Henrietta Sharp and the Magic Lunch Box

A chubby 12-year-old deals with mean girls at school, a brand new super power, and an intergalactic villain who wants to take over the taste buds of humanity. With her two best friends and a most unusual guide, Henrietta Sharp must overcome her self-doubt and learn to wield her power without losing her humanity.

Twelve-year-old Henrietta Sharp is smart, funny and likes to read the dictionary. But all she really wants is to be normal, a normal size that is, like her fashion-minded best friend Taffeta Bloom. That’s life before a magic lunch box (LB) mysteriously appears and tells Henri that she is a Traveler, someone who can summon portals and travel the universe. Before you can say brand new super-power, Henri, her brainy boy-cousin P.J., Taffeta, and LB, are off on an adventure. They must find the medallion of power that will awaken the guide who will train Henri in the ways of a Traveler. Unfortunately, this particular guide is the most unlikely individual ever to assume responsibility for under age children and Henri’s training is strictly on the job. They must leave immediately for the domain of Grymvald to rescue the imprisoned leader of the Fake Food Rebellion. A rogue Traveler, now a powerful Star Lord, has enslaved much of Grymvald with a deadly, addictive substance. Now, he gathers his forces in preparation for an attack on Earth. The friends find Grymvald a different and disturbing and kind of place. It looks a lot like Earth, except that inanimate objects are, well, animated. Vegetables talk and think, dinnerware can be lethal, and saying no to seconds can get you put in prison. Without the least idea how, Henri must learn to wield the medallion and defeat the Star Lord, while resisting the lure of its infinite power. With LB, Taffy and P.J. by her side, Henri discovers that friendship and loyalty have a power of their very own, and that the impossible business of saving the world cannot be separated from the complex business of finding herself.

Jan Welborn-Nichols was was born in Peculiar, Missouri, really. Now that she lives in Bloomington, Illinois it can be said that she's near to Normal, the town next door. Surviving a very trying adolescence of bad skin, ugly glasses and a wardrobe from the junior good ‘n plenty department, Jan went to college at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she completed a master's degree in voice performance. After college and a period of study in Zurich, Switzerland, the farm girl arrived in New York City to continue studying voice. After countless auditions and more hours in a practice room than a first class felon spends in lock-up, she realized that opera and German art song were not a reliable source of income. Finally, the starving artist, not that you could tell by looking, took a day job in advertising and discovered that work could be as much fun as hamming it up on stage -- especially when a new business pitch offered up a captive audience. After working in advertising, publishing and marketing for several years, Jan finally figured out that the best job is the one you create yourself. As owner of the creative services firm, Market Arts, Inc., her lifelong fascination with stories found another outlet. For the past 17 years, Jan been in the storytelling business, crafting branded marketing strategies for clients. Now it's time for a creative project of her very own, the book Henrietta Sharp and the Magic Lunch Box, and the companion web site.