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Nancy Keane's | Booktalks -- Quick and Simple | |
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Mitchell,
Todd.
THE SECRET TO LYING Somerville, MA : Candlewick, 2010 IL YA ISBN 0763640840 |
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In his old high school James was totally unremarkable; the guy no one noticed. When he's offered a scholarship to a public boarding school for gifted students, he accepts. He’s tired of being dull and boring and sees the American Science and Math Academy as a chance to reinvent himself. How hard could it be to impress a bunch of overachieving nerds and geeks? James spikes his hair, wears grunge clothes, tells a few little lies and convinces most of the kids that he's from the wild side; a street-fighting punk with pyromaniac tendencies. He has scars that help fuel the tough guy image, but these scars are real and self-inflicted. James builds friendships, pulls off outrageous pranks, deals with his first love and fights off demons in his dreams, and self-destructive tendencies in his real life. Some of the story is told through IMs between James and the enigmatic persona of Ghost44 who communicates best online and tells him, "I can't be myself in person." This is a sensitive and funny novel that offers a thoughtful take on the importance of learning to live in your own skin. ~Patty McClune (Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards, 2011-2012) |
| SUBJECTS:
Popularity -- Fiction.
Honesty -- Fiction. Self-actualization (Psychology) -- Fiction. Boarding schools -- Fiction. High schools -- Fiction. Schools -- Fiction. Dreams -- Fiction. Demonology -- Fiction. |
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