Rich and Mad - Hardcover

Nicholson, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1606841203 ISBN 13: 9781606841204

Publisher: EgmontUSA, 2010

Synopsis

Maddy is a sixteen-year-old who likes
a boy in her theater club.
 
Joe is cute and popular and, incredibly,
sending signals that he likes her back.
Or does he? Isn’t Joe going out with Gemma?
 
Rich has a crush on Grace, and he even sends a letter
of recommendation from the pope to get
her to pay attention to him. But Grace
doesn’t appreciate that tactic. . . .
 
The problem is, in life’s messy
mixed signals of friends and lies
and sex and status, true love can
be hard to find. And the real thing
doesn’t always come in the most obvious
package, either. Is it possible that the person
you never thought of that way is the one
who will ultimately touch your
heart?
 
This compelling exploration of feelings,
expectations, and attraction offers a
contemporary and candid look at love
and sexuality while moving readers with
its gentle portrayal of a very special first
relationship.

About this title

About the Author

William Nicholson is a famous screenwriter (Gladiator, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Nell) and playwright (Shadowlands) who is the author of two popular fantasy trilogies, The Wind on Fire and Noble Warriors. He is currently working on a new screenplay for a film starring Cate Blanchett, to premiere in 2011.

From School Library Journal

Gr 10 Up–This novel, narrated with limited omniscience from the points of view of 16-year-old Maddie and her classmate Rich, describes both characters' growing interest in romance and intimacy. When Maddie develops a crush on Joe, a popular guy who has been dating another girl for years, he seems to signal his interest by communicating with her through email, sending Maddie bons mots while encouraging her to keep their electronic relationship a secret. Meanwhile, Rich nurses a crush on Grace, Maddie's distant, icy, and beautiful friend. As the lovelorn Rich and Maddie pine for the objects of their desire, Maddie, in a plot twist reminiscent of Jaclyn Moriarty's The Year of Secret Assignments (Scholastic 2005), discovers that she has been used as a pawn by a friend involved in a dangerous romance, a finding that draws her closer to Rich. Although drawn as distinct individuals, the protagonists are hard to know; their thoughts and actions are told more than they are shown. When Rich and Maddie's relationship grows intimate, Nicholson's prose is distinctly romantic, though intellectualized, somewhat impersonal, and even mechanical. “She wants to please me. She gives me her body to please me,” thinks Rich, after a particularly steamy encounter. Nicholson does not shy away from sexual explication, a characteristic that distinguishes the novel. Just as Judy Blume's Forever (Bradbury, 1975) has been lauded for its frankness but criticized for its clinical language, Rich and Mad might be similarly but guardedly praised.–Amy S. Pattee, Simmons College, Boston. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: EgmontUSA
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1606841203
• ISBN 13: 9781606841204
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384