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    Heartbeat
    Heartbeat
    Heartbeat
    Audiobook9 hours

    Heartbeat

    Written by Joan Johnston

    Narrated by Therese Plummer

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    New York Times bestselling author Joan Johnston returns to Texas with a captivating story of justice, secrets, and a love that can heal all wounds Dedicated Texas Ranger Jack Kittrick is hard on the trail of a killer who is preying on the helpless in a large San Antonio hospital . . . a hunt that leads him to Maggie Wainwright, the beautiful, enigmatic legal eagle who had access to the victims-- and a motive for the crimes. The more Jack learns about Maggie, the more this secretive lady-- who makes his spurs tangle and his heart run wild-- enthralls and perplexes him. When her own son becomes the killer's target, Maggie can no longer keep silent about her painful, shadowy past. With everything she truly cares about at stake, Maggie must cast her fate to the Texas winds . . . and trust her future, and her love, to the determined lawman who has more questions for her than she has answers.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJan 28, 2014
    ISBN9781490613574
    Author

    Joan Johnston

    Joan Johnston is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than fifty novels and novellas with more than 15 million copies of her books in print. She has worked as a director of theatre, drama critic, newspaper editor, college professor, and attorney on her way to becoming a full-time writer. She lives in Colorado and Florida. You can find out more about Joan at JoanJohnston.com.

