| Booktalk
#1
Matt Donaghy is 16-years-old,
a junior in high school, the class vice president and all-round good student
with a promising future. This is all about to change. Yanked
out of fifth period study hall by the police, he is utterly confused about
what is happening. When the police tell Matt that he has been accused
of making threats against the school and his classmates, he can't believe
what he's hearing. He would never do such a thing! How could
anyone suspect him? What is going on? Apparently some students
heard him kidding at lunch about blowing the place up. He and his
friends were goofing around. No one would ever take that stuff seriously.
But now, things are spiraling out of control and Matt can't make the police
understand that it was just a joke. Have you ever said anything in
jest that might be taken wrong by others? Find out what happens to
Big Mouth Matt and find out how his life and that of Ursula "Ugly Girl"
Riggs change forever.
Booktalk #2
Matt’s a friendly, smart and
funny high school junior. His outrageous comments are meant to make classmates
laugh and have never really gotten him into serious trouble before. Now
it’s different. Two police detectives escort him from class for questioning.
Matt has been accused of threatening to blow up the school and he’s assumed
guilty until proven innocent. Some of his friends know what really happened
but they don’t want to get involved and don’t stick up for Matt. Worse
than just not helping, they shut him out. His unlikely ally is Ursula,
a former classmate from elementary school. This is a fast-moving, timely
and compelling story that exposes the social pressures of high school and
how rumor mills and downright cruelty compound it. (Jean B. Bellavance
for Pennsylvania
Young Reader's Choice Awards, 2006-2007) |
