Sneak Peek: MY OWN KIND OF BRAVE. An MG Novel in Verse coming in Spring 2027 by Darlene Beck Jacobson

 Bravery is an underlying theme that threads through my novel-in-verse MY OWN KIND OF BRAVE (Raycraft Publishing) set to debut in spring 2027. 

In it, a neurodiverse boy named Toby who has difficulty communicating, witnesses his Dad injured in an accident that sends him to the hospital in a coma. Toby struggles with what it means to be brave and how he can stop blaming himself for what happened to his dad.

Here are some excerpts of the story:

 

Traumatized                                     

Nods

head shakes

shoulder shrugs.

People communicate

all the time

without using words.

 

I whisper things into the dark of my room,

relieved to know sometimes

words come out  

sliding, gliding, as if they have wings.

 

Why can’t I do that when I speak out loud in front of people?

The counselor at school tells Mom - who is upset

that I’m not talking much in school – says I might be

traumatized by what happened to Dad.

 

We aren’t supposed to hear her say it.

Me and Ruby in the outer office after school, Mom in the

inner office talking in private, explaining about what

happened to Dad and why he’s in the hospital.

 

 We’re all traumatized, Mom tells the counselor.

Living one day at a time.

 

Ruby looks at me and says, you want to know

the definition, right?

 Once I know the meaning, I never forget it.

 

Traumatized means freaked out. Like you saw

something awful and can’t stop remembering it.

Too horrible for words.

I guess that describes you for sure.

I look at her and nod.

She looks at me and nods back.

 

If I had warned Dad like I should have,  

screaming to be heard, he wouldn’t be laying in a

hospital bed. He wouldn’t be traumatized.

Neither would I.

 

Not talking just makes it hard for all of us, Toby.

Ruby pokes me with her elbow like she’s trying to

push what she thinks into me.

Words slide out of Ruby’s mouth

as if her tongue is greased.

How would you like it if I went around all day

without talking? Ruby says.

 

Inside myself, I’m doing happy somersaults, 

thinking about the possibility.

 

Ruby is twelve and a half. I’m ten and nine twelfths.

My birthday is exactly three months away.

Ruby is bigger in number and personality.

 

I wish I could speak like Ruby, with

purpose, confidence.

 

It’s easier, less scary to

say nothing.

Even when it makes me

look dumb.

 

A Funny Thing About Words

Listening to other people speak, hearing a story

read aloud with words that paint pictures as they

slide, roll, dance off the tongue, is like music.

 

I love how words sound, what they mean.

So many words I would use if they slid

off my tongue like they do for other people.

 

Splendiferous

Effervescent

Scintillating words with pizazz

pirouette through my head,

stay in my memory.

 

I use these magnificent words in

my imagination.

Where I can’t

ruin them  

mess them up

by speaking.

 

MY OWN KIND OF BRAVE will be published in spring 2027 by Raycraft Publishing. Darlene Beck Jacobson is working on another novel that features a different kind of bravery.