Karen Kingsbury - Never Grow Up

Also byKaren Kingsbury and Tyler Russell

The Baxter Family Children

Best Family Ever

Finding Home

The Baxter Collection

Love Story

A Baxter Family Christmas

In This Moment

To the Moon and Back

When We Were Young

Two Weeks

Inspirational Fiction for Adults

The Chance

Fifteen Minutes

The Bridge

Angels Walking Series

Angels Walking

Chasing Sunsets

Brush of Wings

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the authors imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Text 2021 by Karen Kingsbury

Karen Kingsbury is represented by Alive Literary Agency, 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920 www.aliveliterary.com

Illustrations 2021 by Olivia Chin Mueller

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or .

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

Book design by Laurent Linn

The illustrations for this book were rendered digitally.

Jacket illustration 2021 by Olivia Chin Mueller

Jacket design by Laurent Linn 2021 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Kingsbury, Karen, author. | Russell, Tyler, author.

Title: Never grow up / Karen Kingsbury and Tyler Russell.

Description: First edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2021] | Series: The Baxter family children ; [3] | A Paula Wiseman Book. | Audience: Ages 8-12. | Audience: Grades 4-6. | Summary: While Kari Baxter eagerly awaits a meteor shower and frets over what she wants to be when she grows up, Ashley gets an idea for how to keep her siblings from growing up too fast.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020029435 (print) | LCCN 2020029436 (eBook) | ISBN 9781534412217 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534412231 (eBook)

Subjects: CYAC: Family lifeFiction. | Brothers and sistersFiction. | Meteor showersFiction. | Christian lifeFiction.

Classification: LCC PZ7.K6117 Nev 2021 (print) | LCC PZ7.K6117 (eBook) | DDC [Fic]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020029435

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020029436

Dedicated to Donald, my Prince Charming.

I love you with all my heart. You are my best friend, my home sweet home, my forever and always. Also to my grandchildren, who will grow up loving these stories, and to my children, who were finding their way when I began writing about the Baxters. And to God Almighty, who continues to give me the most beautiful life with all of them.

Karen

To the reader, wherever you are and whatever your age, may you always see the best in others, view the world with wonder, take hold of adventure, and choose in your heart to never grow up. Thank you for reading these stories. You are the best. To my family, thank you for supporting me, for keeping me young, and for being the best family ever (besides The Baxters, of course). And to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. All I have and all I do is because of You and for You. Thank you for giving me stories to share. I pray I tell them well. Happy reading, friends.

Tyler

Dear Reader,

Hello again! We are so happy that you loved our first two Baxter Family Children booksBest Family Ever and Finding Home! You made them both big hits, and you were sure to tell us just how much those books meant to you. Thank you for that! The letters, posts, colored pictures, and reviews were heartwarming to me and to Tyler. One of our favorite comments was from a third-grade boy who said, I will watch every day to make sure you write what happens next.

And so we bring you this third book in the Baxter Family Children collectionNever Grow Up. Now that the Baxter Children are settled in their new lives in Bloomington, Indiana, this book will give you a glimpse of how important it is to appreciate your days as a child. The days of being young.

Writing about the Baxter children and seeing them grow up in their loving and supportive family has been an incredible joy for us. Ive been writing about the Baxters for many, many yearsthe years when Tyler was growing up! Now, though, these books take us back to a simpler time when the Baxters were children, when they were growing up and finding their way. Sort oflike flipping through the pages of a family photo album.

Like with Best Family Ever and Finding Home, this third installment in the Baxter Family Childrens story will have you laughing and smiling and thinking about what matters mostfaith, family, and figuring out life along the way.

In fact, we like writing about the Baxter children so much, there just might be more books in this collection somewhere down the road!

Enjoy and always keep reading!

Love, Karen

and Tyler

BROOKE BAXTER an eighth grader at Bloomington Middle School in Indiana. She is studious and smart and happy about her familys move. Like before, she has her own room.

KARI BAXTER a sixth grader at Bloomington Elementary School. She is pretty, kind, and ready to make new friendseven if that means starting a new sport. Out in their huge backyard, Kari and Ashley find the perfect meeting spot for the family.

ASHLEY BAXTER a fifth grader at Bloomington Elementary. When life gets crazy, Ashley is right in the middle of the mess. Always. She is a dreamer and an artist, open to trying new things. She sees art in everything, and is easily the funniest Baxter child.

ERIN BAXTER a third grader at Bloomington Elementary. She is quiet and soft-spoken, and she loves spending time with their mom. She has her own room in the new house.

LUKE BAXTER a second grader at Bloomington Elementary. Hes good at sports, but sometimes hes a little too risky. Most of all hes happy and hyper. He loves God and his familyespecially his sister Ashley.

KARI

K ari Baxters head was somewhere in the clouds.

Nothing very unusual about that. Kari was more of a dreamer than most kids in her sixth-grade class. Only this time being in the sky was the exact right place for Kari.

Her teacher, Ms. Nan, was talking to them about meteors. Not from a science fiction book. But actual balls of fire streaking through the real-life sky over their heads. Kari could hardly believe it.