Book overview
From the Michael L. Printz Award-winning author of Dig comes a story about four teenagers as they navigate the pressures of high-stakes modern education and the standardization tests that will define their futures.
"At once a statement on the culture of modern schools as well as mental health issues, this novel is an ambitious, haunting work of art."--School Library Journal, starred review
"It's bizarre, compelling, and not like anything else."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
Four accomplished teenagers are on the verge of explosion. The anxieties they face at every turn have pushed them to the point of surrender: senseless high-stakes testing, the lingering damage of trauma, the buried grief and guilt of tragic loss. They are desperate to cope--but no one is listening. So they will lie. They will split in two. They will turn inside out. They will build an invisible helicopter to fly themselves far away . . . but nothing releases the pressure. Because, as they discover, the only way to truly escape their world is to fly right into it.
"At once a statement on the culture of modern schools as well as mental health issues, this novel is an ambitious, haunting work of art."--School Library Journal, starred review
"It's bizarre, compelling, and not like anything else."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
Four accomplished teenagers are on the verge of explosion. The anxieties they face at every turn have pushed them to the point of surrender: senseless high-stakes testing, the lingering damage of trauma, the buried grief and guilt of tragic loss. They are desperate to cope--but no one is listening. So they will lie. They will split in two. They will turn inside out. They will build an invisible helicopter to fly themselves far away . . . but nothing releases the pressure. Because, as they discover, the only way to truly escape their world is to fly right into it.
