{"product_id":"the-knife-of-never-letting-go-isbn-9780763676186","title":"The Knife of Never Letting Go","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe international bestseller and masterpiece of science fiction in a new eye-catching package with sprayed edges\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Inventive, gut-wrenching, and all-consuming, this is an unforgettable coming-of-age reading experience.” —Chloe Gong, #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eColdwire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePrentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone’s thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. But in this town of men where privacy is impossible, there is a secret so awful that Todd, still a month shy of becoming a man himself, must run for his life from it. But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought? And what does it mean when you meet a girl whose thoughts are silent?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReturn to the world of Chaos Walking with \u003ci\u003ePiper at the Gates of Dusk,\u003c\/i\u003e the first book in the New World trilogy, coming in summer 2026!\u003cb\u003eHarrowing, heartbreaking, and brutally human . . . a masterpiece of speculative fiction and social commentary.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e—Neal Shusterman, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author of the Arc of a Scythe trilogy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThere is so much to love about the remarkable Patrick Ness! Above all, his deep, ferocious respect for young readers.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e—#1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author Libba Bray\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn epic journey through both a sci-fi world of extraordinary imagination and an emotional landscape of gripping intensity.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e—Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of the Hugo Award–winning \u003ci\u003eChildren of Time\u003c\/i\u003e series\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntelligent, compelling, and utterly devastating, Chaos Walking is one of the seminal YA series of this century. No one gets you in the feels like Patrick Ness.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—Juno Dawson, author of \u003ci\u003eHer Majesty’s Royal Coven\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA read-alone, stay-up-way-too-late book\u003c\/b\u003e. —Chicago Tribune\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of the most important works of young adult science fiction\u003c\/b\u003e. —Publishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eImpressive\u003c\/b\u003e. —The New Yorker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFuriously paced, terrifying, exhilarating, and heartbreaking\u003c\/b\u003e. —The Sunday Telegraph (UK)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA book of startling and poetic beauty. . . . \u003cb\u003eEnormously compelling\u003c\/b\u003e. —Literary Review (UK) \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCrack dramatic and comic timing . . . \u003cb\u003eunforgettable \u003c\/b\u003e. . . penetrating . . . The cliffhanger ending is as effective as a shot to the gut.\u003cbr\u003e—Booklist (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe emotional, physical, and intellectual drama is \u003cb\u003ewell crafted\u003c\/b\u003e and relentless...Tension [and] suspense…are palpable throughout, mitigated by occasional moments of welcome humor.\u003cbr\u003e—School Library Journal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTodd’s world is a fascinating one, and the psychological and sociological impact of being unable to shut out others’ thoughts—or hide your own—is creatively explored . . . Todd’s colloquial voice is by turns defensive, belligerent, innocent, and desperate; the strength of his point of view and the subtle world-building contained in it make this series opener \u003cb\u003eas promising as it is provocative\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e—The Horn Book\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTodd and Viola . . . are realistically portrayed as kids frequently overwhelmed and terrified by their circumstances . . .The nicely \u003cb\u003ebalanced mix of coming-of-age novel, science-fiction adventure, and dystopic thriller\u003c\/b\u003e will make this an appealing choice for a range of genre readers . . . still unsolved mysteries, carefully developed by Ness and left at tantalizing moments of resolution, guarantee anticipation for the next two.