The Year Of Secret Assignments - Hardcover

Moriarty, Jaclyn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0439498813 ISBN 13: 9780439498814

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2004

Synopsis

Three girls. Three boys. One of them's a total psycho.
It's teenage life as it really feels. Only funnier.


The Ashbury-Brookfield pen pal program was designed to bring together the "lowlife Brooker kids" (as they're known to the Ashburyites) and the "rich Ashbury snobs" (as they're called by the Brookfielders) in a spirit of harmony and the Joy of the Envelope. But things don't go quite as planned. Lydia and Sebastian trade challenges, like setting off the fire alarm at Brookfield. Emily tutors Charlie in How to Go On a Date with a Girl. But it's Cassie and Matthew who both reveal and conceal the most about themselves -- and it's their secrets and lies that set off a war between the two schools.

About this title

About the Author

Jaclyn Moriarty grew up in Sydney, Australia, with 4 sisters, 1 brother, 2 dogs, and 12 chickens. She studied law at the University of Sydney, Yale, and Cambridge, and worked as an entertainment lawyer before she wrote the Ashbury High novels, including THE YEAR OF SECRET ASSIGNMENTS, THE MURDER OF BINDY MACKENZIE, and THE GHOSTS OF ASHBURY HIGH. She still lives in Sydney, with her little boy, Charlie.

Reviews

Grade 7-10--Lydia, Emily, and Cassie are longtime friends who share almost everything, especially the secret assignments that they have cooked up for one another in times of need since elementary school. When their English teacher assigns them pen pals (all boys) from rival Brookfield High, they strike out on their own to connect individually with their pen friends. Sebastian, Lydia's pal, is an artist who loves soccer and is intrigued by the covert assignments that she gives him. Emily's Charlie is a lot of fun and a true sweetheart, despite a few escapades such as stealing cars. Cassie's pen pal hates her and is rude and threatening. The story--told through journal entries, letters, e-mails, and notes--chronicles a year filled with spy missions, false alarms, lock picking, and a major war between the two schools that ends with a legal battle. The adventures of the friends are funny, exciting, and, at times, poignant as they deal with problems of growing up and developing relationships. This delightful book set in Australia is full of fun, engaging characters, and important messages about friendship.--Janet Hilbun, formerly at Sam Houston Middle School, Garland, TX
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*Starred Review* Gr. 8-12. In her debut for youth, Moriarty follows her adult title, Feeling Sorry for Celia (2000), with another winning novel. Written entirely in letters, diary entries, lists, quizzes, transcripts, and mock subpoenas (there are a disproportionate number of lawyerly parents here), the novel focuses on three Australian girls who have each been assigned to write to a student at a rival school. The girls' pen friends turn out to be three boys, and the entertaining correspondence between the couples reveals the characters' quirky ingenuity, pranks, burgeoning romances, and fierce friendships as well as deeper family stories, including one about a parent's death. When one of the boys turns out to be an abusive fraud, the others craft a delicious retribution scheme that propels the story to a satisfying conclusion. Moriarty's characters speak in voices as playful and inventive as the novel's format. There are a few coarse moments--a reference to a blow job and some caustic outbursts ("eat shit and die" and "bitch face")--and the story's myriad devices wear thin in places. But this is an unusual novel with an exhilarating pace, irrepressible characters, and a screwball humor that will easily attract teens, many of whom will yearn for madcap adventures and unshakably devoted friends like these. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0439498813
• ISBN 13: 9780439498814
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352