle school reads from the last decade” by Edutopia. Her subsequent books have been a Bank Street Best Book, a School Library Journal Best Book, and an ALA Notable Book. Her newest is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.

For more about Ann, please visit her website: https://annbradenbooks.com/

All are welcome to this Brattleboro Literary Festival event in the Main Reading Room. 25 FREE copies of Braden’s latest novel, Hijacked by Goats, are available for the first 25 middle grade attendees, courtesy of the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library.