My Butterfly Sisters—Kirby, Sue, and Gusty—for the friendship and laughs.
My Asheville critique group, the Secret Gardeners, for the camaraderie and support.
My husband, Willy, for teaching me about master cylinders and carburetors.
Rick Bowers of Asheville Hot Air Balloons, for letting me tag along and ask a million questions.
And to the many teachers and librarians who encourage literacy inside and outside their classrooms. Y’all are the heroes of the world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Barbara O’Connor is the author of numerous acclaimed books for children, including Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia, How to Steal a Dog, The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis, and The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester. She has been awarded the Parents’ Choice Gold and Silver Awards, the Massachusetts Book Award, the Kansas William Allen White Award, the South Carolina Children’s Book Award, the Indiana Young Hoosier Award, the South Dakota Children’s Book Award, and the Dolly Gray Award, among many honors. As a child, she loved dogs, salamanders, tap dancing, school, and even homework. Her favorite days were when the bookmobile came to town. She was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, and now lives in Asheville, North Carolina. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers
An imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271
Text copyright © 2021 by Barbara O’Connor
All rights reserved
First hardcover edition, 2021
eBook edition, 2021
mackids.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: O’Connor, Barbara, author.
Title: Halfway to Harmony / Barbara O’Connor.
Description: First edition. | New York: Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, 2021. | Audience: Ages 8–12. | Audience: Grades 4–6. | Summary: Ten-year-old Walter Tipple is grieving his beloved older brother, Tank, when a sassy girl named Posey moves in next door and Banjo, a hot-air balloonist, sets the pair on an adventure.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020013648 | ISBN 9780374314453 (hardcover)
Subjects: CYAC: Friendship—Fiction. | Family life—Georgia—Fiction. | Hot-air balloons—Fiction. | Death—Fiction. | Brothers—Fiction. | Georgia—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.O217 Hal 2021 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013648
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eISBN 9780374314460