{"product_id":"liar-spy-isbn-9780375850875","title":"Liar \u0026 Spy","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe instant \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller from the author of the Newbery Medal winner \u003ci\u003eWhen You Reach Me\u003c\/i\u003e: a story about spies, games, and friendship.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThe first day Georges (the S is silent) moves into a new Brooklyn apartment, he sees a sign taped to a door in the basement: SPY CLUB MEETING—TODAY! \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThat’s how he meets his twelve-year-old neigh­bor Safer. He and Georges quickly become allies—and fellow spies. Their assignment? Tracking the mysterious Mr. X, who lives in the apartment upstairs. But as Safer’s requests become more and more demanding, Georges starts to wonder: how far is too far to go for your only friend? \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Will touch the hearts of kids and adults alike.” —NPR\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWinner of the Guardian Prize for Children’s Fiction\u003cbr\u003eNamed a Best Book of the Year by \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, \u003c\/i\u003eand more!\u003c\/p\u003eA Finalist for the Carnegie Medal\u003cbr\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Bestseller\u003cbr\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Children’s Book\u003cbr\u003eA Junior Library Guild Selection \u003cbr\u003eNamed a Best Book of the Year by \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, The Horn Book Magazine, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, \u003c\/i\u003eChicago Public Library\u003cbr\u003eNamed to 21 State Award Lists \u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Readers will sympathize with Georges and Safer as they negotiate various familiar obstacles, but it’s the celebration that will leave them exultant.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books,\u003c\/i\u003e Starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The ending twists readers’ entire perception of the events and creates a brilliant conclusion to an insightful novel.” —\u003ci\u003eSchool Library Journal,\u003c\/i\u003e Starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Stead’s spare and elegant prose, compassionate insight into the lives of young people, wry sense of humor, deft plotting, and ability to present complex ideas in an accessible and intriguing way make this much more than a mystery with a twist.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Horn Book,\u003c\/i\u003e Starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Chock-full of fascinating characters and intelligent questions, this is as close to perfect as middle-grade novels come.” —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly,\u003c\/i\u003e Starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A] big-hearted, delightfully quirky tale…. Georges resolves his various issues in a way that’s both ingenious and organic to the story….Original and winning” —\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews,\u003c\/i\u003e Starred review\u003cp\u003eREBECCA STEAD is the author of \u003ci\u003eWhen You Reach Me,\u003c\/i\u003e which was a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller and winner of the Newbery Medal and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Fiction, and \u003ci\u003eLiar \u0026amp; Spy,\u003c\/i\u003e which was also a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller, won the Guardian Prize for Children’s Fiction, and was on multiple state master lists and best of the year lists. Her most recent book, \u003ci\u003eGoodbye Stranger, \u003c\/i\u003ewas a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book for Fiction and a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller. She is also the author of \u003ci\u003eFirst Light,\u003c\/i\u003e which was nominated for many state awards. She lives in New York City with her family. Visit her online at rebeccasteadbooks.com.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Science Unit of Destiny\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere's this totally false map of the human tongue. It's supposed to show where we taste different things, like salty on the side of the tongue, sweet in the front, bitter in the back. Some guy drew it a hundred years ago, and people have been forcing kids to memorize it ever since.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut it's wrong--all wrong. As in, not even the slightest bit right. It turns out that our taste buds are all alike, they can taste everything, and they're all over the place. Mr. Landau, seventh-grade science teacher, has unrolled a beaten-up poster of the ignorant tongue map, and he's explaining about how people have misunderstood the science of taste since the beginning of time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEveryone in my class, even Bob English Who Draws, is paying attention today, because this is the first day of \"How We Taste,\" also known as The Science Unit of Destiny. They all believe that sometime in the next ten school days, at least one person in the room is going to discover his or her own personal fate: true love or tragic death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYes, those are the only two choices.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBob English Who Draws is really named Robert English. Back in fourth grade, our teacher, Ms. Diamatis, started calling him Bob English Who Draws because he was always zoning out and doodling with a superfine Sharpie. Ms. Diamatis would say, \"Bob English Who Draws, can you please take us through the eights?\" It was her job to make sure no one got out of fourth grade without lightning-fast multiplication skills. And everyone has called him that ever since.