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    Reviews for Heartbeat

    4.5/5

    26 ratings24 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      A story told from Annie's point of view, about what matters to her most, running, art, family and her friend Max. It's the beat of running and the rhythms of life that make this book a delight to read. Mrs. Freely art assignment of drawing an apples a day for 100 days creates a visual picture of the artistic side of Annie. a thoughtful and delightful book of an independent young girl who is true to herself.
    • 5/5
      Memorable story told in free verse of the realities of family life and the joy of running and art. Y6+.
    • 3/5
      Annie loves to run. Annie loves to draw. These are constants in her life when so many other things seem to be changing. Her mother's having a new baby. Her grandfather is losing his memory and sometimes doesn't recognize himself. And everyone keeps asking Annie about her friendship with Max. Are they just friends? Or are they something more? This quiet novel in verse documents a year in Annie's life and how she deals with it. She realizes that everything changes and she might have to change, too. This one's been pretty popular with girls at our library and I liked it okay. It's a story about a girl going through life, dealing with things that girls deal with all the time. And I think that's where the appeal lies.
    • 5/5
      This book is full of emotion. Once you start this book it is hard to put it down.
    • 4/5
      i loved this book it is so discriptive and it talks all about this girls life and what she does and it is just a really awesome bookl.
    • 5/5
      heatrbeat is really good. there is a girl and she loves to run a hole lot. she has a friend that likes to run also. her mom is prenet. she has a grantpa thats really old. one day wile she was watching a race a lady comes a gets her and takes her to her mom. she having the baby. dose the babay come out a live ro not. read the book to find out if the baby dies or not. this book was really heard to put down.
    • 5/5
      A tenderhearted story told in spare, free-verse poems, Heartbeat is the story of twelve-year-old Annie, who loves to run for the sheer pleasure of running. It is when she feels the most free in a year when everything in her life is changing, just like the apple that Annie has been assigned to draw one hundred times. Annie's comfortable, tightly knit world begins to unravel when she learns that her mother is pregnant and she becomes increasingly aware that her beloved Grandpa, a former champion racer, is slipping into dementia. She is a resourceful, self-possessed kid who takes comfort in the familiar but is able to face change and take it in stride. She marvels at the new life taking shape in her midst (her father provides month-by-month summations of the baby's development) and mourns the loss of her grandfather's strong and nurturing wisdom. School, art class, and chores appear throughout the verses, creating an everyday rhythm that matches the footfalls of Annie who loves to move, but who is willing to stop and smell the roses. She is attempting to understand not only herself and her place in her family, but also to understand those around her. At the same time, she is attempting to understand larger, more complex questions: how we become who we are, and to what degree we should conform; how we are unique and yet how we are all alike.I would recommend this book for most eighth graders, but in particular to reluctant readers. It is so rare to find a book told from the point of view of a 12 year old that anybody over 12 could enjoy reading! It is told in a loose poem form, it is highly readable, moves along quickly, and has a wonderful rhythm to it. It is wonderful for children whose life is in flux. Lots of emotional issues flow through the book, but it is still a good choice for children who are uncomfortable with too much intensity in books, as the writing is light and the issues are handled with care. (Amazon)
    • 4/5
      This was an amazing book, and I would recemend it for anyone who enjoys poems. It is appropriate for all ages.
    • 4/5
      I love how this book is written by poems. I think it makes it more meaningful in a way. It's nice how the author compares it to different things. I also like how her emotions are clearly shown.
    • 4/5
      Age/Grade Level: 4-8 gradersGenre: Realistic Fiction novel written in a poetic style. Themes: New baby in the Family, Aging Grandparent, The influences of pressure, AcceptanceThis novel is about 12 year old Annie who is about to be a big sister. Her mom is pregnant throughout the novel. Annie loves to run and this is like the heartbeat of the new baby. Thump, Thump, Thump which is repeated throughout the novel. Annie's grandpa lives with them and he is getting old and is starting to forget things. Annie's best friend, Max wants Annie to join the track team but Annie doesn't want to. She doesn't want to wear shoes or run for anything except the love of running. She holds her ground even when the track coach pressures her. Annie draws an apple for 100 days and notices the changes.I really enjoyed this book. I listened to it on tape and I feel that I need to go back and read the novel because of the way it is written. It is hard to listen to a novel when it is written is poetically. I really enjoyed Annie's attitude towards running in this story because I think that today kids play sports for all the wrong reasons and it takes the fun out of them. This connection to doing sports because it is fun should be taught in every school. There should also never be a point in public education where you are not good enough to join. I would like to have my students read this book and then make connections to their own lives and sports, pregnancy, aging family member, and art.
    • 5/5
      I have read this book many, many times. I love it!!! :)
    • 4/5
      This book is really good! Its about Annie's point of view. She loves to run. She is an only child..and her mom is going to have a baby! She lives with her mom,dad, and grandpa..who is VERY forgetful. Every day after school she draws an apple. She 100 drawings of apples. This book is really easy to read! So I HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING IT..at any age!
    • 4/5
      Annie loves to run, just not competitively and not in shoes. She could keep running forever, just not on a team. Max wants her to join him on the track team, her mom is pregnant, and her grandfather had dementia and it's getting worse. How will she deal with it all? A beautiful book in verse
    • 4/5
      A sweet book that was recommended to me by one of my students. It is emotionally potent and tells a story of a family and their experiences with love and loss.
    • 4/5
      Heartbeat by Sharon Creech is a book written in poetry. The story is of Annie, who loves to run. Annie lives with her pregnant mother, father, and grandfather. She loves to run with her friend Max. Max does not come from a very good home life and hopes that being a good runner will be his ticket out of town. Max tries to get Annie to join the girls track team, but she runs for the pleasure of running. Annie's mother has her baby and Annie begins to understand the circle of life by seeing the new baby with her grandpa.This book really hit home with me because my own grandpa is having health problems. I seemed to pick it up at just the right time.In the book Annie tells us about several assignment given to her by her teachers. Her art teacher has her draw 100 pictures of an apple. Her English teacher makes a list of words the students are not allowed to use in their writing. The English teacher also has them make a list of things they fear and love. I think all of these would be good assignments.
    • 5/5
      This book is about a young girl following her own heart rather than going along with "the herd".
    • 4/5
      Written completely in free verse, this book took a few chapters to grab my attention, but by the "Footnotes" chapter, I was hooked.
    • 4/5
      This book is a good example of a realistic novel because Annie is not a real person, but the events that happen to Annie are very much things that happen to many people in this world, such as their mom getting pregnant later in life, and watching their grandpa get older and older, and start dealing with dementia.
    • 5/5
      Wonderful book, although it's written with young people in mind this adult loved it.
    • 5/5
      This is a really beautiful book. Blank verse like this is very accessible to children but this has something for all ages.It's the tale of a girl who likes to run whose mother is expecting a baby and grandfather who is getting old. Simple but quite powerful in places.
    • 3/5
      This book is written in poetry and sometimes it's hard to understand but I love how Sharon Creech compares things to things that you would have never expected to be compared to. The ending is sort of a cliff hanger but it's good
    • 3/5
      Heartbeat is written as a poem, but it doesn’t rhyme. It is a story and reads like a story, but I think the fact that it is written as a poem guides the reader to follow the story and not be distracted by too many words. It is in the first person, as most Young Adult novels seem to be, and the girl telling the story likes to run, but she is not competitive. She does not understand why people race to win, because she likes to run by herself or with one friend, and she runs barefoot just because she likes to run.Throughout the story she is learning about life and thinking about what she likes to do, and besides running she loves to draw. In the story she is having a hard time seeing her grandfather forgetting things, but this is balanced by the joy of her mother having a baby. This is a peaceful story that is enjoyable to read.I enjoyed the parts about what she was learning from her teacher about footnotes, “forbidden words,” and using the thesaurus. For a book written as a poem with no real sentence structure, there was a lot about grammar in it!
    • 5/5
      Twelve-year-old Annie loves to run with her friend Max. During the approximate year that this book takes place, she experiences the rhythm of life in her running, in her mother's pregnancy and the birth of her brother, in her friendship with Max, in her art class. The story is told in lyrical free verse rather than prose.
    • 4/5
      A novel in verse about a girl named Annie who loves to run and is coping with a lot of changes in her life, including a new baby, a grandfather with alzheimer's, and a best friend who is increasingly moody. It's really lovely, and I liked it a lot.