\u003cbr\u003e—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books\u003cb\u003ePatrick Ness \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of the critically acclaimed and best-selling Chaos Walking trilogy, as well as \u003ci\u003eChronicles of a Lizard Nobody\u003c\/i\u003e and it sequel, \u003ci\u003eChronicles of a Lizard Nobody: The Hat of Great Importance\u003c\/i\u003e. He wrote the #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eA Monster Calls \u003c\/i\u003e(inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd), which won both the Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal, was a \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e Book Prize Finalist, and was made into a major motion picture for which he wrote the screenplay. He is also the author of \u003ci\u003eMore Than This\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eRelease\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e Different for Boys\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Rest of Us Just Live Here\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eBurn\u003c\/i\u003e. His many accolades include two Carnegie Medals, an Olivier Award, the \u003ci\u003eGuardian \u003c\/i\u003eChildren’s Fiction Prize, the BookTrust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children’s Book Award. Patrick Ness lives in Los Angeles and London.\u003cb\u003eThe\u003c\/b\u003e first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don’t got nothing much to say. \u003cbr\u003e   About anything.\u003cbr\u003e   “Need a poo, Todd.”\u003cbr\u003e   “Shut up, Manchee.”\u003cbr\u003e   “Poo. Poo, Todd.”\u003cbr\u003e   “I said \u003ci\u003eshut \u003c\/i\u003eit.”\u003cbr\u003e   We’re walking across the wild fields southeast of town, those ones that slope down to the river and head on ­toward the swamp. Ben’s sent me to pick him some swamp apples and he’s made me take Manchee with me, even tho we all know Cillian only bought him to stay on Mayor Prentiss’s good side and so suddenly here’s this brand-new dog as a present for my birthday last year when I never said I wanted any dog, that what I said I wanted was for Cillian to finally fix the fissionbike so I ­wouldn’t have to walk ­every forsaken place in this stupid town, but oh, no, happy birthday, Todd, here’s a brand-new puppy, Todd, and even tho you don’t want him, even tho you never asked for him, guess who has to feed him and train him and wash him and take him for walks and listen to him jabber now he’s got old enough for the talking germ to set his mouth moving? Guess who?\u003cbr\u003e   “Poo,” Manchee barks quietly to himself. “Poo, poo, poo.”\u003cbr\u003e   “Just \u003ci\u003ehave \u003c\/i\u003eyer stupid poo and quit yapping about it.”\u003cbr\u003e   I take a switch of grass from beside the trail and I swat after him with it. I don’t reach him, I don’t mean to reach him, but he just laughs his little barking laugh and carries on down the trail. I follow after him, switching the switch against the grass on either side, squinting from the sun, trying not to think about nothing at all.\u003cbr\u003e   We don’t need apples from the swamp, truth be told. Ben can buy them at Mr. Phelps’s store if he ­really wants them. Also true: going to the swamp to pick a few apples is not a job for a man cuz men are never allowed to be so idle. Now, I won’t \u003ci\u003eofficially \u003c\/i\u003ebecome a man for thirty more days. I’ve lived twelve years of thirteen long months each and another twelve months besides, all of which living means I’m still one month away from the big birthday. The plans are being planned, the preparayshuns prepared, it will be a party, I guess, tho I’m starting to get some strange pictures about it, all dark and too bright at the same time, but nevertheless I will become a man and picking apples in the swamp is not a job for a man or even an almost-man.\u003cbr\u003e   But Ben knows he can ask me to go and he knows I’ll say yes to going because the swamp is the only place anywhere near Prentisstown where you can have half a break from all the Noise that men spill outta theirselves, all their clamor and clatter that never lets up, even when they sleep, men and the thoughts they don’t know they think even when ­everyone can hear. Men and their Noise. I don’t know how they do it, how they stand each other.\u003cbr\u003e   Men are Noisy creachers.\u003cbr\u003e   “Squirrel!” Manchee shouts and off he goes, jumping off the trail, no matter how loud I yell after him, and off I have to go, too, across the (I look round to make sure I’m alone) \u003ci\u003egoddam \u003c\/i\u003efields cuz Cillian’ll have a fit if Manchee falls down some \u003ci\u003egoddam \u003c\/i\u003esnake hole and of course it’ll be my own \u003ci\u003egoddam \u003c\/i\u003efault even tho I never wanted the \u003ci\u003egoddam \u003c\/i\u003edog in the \u003ci\u003egoddam \u003c\/i\u003efirst place.