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Tarot Says Beware
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Tarot Says Beware Paperback - 2006

by Betsy Byars

Madame Rosa, the eccentric local fortune teller, has been murdered, and theonly witness is her parrot,Tarot. But he's not talking. Herculeah Jones thinksshe knows who the killer is, but she's not the only one. . . . Someone elseknows someone who wants to make sure Herculeah won't be around tosee the future.

'Byars grips the reader from the first sentence and doesn't let go untilHerculeah solves the case.' The Horn BookEND


Summary

Madame Rosa, the eccentric local fortune teller, has been murdered, and the only witness is her parrot,Tarot. But he’s not talking. Herculeah Jones thinks she knows who the killer is, but she’s not the only one. . . . Someone else knows—someone who wants to make sure Herculeah won’t be around to see the future.

From the publisher

Betsy Byars began her writing career rather late in life. "In all of my school years, . . . not one single teacher ever said to me, 'Perhaps you should consider becoming a writer,'" Byars recalls. "Anyway, I didn't want to be a writer. Writing seemed boring. You sat in a room all day by yourself and typed. If I was going to be a writer at all, I was going to be a foreign correspondent like Claudette Colbert in Arise My Love. I would wear smashing hats, wisecrack with the guys, and have a byline known round the world. My father wanted me to be a mathematician." So Byars set out to become mathematician, but when she couldn't grasp calculus in college, she turned to English. Even then, writing was not on her immediate horizon.

First, she married and started a family. The writing career didn't emerge until she was 28, a mother of two children, and living in a small place she called the barracks apartment, in Urbana, Illinois. She and her husband, Ed, had moved there in 1956 so he could attend graduate school at the University of Illinois. She was bored, had no friends, and so turned to writing to fill her time. Byars started writing articles for The Saturday Evening Post, Look,and other magazines. As her family grew and her children started to read, she began to write books for young people and, fortunately for her readers, discovered that there was more to being a writer than sitting in front of a typewriter.

"Making up stories and characters is so interesting that I'm never bored. Each book has been a different writing experience. It takes me about a year to write a book, but I spend another year thinking about it, polishing it, and making improvements. I always put something of myself into my books -- something that happened to me. Once a wanderer came by my house and showed me how to brush my teeth with a cherry twig; that went in The House of Wingscopyright © 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

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Details

  • Title Tarot Says Beware
  • Author Betsy Byars
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition 1st PB edition
  • Pages 160
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Puffin Books, New York
  • Date March 2, 2006
  • ISBN 9780142405932 / 0142405930
  • Weight 0.26 lbs (0.12 kg)
  • Dimensions 6.94 x 5.02 x 0.43 in (17.63 x 12.75 x 1.09 cm)
  • Ages 08 to 12 years
  • Grade levels 3 - 7
  • Reading level 540
  • Library of Congress subjects Mystery and detective stories, Murder
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2006273905
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

Byars grips the reader from the first sentence and doesn't let gountil Herculeah solves the case. (The Horn Book)END

About the author

Betsy Byars began her writing career rather late in life. "In all of my school years, . . . not one single teacher ever said to me, 'Perhaps you should consider becoming a writer, '" Byars recalls. "Anyway, I didn't want to be a writer. Writing seemed boring. You sat in a room all day by yourself and typed. If I was going to be a writer at all, I was going to be a foreign correspondent like Claudette Colbert in Arise My Love. I would wear smashing hats, wisecrack with the guys, and have a byline known round the world. My father wanted me to be a mathematician." So Byars set out to become mathematician, but when she couldn't grasp calculus in college, she turned to English. Even then, writing was not on her immediate horizon.

First, she married and started a family. The writing career didn't emerge until she was 28, a mother of two children, and living in a small place she called the barracks apartment, in Urbana, Illinois. She and her husband, Ed, had moved there in 1956 so he could attend graduate school at the University of Illinois. She was bored, had no friends, and so turned to writing to fill her time. Byars started writing articles for The Saturday Evening Post, Look, and other magazines. As her family grew and her children started to read, she began to write books for young people and, fortunately for her readers, discovered that there was more to being a writer than sitting in front of a typewriter.

"Making up stories and characters is so interesting that I'm never bored. Each book has been a different writing experience. It takes me about a year to write a book, but I spend another year thinking about it, polishing it, and making improvements. I always put something of myself intomy books -- something that happened to me. Once a wanderer came by my house and showed me how to brush my teeth with a cherry twig; that went in The House of Wingscopyright (c) 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

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Tarot says beware (Herculeah Jones Mystery)

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