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile the rest of the class is hanging on every syllable that comes out of Mr. Landau's mouth, I'm looking at the false tongue poster and I'm kind of wishing it wasn't wrong. There's something nice about those thick black arrows: sour here, salty there, like there's a right place for everything. Instead of the total confusion the human tongue actually turns out to be.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePeople, People\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's Friday afternoon, last period. Gym. Ms. Warner and I have done our Friday high five. We do it every week, because I hate school and she hates work, and we both live for Friday.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe're playing volleyball, with an exclamation point. Ms. Warner has written it on the whiteboard outside the gym doors: Volleyball!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe combination of seeing that word and breathing the smell of the first floor, which is the smell of the cafeteria after lunch, creates some kind of echo in my head, like a faraway shout.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the morning, the cafeteria smells fried and sweet, like fish sticks and cookies. But after lunch, it's different. There's more kid sweat and garbage mixed in, I guess. Or maybe it's just that, after lunch, the cafeteria doesn't have the smell of things to come. It's the smell of what has been.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVolleyball!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMs. Warner is at the net with her hands on her knees, calling stuff out to kids and smiling like crazy. \"Shazam!\" she yells when Eliza Donan gives the ball a halfhearted bump with her forearm. \"Sweet shot!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you didn't know Ms. Warner, you'd think there's no place she'd rather be. Maybe she's trying out my mom's famous theory that if you smile for no reason at all you will actually start to feel happy. Mom's always telling me to smile and hoping I'll turn into a smiley person, which, to be honest, is kind of annoying. But I know she's extra-sensitive about me ever since she and Dad made their big announcement that we had to sell our house. She even recorded a bunch of America's Funniest Home Videos for me to watch: my smile therapy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI tell Mom to please save her miracle cures for the hospital. She's a nurse in the intensive-care ward, where she has to check on her patients every fifteen minutes. It's a hard habit to break, I guess, all that checking. I've been watching the shows, though, and they do make me laugh. How can you not laugh at America's Funniest Home Videos? All those wacky animals. All that falling down.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI count the number of rotations we have left in \"Volleyball!\" before it's my serve and then glance at the huge clock in its protective cage on the wall. I calculate a fifty-fifty chance that the dismissal bell will save me, but the next thing I know I'm in that back corner, balancing the ball on one palm and getting ready to slap it with the other.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDon't look at the ball.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePoint your eyes where you want the ball to go.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut the advice in my head is useless, because time slows down until everyone's voices transform into something that sounds like underwater whale-singing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWell, obviously \"underwater,\" I tell myself. Where else are you going to find whales?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI should be paying attention to the ball.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJust as I'm about to smack it, I get this feeling, this premonition, that I'm going to land the ball at least somewhere on the other side of the net, maybe even in that big hole in the second row where Mandy and Gabe are being careful not to stand too close because they secretly like each other.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI'm wrong, though. The ball goes high, falls short, and hits the floor between the feet of Dallas Llewellyn, who is standing right in front of me. My serve is what is called an epic fail, and some of the girls start doing the slow clap.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClap.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePause.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClap.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePause.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClap.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's sarcastic clapping. You know that famous philosophical question \"What is the sound of one hand clapping?\" Well, I have no idea, but it has to be better than the slow clap.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMs. Warner is yelling \"People! People!\" like she always does when kids are mean and she has no idea what to do about it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDallas hands me the ball for my second try and I hit it right away, just to get it over with. This time it goes way left, out of bounds. Then the bell rings, kids fly in all directions, and the week is over.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Yearling","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300265382117,"sku":"NP9780375850875","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780375850875.jpg?v=1767731390","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/liar-spy-isbn-9780375850875","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}