{"product_id":"pick-the-lock-isbn-9780593353981","title":"Pick the Lock","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom Michael L. Printz Award winner A.S. King, a weird and insightful new novel about a girl intent on picking the lock of her toxic family.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJane Vandermaker-Cook would like her mother back. As Jane's mother tours the world to support the family, Jane lives and goes to school in a Victorian mansion with her younger brother and their mendacious father who confines Jane’s mother to a system of pneumatic tubes whenever she’s at home. And then there's weirdly ever-present Aunt Finch, Milorad the gardener, and his rat, Brutus. For Jane, this all seems normal until she suddenly gains access to the files for a lifetime of security-camera videos—her lifetime.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA.S. King's latest surrealist masterpiece follows Jane’s bizarre and brilliant journey to reconnect with her mother by breaking out of her shell and composing a punk opera.\u003cb\u003eA YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A roller coaster of a book, \u003ci\u003ePick the Lock \u003c\/i\u003eis one thrill after another.\"—NPR\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Rendered with prodigious imagination and raw emotion, King’s surrealistic world is not too far from our own.\"—\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e★ \"Printz Award–winning King has written another remarkable, character-driven book that dazzles with its originality. With that and its employment of magic realism, it is sui generis, and at 400-plus pages, it is one of King’s most ambitious, and most successful, books. And that, God knows, is no lie.\"—\u003ci\u003eBooklist, \u003c\/i\u003estarred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e★ \"A worthy literary heir to feminist novels like \u003ci\u003eThe Stepford Wives, \u003c\/i\u003eupdated and recast for a new generation, this is a much-needed, thought-provoking tale of survival and triumph.”—BCCB, starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e★ \"Cathartic.\"\u003ci\u003e—Horn Book,\u003c\/i\u003e starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e★ \"A young adult feminist anthem that thoughtfully addresses issues of abuse.\"—\u003ci\u003eSLJ, \u003c\/i\u003estarred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e★ \"Three-time Michael L. Printz Award-winner A.S. King employs her signature surrealism to portray the emotional reality of domestic abuse through an unflinching feminist gaze. [B]eathtakingly successful.\"—Shelf Awareness, starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A.S. King always leans into the weaird and surreal (think Vonnegut with a 16-year-old girls at the centre).... This strange, ambitious novel takes its young readers—and their pain—seriously.\"—\u003ci\u003eThe Irish Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Helmed by Jane’s penetrating commentary, this unconventional narrative melds punk anthems and bewildering interludes from a shape-shifting rat with King’s quirky blend of present-day issues and mind-bending twists to unlock complex, thought-provoking insight.\"—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eAn NPR Best Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eHorn Book \u003c\/i\u003eFanfare Book\u003c\/b\u003eA.S. King is the award-winning author of many acclaimed books for young readers. Her novel \u003ci\u003eDig\u003c\/i\u003e won the 2020 Michael L. Printz Award, and\u003ci\u003e Ask The Passengers \u003c\/i\u003ewon the 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times \u003c\/i\u003ecalled her \"one of the best YA writers working today.\" In 2022, she was awarded the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award for her significant contribution to YA literature. King lives with her family in Pennsylvania, where she returned after living on a farm and teaching adult literacy in Ireland for more than a decade. www.as-king.com\u003cb\u003ePrologue:\u003cbr\u003eLesson One\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eI do not lie to God.\u003cbr\u003eGod, in this sense, can be whatever you want it to be—­but the one thing God cannot be is a liar or a believer of lies or a perpetuator of lies or an eater of lies or a baker of lies or a bartender of lies. God \/ the universe can shake up a cocktail and serve it to you, but if you need lies to survive, you must tell your own stories \/ add your own garnish.\u003cbr\u003eGod will watch you from behind the bar.\u003cbr\u003eGod will nod and smile as you eat the cherry.\u003cbr\u003eGod knows you are imperfect.You do not.\u003cbr\u003eGod forgives you.\u003cbr\u003eYou do not.\u003cbr\u003eThis is why you lie to God.\u003cbr\u003eAnd so, Lesson One is easy.\u003cbr\u003eI am imperfect. I forgive myself. I do not lie to God.\u003cbr\u003eI first learned this lesson when I was four years old. I have not strayed. I am humble in the light of the universe—­I have earned my place.\u003cbr\u003eMy father lies to God. All the time.\u003cbr\u003eToday he said, “God knows, we tried all we could before she went into the System.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eShe\u003c\/i\u003e is my mother.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWe\u003c\/i\u003e is him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eTried\u003c\/i\u003e means he didn’t like her the way she was.\u003cbr\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eSystem\u003c\/i\u003e is how Mother travels now, contained in a tidy capsule.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eGod knows.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eMy father should not be the keeper of God’s words. He is a liar and a thief.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eGod knows.\u003c\/i\u003eMy father cannot think God’s thoughts. He is a traitor and a brute.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eGod knows.\u003cbr\u003eGod\u003c\/i\u003e shouldn’t even be allowed in his mouth—­my father is a killer.\u003cbr\u003eHe made my mother into a fast-­moving message. Fed her into a tube.The message reads, “I am an example of what happens when a coward lies to God.” \u003cbr\u003eMy father.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eGod knows.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eOur teacher. Our captor. Our hero.\u003cbr\u003eHis Lesson One is: \u003ci\u003eThe World and Its Seven Continents: Overview.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eMy Lesson One is: DO NOT LIE TO GOD.","brand":"Dutton Books for Young Readers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233475735781,"sku":"NP9780593353981","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593353981.jpg?v=1767734771","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/pick-the-lock-isbn-9780593353981","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}