Best Foot Forward

One person can make a difference. That's the big lesson Jenna Boller learns outside of the classroom and it changes her forever. As she returns to school in the Fall, she immediately realizes how much she has matured over the summer. It's as if the other students were frozen in time. Jenna grew up at Gladstone Shoes. At first, she is consumed in her own problems, most notably fixing the strained relationship with a dysfunctional alcoholic parent she helped put in jail. A sister obsessed with her own appearance is also scarred by family problems but refuses to deal with them. At work, Jenna's boss, an elderly women, Mrs. Gladstone, seems out of touch and too gullible, giving the wrong people, like the troubled Tanner, a second chance. As Jenna learns, it was all a matter of having the right person redirect Tanner's high energy in a more positive direction - and Mrs. Gladstone make Jenna his boss, partly responsible for the transformation. Mrs. Gladstone knows that in her heart Jenna does not understand her methods. Jenna believes Mrs. Gladstone is soft, an easy mark. As the story unfolds, Jenna observes as Mrs. Gladstone takes on her own son, exposing the corruption that has infested Gladstone's new corporate offices. As her mentor, Mrs. Gladstone explains, "I want you to learn from this. I want you to write it in your heart." In the end Jenna intuitively creates her own mentoring role, helping someone else put the best foot forward. Joan Bauer has written a most enjoyable, uplifting book that will not only resonate with young reasons, but with all who read it. It kept me smiling.

I grew up in an alcoholic dysfunctional home where I was sealed to secrecy, feeling alone, living in fear, powerless. This book would have given me hope, practical powerful tools in coping I could face each day with a focus on building one's own character and life, this Book had reality balanced with positive versus negative meshed with humor that encouraged my heart as I relived my teen years that were so dark due to alcohol.

I loved "Rules of the Road" and I was immediately struck by how much Jenna had matured in the interim between that book and this book. I love her employee/caretaker relationship with her boss Mrs. Gladstone, her ambivalent relationship with Tanner, and the spark of some romantic interest in Charlie Duran. Her involvement in Al-Anon added an interesting new dimension, and the struggle to save the shoe company (the "good guys" versus the "bad guys") was actually pretty exciting. Overall a good read!

3/5 I've read several of Joan Bauer's books and enjoyed them. And I read Rules of the Road a while ago, but just recently found out that it had a sequel when I looked at the book. I was a little surprised, mostly because most of her books are one-shots, but also because I hadn't known there was one (since I usually know if there is). Anyway, I finished this book relatively quickly, as I was expecting to. It's about Jenna, who's now working for Mrs. Gladstone at the shoe store on her own town. The summer is ending and she'll be starting her junior year of high school soon. (Oh, if you haven't read the first one, it was about Jenna driving Mrs. Gladstone, a bossy old woman who owns a shoe company, on a little road trip to where a stock holders meeting is going to be held. Some other things happen, but mostly Mrs. Gladstone's son is taking over the business and not doing a good, moral job of it. Also, this will probably contain spoilers if you haven't read either of the books.) So she's going to be going on part-time, and Mrs. Gladstone's son is still doing business badly, even worse than before, really, when some, illegal, things behind the scenes get some spotlight. Plus, they're looking for some new employees but not finding any. They have hired, though, a boy, Tanner, who stole from them and is making it up by working for them. Jenna really know what she's doing, and she's Mrs. Gladstone's assistant, pretty much, so she makes phone calls and all that. She's also going to Al-Anon meetings because of her dad, which is helping, and helping Tanner, and his family, get past what happened to them. And there's some romance, but not much, and not really what I was expecting. This book, like most of hers, wasn't amazing, but I still liked it. I'm not really sure what I like about her books. They're not really my style, normally. I tend to go for the romance's. Bauer tends to focus more on real life things, like business or politics or religion, with intent focus on some kind of business, like shoes or newspapers or restaurants. And the romance is very little, in all of them (that I've read so far). There's usually some, a little bit of it. And in this book, it was very small, and not with who the back said it would be. Of course I would like more romance, as I love reading kissing scenes, but I still like her books. And, since they're so small, I read them in about a day. They're fast, easy reads, that I usually go for if I'm looking for something fast and easy. And her style of writing, while very easy and simple, still has moments of pretty and cute, in that she describes little things of small notice. I just like it, I guess. She can create really good characters, too. I liked Jenna, Mrs. Gladstone is an awesome old lady, Tanner was good and his little brother is adorable, and Murray is also pretty awesome. Charlie seemed cool, and he seemed like he could be good for Jenna, but we didn't get much of him. We also didn't get a lot of her family, more than Charlie, but still. They seemed alright from what I did see, though. And Mrs. Gladstone's son is a jerk, and was described pretty well, and I totally hate him for what he did to the company and Mrs. Gladstone. He really does not deserve her. Also, not that this wasn't believable, because Jenna was written out very well, but I just realized that she wasn't even a junior and she took a road trip with her boss, and is now practically her assistant. That seems really young. I realize that some people are ready, and Jenna has had to grow up early with her family and all, but I couldn't imagine doing all that as that age. That's a little impressive.

It was a pretty good book it really showed that you can change wrong into right. You just need to believe in yourself. Like the serenity prayer except the things that we cannot change and to change the things we can. I really liked this book it was very inspirering.

In a time when there are so many books offering so many types of things, it is so refreshing to read a book about a teen looking for the best in people and striving to become her best self. Joan Bauer writes with her characteristic humor, but the book's resolution, at an Al-anon meeting, was more heartwarming than anything I've read in too long.

This is a really good book it has a good message ans it shows that if you stay strong in a hard situation you can get through anything :)

I love The book Dragon quest to be a girl who are not a woman who aren't very good at least one is eating a piece on suck it up