The World's Best Jinx McGee

by Katherine Applegate, Cathy Pavia (Illustrator)

Once the best runner in the second grade, Jinx McGee finds herself second best when a new girl comes to her school, and soon the irrepressible Jinx is searching for something in which to be best.

72 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1992

About the author

#1 New York Times bestselling author Katherine Applegate has written many books for young readers, including THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal.

Katherine’s picture books include THE BUFFALO STORM, illustrated by Jan Ormerod (Clarion Books); THE REMARKABLE TRUE STORY OF IVAN, THE SHOPPING MALL GORILLA, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Clarion Books); SOMETIMES YOU FLY, illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt (Clarion Books); and ODDER: AN OTTER’S STORY, illustrated by Charles Santoso (Feiwel & Friends).

She’s written or co-written three early chapter series for young readers: ROSCOE RILEY RULES, a seven-book series illustrated by Brian Biggs (HarperCollins); DOGGO AND PUPPER, a three-book series illustrated by Charlie Alder (Feiwel & Friends). With Gennifer Choldenko, she co-authored DOGTOWN and MOUSE AND HIS DOG, illustrated by Wallace West (Feiwel & Friends).

Books for middle-grade readers include HOME OF THE BRAVE (Feiwel & Friends); THE ONE AND ONLY series, illustrated by Patricia Castelao, including THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, THE ONE AND ONLY BOB, THE ONE AND ONLY RUBY, and THE ONE AND ONLY FAMILY (HarperCollins); the ENDLING trilogy (HarperCollins); CRENSHAW (Feiwel & Friends); WISHTREE (Feiwel & Friends); WILLODEEN (Feiwel & Friends); ODDER (Feiwel & Friends); and the forthcoming POCKET BEAR (Feiwel & Friends).

With her husband, Michael Grant, Katherine co-wrote ANIMORPHS, a long-running series that has sold over 35 million books worldwide. They also wrote two other series, REMNANTS and EVERWORLD, and a young adult novel, EVE AND ADAM (Feiwel & Friends.)

Katherine’s work has been translated into dozens of languages, and her books have won accolades including the Christopher Medal, the Golden Kite Award, the Bank Street Josette Frank Award, the California Book Award Gold Medal, the Crystal Kite Award, the Green Earth Book Honor Award, the Charlotte Zolotow Honor Award, and the E.B. White Read Aloud Award. Many of her works have appeared on state master lists, Best of the Year lists, and Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and New York Times bestseller lists.

Katherine lives in Nevada with her husband and assorted pets. She is represented by Elena Giovinazzo at Heirloom Literary and Mary Pender at WME.

Reviews

[Chelsea Garay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my kids so for me it was a reread (albeit, last time I read it I was 10 years old) so I did not remember a whole lot about the story. The overarching message was fantastic: unabashedly be yourself, everyone else is taken. We all have our own gifts and talents: use them. I just now as an adult realized that Katherine Applegate authored this story. She has done other fantastic more recent works such as "The One and Only Ivan" and "Crenshaw". This story had so funny sarcasm and wit that went over my head at age 10 ( and my kid's heads as well) that I enjoyed reading, 28 years later.

[Coco Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a quick read aloud with my kids, a little juvenile for their ages, but a good message nonetheless. You don’t need to be the best at everything, just the best you.
My kids and I thought the book could have ended with her being the best friend and actually being sweet to Penny.