Beware The Smart Kids - Softcover

Kushin, Matthew J

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1961504138 ISBN 13: 9781961504134

Publisher: Beacon Publishing Group, 2024

Synopsis

You can be smart, successful, and deeply dissatisfied. Beware the Smart Kids is a novel about why that happens—and what we misunderstand about happiness.

In a town where young people spend years learning to succeed, the lesson they really need is the one their parents are hiding from. But a mysterious ex-convict is about to change all of that.

Nolan Sussman badly wants two things before high school ends: to win the attention of Gabi Meyers and to find his runaway sister, Sarah. But one prank too many nearly gets him expelled. He's sentenced to spend his summer doing yard work for Mr. Barno, a former high school teacher who spent 25 years in prison.

Nolan knows only one thing about the old man: his nickname is Death Row Barno. Everything else the teen hears is just small town rumor, or so he thinks. When Nolan sets out to discover the truth about Mr. Barno, he soon discovers that it's not only Mr. Barno's past that's shrouded in mystery. It's the town's past—a past that none of the town's parents can get over, especially Gabi Meyers' mom.

Paterson Prize for Books for Young People Co-Winner Grades 7-12 (2025)

A story for "those who feel invisible, those who are hiding their pain, those who think they'll never find the answers, those who are yearning for something but don't know what." - author Margaret Standafer

"So vivid and well paced, I could hardly put it down." - Review

"Compelling characters, stunning story, and plenty of twists and turns." - Review

"You'll laugh and cry though the pages of this beautiful story. And you too will want to follow the Atlas." - author Annie James Thomas

"Nothing short of wonderful...this story resonated with me on so many levels." - Review

An "all-consuming story" - Review

"An honest look at teenage life in the twenty-first century." - Derek Gallagher, high school psychology teacher.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Lost. Mierable. Lonely. Desperate for something more. That's life for teenager Nolan Sussman until an ex-convict who knows the 5 secrets to happiness returns to town.

Misfit troublemaker Nolan Sussman badly wants two things before high school ends: the attention of Gabi Meyers and the return of his runaway sister, Sarah.

But when his latest prank goes awry, Nolan is nearly expelled. He's forced to spend his summer doing yardwork for Mr. Barno, a reclusive former high school teacher who spent 25 years in prison.

Nolan soon finds that despite the tragic mistake that landed Mr. Barno in prison, the old man has something even more elusive than Gabi and Sarah—happiness. Now, Nolan is determined to learn how to be happy, too. It's his chance to matter. His shot at a future. But secrets in Mr. Barno's past are preventing the once-beloved educator from having the will to ever teach again. Secrets the two outcasts will have to face together.

Edition details

• Publisher: Beacon Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1961504138
• ISBN 13: 9781961504134
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 374