\u003cbr\u003e   “Manchee! Get back here!”\u003cbr\u003e   \u003ci\u003e“Squirrel!”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   I have to kick my way thru the grass, getting grublets stuck to my shoes. One smashes as I kick it off, leaving a green smear across my sneakers, which I know from experience ain’t coming out. \u003ci\u003e“Manchee!”\u003c\/i\u003e I rage.\u003cbr\u003e   “Squirrel! Squirrel! Squirrel!”\u003cbr\u003e   He’s barking round the tree and the squirrel’s skittering back and forth on the tree trunk, taunting him. \u003cb\u003eCome on, Whirler dog, \u003c\/b\u003esays its Noise. \u003cb\u003eCome on, come get, come on, come get. Whirler, Whirler, Whirler.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   “Squirrel, Todd! Squirrel!”\u003cbr\u003e   Goddam, animals are stupid.\u003cbr\u003e   I grab Manchee by the collar and hit him hard across his back leg. “Ow, Todd? Ow?” I hit him again. And again. “Ow? Todd?”\u003cbr\u003e   “Come \u003ci\u003eon\u003c\/i\u003e,” I say, my own Noise raging so loud I can barely hear myself think, which is something I’m about to regret, you watch.\u003cbr\u003e   \u003cb\u003eWhirler boy, Whirler boy, \u003c\/b\u003ethinks the squirrel at me.\u003cb\u003e Come get, Whirler boy.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   “You can eff off, too,” I say, except I don’t say “eff,” I say what “eff” stands for.\u003cbr\u003e   And I ­really, ­really shoulda looked round again.\u003cbr\u003e   Cuz here’s Aaron, right here, rising outta the grass from nowhere, rising up and smacking me cross the face, scratching my lip with his big ring, then bringing his hand back the other way, closed as a fist, catching my cheekbone but at least missing my nose because I’m falling into the grass, trying to fall away from his punch, and I let go of Manchee’s collar and off he runs back to the squirrel, barking his head off, the traitor, and I hit the grass with my knees and my hands, getting grublet stains all over every­thing.\u003cbr\u003e   And I stay there, on the ground, breathing.\u003cbr\u003e   Aaron stands over me, his Noise coming at me in ­fragments of scripture and of his next sermon and\u003cb\u003e Language, young Todd\u003c\/b\u003e and\u003cb\u003e the finding of a sacrifice\u003c\/b\u003e and\u003cb\u003e the saint chooses his path\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003eGod hears\u003c\/b\u003e and the wash of pictures that’s in ­everyone’s Noise, of things familiar and glancing flashes of –\u003cbr\u003e   What? What the forsaken –?\u003cbr\u003e   But up flies a loud bit of his sermon to block it out and I look up into his eyes and suddenly I don’t wanna know. I can already taste the blood where his ring cut my lip and I don’t wanna know. He never comes out here, men never do, they have their reasons, men do, and it’s just me and my dog only ever but here he is and I don’t don’t don’t wanna know.\u003cbr\u003e   He smiles down at me, thru that beard of his, smiles down at me in the grass.\u003cbr\u003e   A smiling fist.\u003cbr\u003e   “Language, young Todd,” he says, “binds us like prisoners on a chain. Haven’t you learned anything from yer church, boy?” And then he says his most familiar preaching. “If one of us falls, we all fall.”\u003cbr\u003e   \u003ci\u003eYes, Aaron,\u003c\/i\u003e I think.\u003cbr\u003e   “With yer mouth, Todd.”\u003cbr\u003e   “Yes, Aaron,” I say.\u003cbr\u003e   “And the effs?” he says. “And the geedees? Because don’t think I ­didn’t hear them as well. Your Noise reveals you. Reveals us all.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e  Not all,\u003c\/i\u003e I think, but at the same time I say, “Sorry, Aaron.”\u003cbr\u003e   He leans down to me, his lips close to my face, and I can smell the breath that comes outta his mouth, smell the weight of it, like fingers grabbing for me. “God hears,” he whispers. “God \u003ci\u003ehears\u003c\/i\u003e.”\u003cbr\u003e   And he raises a hand again and I flinch and he laughs and then he’s gone, like that, heading back ­toward the town, taking his Noise with him.","brand":"Candlewick","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301222502629,"sku":"NP9780763676186","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780763676186.jpg?v=1767740070","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-knife-of-never-letting-go-isbn-9780763676186","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}