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ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
Winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Children's Literature
A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
Winner of the 2004 Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List
When fifteen-year-old Mick Nichols discovers a secret about his stepmother, he comes obsessed with uncovering the truth. But before he can get to the bottom of it, Mick is confronted by a series of strange robberies and a close friend with a dark secret of her own. As he seeks out answers, Mick realizes that all of his problems are zipped up together—and he may have to go to drastic lengths to untangle them.

“The McNeals spin a wonderfully rich story.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A well-honed novel. . . . Readers will be sucked in.”—Publishers Weekly
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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 1, 2003
      The McNeals skillfully weave together several story lines in their well-honed novel about young suburbanites who face adult complications. When 15-year-old Mick discovers that his beloved stepmother is having an affair, he starts acting mean to her, keeps her incriminating emails on a disk zipped in his pocket and even hides in her car when he suspects she's meeting her lover. Meanwhile, his crush, Lisa, is interested in Mick, but she's also infatuated with a smooth-talking Mormon missionary. Lisa's best friend develops a relationship with Maurice, a supervisor at the retirement village where the teens work as groundskeepers, who is also responsible for a crime spree in the community. Additionally, Lisa learns, he's sexually harassing another worker. As in their last novel, Crooked, the McNeals create a pair of nice, slightly geeky characters, and a complicated bad kid. Through their alternating perspectives (Mick's, Lisa's and Maurice's), the authors reveal the characters' baggage: Mick's mother left eight years ago (she sends computer-generated checks a month before his birthday) and Maurice's dad died trying to escape the police. Tender scenes, like one in which Mick's father, trying to ease tensions, asks him to come downstairs and play piano, keep the novel grounded, and Mick and Lisa's relationship develops naturally and smoothly (they take walks, she bakes him cookies). An epilogue seems extraneous. Readers will be sucked in as Mick and Lisa begin to see "the face behind the face behind the face." Ages 12-up.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 10, 2003
      The McNeals skillfully weave together several story lines in their well-honed novel about young suburbanites who face adult complications. When 15-year-old Mick discovers that his beloved stepmother is having an affair, he starts acting mean to her, keeps her incriminating emails on a disk zipped in his pocket and even hides in her car when he suspects she's meeting her lover. Meanwhile, his crush, Lisa, is interested in Mick, but she's also infatuated with a smooth-talking Mormon missionary. Lisa's best friend develops a relationship with Maurice, a supervisor at the retirement village where the teens work as groundskeepers, who is also responsible for a crime spree in the community. Additionally, Lisa learns, he's sexually harassing another worker. As in their last novel, Crooked, the McNeals create a pair of nice, slightly geeky characters, and a complicated bad kid. Through their alternating perspectives (Mick's, Lisa's and Maurice's), the authors reveal the characters' baggage: Mick's mother left eight years ago (she sends computer-generated checks a month before his birthday) and Maurice's dad died trying to escape the police. Tender scenes, like one in which Mick's father, trying to ease tensions, asks him to come downstairs and play piano, keep the novel grounded, and Mick and Lisa's relationship develops naturally and smoothly (they take walks, she bakes him cookies). An epilogue seems extraneous. Readers will be sucked in as Mick and Lisa begin to see "the face behind the face behind the face." Ages 12-up.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 18, 2004
      This novel's narrative alternates between three teens, each of whom face their own trials. According to PW
      , "The authors skillfully weave together several story lines into a well-honed novel." Ages 12-up.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
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Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:5
  • Lexile® Measure:810
  • Interest Level:9-12(UG)
  • Text Difficulty:3-4

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