Sixteen years old and just finding her feet much less her wings, Jenna starts to work at Gladstone's, a shoe store. This is a family-owned operation that values quality of service and merchandise. They know shoes, and they know feet, but things are changing. The son of the owner is trying to modernize and cheapen this family institution. He wants his mother out of his way. The battle commences and Jenna is drawn in, as she and Mrs. Gladstone set out on the road together to fight for the values they have championed for years. What can a sixteen year old do when she runs up against this kind of power?
208 pages 978-0142404256 Ages 12 and up
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
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Meet Jenna Boller, star employee at Gladstone Shoe Store in Chicago. Standing a gawky 5'11'' at 16 years old, Jenna is the kind of girl most likely to stand out in the crowd for all the wrong reasons. But that doesn't stop Madeline Gladstone, the president of Gladstone's Shoes 176 outlets in 37 states, from hiring Jenna to drive her cross country in a last ditch effort to stop Elden Gladstone from taking over his mother's company and turning a quality business into a shop-and-schlock empire. Now Jenna Boller shoe salesperson is about to become a shoe-store spy as she joins her crusty old employer for an eye-opening adventure that will teach them both the rules of the road and the rules of life.---from the publisher
