Escape Theory (A Keaton School Novel) - Softcover

Froley, Margaux

Softcover

ISBN 10: 161695342X ISBN 13: 9781616953423

Publisher: Soho Teen, 2014

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Devon Mackintosh has always felt like an outsider at Keaton, the prestigious California boarding school perched above the Pacific. As long as she’s not fitting in, Devon figures she might as well pad her application to Stanford’s psych program. So junior year, she decides to become a peer counselor, a de facto therapist for students in crisis. At first, it seems like it will be an easy fly-on-the-wall gig, but her expectations are turned upside down when Jason Hutchins (a.k.a. “Hutch”), one of the Keaton’s most popular students, commits suicide.
 
Devon dives into her new role providing support for Hutch’s friends, but she’s haunted by her own attachment to him. The two shared an extraordinary night during their first week freshman year; it was the only time at Keaton when she felt like someone else really understood her.  As the secrets and confessions pile up in her sessions, Devon comes to a startling conclusion: Hutch couldn't have taken his own life. Bound by her oath of confidentiality—and tortured by her unrequited love—Devon embarks on a solitary mission to get to the bottom of Hutch's death, and the stakes are higher than she ever could have imagined.

Read an excerpt of Escape Theory. http://bit.ly/Yi5DZf

About this title

Review

One Sweet Pancake Recipe

By Margaux Froley

"Those Nutter Butters are going to need milk." That's the first sentence of my novel, Escape Theory, and for me it was the perfect place to meet freshman Devon Mackintosh. The cookies are the last remnant Devon has to remind her of living at home with her mother when she's newly stranded in this foreign boarding school world. She and her mom used to share the cookies while watching Grey's Anatomy, and her mom joked about "Save one for Derek" in case McDreamy ever happened upon their house one night.

For Devon, not having milk readily available to dunk her cookies like she always did with her mom is a harsh culture shock, but meeting Hutch and taking on this Nutter Butter mission with him is the kind of McDreamy moment her mom always prepared her for. As a legacy student at Keaton, Hutch is already comfortable enough with boarding school to ignore the rules and sneak into the school kitchen at night. What turns into a simple quest for a cold pitcher of milk quickly becomes an overnight adventure Devon will never forget.

For me, pancakes are one of the first things I learned to cook on my own. I used to like making them when I had slumber parties, or getting my mom to make them into fun shapes. Mickey Mouse-shaped pancakes were popular in our household. My brother showed me how to make chocolate-chip pancakes, which blew my mind as an eight year old. In the book, Devon is a girl somewhat stranded at sea. She's homesick, but would never admit it. There's something about Hutch that is so immediately comforting to her, and making pancakes together struck me as just enough of a quirky yet sweet adventure to have together. And of course, you have to add the now-integral Nutter Butters to said pancakes.

In writing the book I don't think I planned on Hutch and Devon making these pancakes. Originally they were just going to share a package of cookies. But, Hutch had other plans. I've never tried Nutter Butter pancakes until about a year ago, after Hutch turned me onto them. But I've played with the recipe ever since, and here's one to try at home:

Hutch's Nutter Butter Pancakes

Mix together:

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup milk

1 egg

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4-8 Nutter Butter Cookies, crumbled by hand.

Pinch of cinnamon

1tablespoon of peanut butter

1/2 of chocolate chips

Stir until flour and ingredients all mixed, some lumps are okay. Pour into griddle. Cook each side for roughly a minute and a half. Serve with syrup and butter, and of course, a glass of milk. Enjoy.

About the Author

Margaux Froley grew up in Santa Barbara, California, and attended not one, but two boarding schools during her high school years in California and Oxford, England. She studied film at University of Southern California, and has worked for such television networks as: TLC, CMT, Travel, MTV, and the CW. She currently lives in Los Angeles and still loves Nutter Butters. Escape Theory is her first novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Soho Teen
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 161695342X
• ISBN 13: 9781616953423
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304