Honor Bright

by Randall Platt

In 1944, while much of the world is at war, 14-year-old Teddy wages her own war against herself, her brother, and her perfect, and perfectly despised, mother. Forced to spend the summer at the beach with a grandmother she'd never met, Teddy faces her enemies with arrogance and anger. But as the summer unfolds, she begins learning the answers to some painful questions about the past that destroyed her family and left her mother and grandmother bitterly divided.

Genres: Young Adult

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 10, 1997

About the author

JUST WHO IS THIS RANDALL PLATT?
(hint: Not a guy!)

Randall Platt writes fiction for adults and young adults and those who don't own up to being either. Platt, a lifelong resident of the Upper Left Hand Corner, has been a full-time writer for twenty-five years which is certainly long enough to know better. But since Platt finds no shortage of fascinating characters and stories springing from the beautiful Pacific Northwest, the books just keep coming. Which explains why nearly all Platt’s novels take place in Washington or Oregon, the exception being Liberty’s Christmas, which takes place in Texas during the Depression.

Platt's novels have won several awards including twice winning the Willa Literary Award and twice winning the Will Rogers Medallion for best young adult literature. Platt has also received the Keystone State Reading Award, been a finalist for the PEN Center USA award as well as the Washington State Book Award. Platt is a sought-after speaker and presenter at conferences, schools, and libraries, specializing in fun and honest answers shot straight from the hip.

Platt’s latest novels have two things common - they take place during World War II and feature a strong female protagonist who stands up, stands out and resists. The paperback edition of Incommunicado, set during the first turbulent months of World War Two and dealing with Japanese internment, releases in the spring of 2017.

The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die, also releasing in the spring of 2017, is an intense young adult novel of street kids surviving and resisting on the Nazi-occupied streets of Warsaw.

Twice Hollywood has called Platt - her first novel, The Four Arrows Fe-As-Ko was filmed by Sullivan Entertainment as Promise The Moon. Another novel, The Cornerstone, has been optioned for feature film by actor/director Tom Skerritt.

Several times a week Platt puts away the words and heads for the nearest handball court or hiking trail.

More information than you ever wished to know about Platt is available at www.plattbooks.com, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, as well as the usual book websites.

Reviews

[Bev Walkling · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Honor Bright" are the words that 14 year old Teddy (Theodora), Howie (her twin brother), and Dee Dee (their mother) demand as a pledge that a promise made will be kept beyond all doubt.Even with that implicit understanding, promises are broken more than once and the relationship these three have at the beginning of the story is dysfunctional at best. Set in the USA during the second world war, Teddy & Howie are deposited at their Grandma Rose's home in Holiday for the summer. Dee Dee and her mother have had a broken relationship since the twins were four years old and involved in a fire which killed their father and baby sister and left Teddy with burned hands. As their summer unfolds, Teddy and Howard each find their own way of adapting to their change in location. Teddy finds strength in solitude and seeking to understand the secrets her grandmother Rose and her mother may be hiding. Howie hangs with a crowd and uses alcohol to deal with his inner pain. The war plays on almost unnoticed in the background until word is received of the death of the brother of one of Howie & Teddy's friends.

The teen-age years are often difficult ones and this novel geared to young teens is well-written and moving. Teddy's strength of self is a wonderful example to those facing challenges. What happens at the end of the story? What secrets are discovered? You'll have to read this to find out. It will be well worth it.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this every summer.