{"product_id":"the-ask-and-the-answer-isbn-9780763676179","title":"The Ask and the Answer","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe international bestseller and masterpiece of science fiction in a new eye-catching package with sprayed edges\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“There is so much to love about the remarkable Patrick Ness! Above all, his deep, ferocious respect for young readers.” —#1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author Libba Bray\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss. Immediately separated from Viola, Todd finds this new landscape is shrouded in secrets. And then one day, the bombs begin to explode . . .\u003cb\u003eInventive, gut-wrenching, and all-consuming, this is an unforgettable coming-of-age reading experience.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e—Chloe Gong, #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author of \u003ci\u003eColdwire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\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\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\u003eGrim and \u003cb\u003ebeautifully written\u003c\/b\u003e…uses a brilliant cast of \u003cb\u003ewell-developed characters\u003c\/b\u003e and its singular setting and premise to present a provocative examination of the nature of evil and humanity. This is among the best YA science fiction novels of the year.\u003cbr\u003e—Publishers Weekly (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn amalgamation of society’s most brutal facets—fascism, terrorism, torture, ethnic cleansing—with\u003cb\u003e all kinds of relevance to our world\u003c\/b\u003e… a relentless flurry of heavy-hitting issues, hinging on appeasement, complicity, and maintaining one’s morality in the face of impossible choices.\u003cbr\u003e—Booklist (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProvocative questions about gender bias, racism, the meaning of war and the price of peace are thoughtfully threaded throughout a breathless, often violent plot peopled with \u003cb\u003eheartbreakingly real characters\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e—Kirkus Reviews\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNess takes his characters to new, dark places…\u003cb\u003ethe series continues to develop a fascinating world\u003c\/b\u003e, and its fully formed characters and conflicts draw attention to difficult issues with a rare, unblinking candor.\u003cbr\u003e—The Horn Book\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePacked with action and moral dilemmas, this \u003cb\u003ecompelling \u003c\/b\u003eread presents two inspiring, strong characters who act bravely in the face of evil.\u003cbr\u003e—School Library Journal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eScience-fiction fans, especially those who appreciate dark stories, will devour the first two novels, and they\u003cb\u003e will eagerly await the conclusion\u003c\/b\u003e to this planned trilogy.\u003cbr\u003e—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGripping \u003c\/b\u003estory of two young people fighting to stay true to themselves and each other under terrible circumstances…stunningly clear depiction of the moral wreckage of civil war: power-lust, shifting loyalties, betrayals and seductive competing justifications for violence.\u003cbr\u003e—Wall Street Journal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAre revolutionaries the same as terrorists? That's not just a theoretical question as we watch the protagonists forced into taking sides, especially as the ship arrives from Viola's home planet. Once again, \u003cb\u003ethe final chapter zings\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e—Chicago Tribune\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNess is both \u003cb\u003eaccessible and sophisticated\u003c\/b\u003e, handling big subjects — terrorism, feminism, genocide, love — in prose that is simple and heart-stopping.\u003cbr\u003e—Sunday Times (UK)\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\u003e“Your \u003c\/b\u003eNoise reveals you, Todd Hewitt.” \u003cbr\u003e   A voice – \u003cbr\u003e   In the darkness – \u003cbr\u003e   I blink open my eyes. Everything is shadows and blur and it feels like the world’s spinning and my blood is too hot and my brain is clogged and I can’t think and it’s dark – \u003cbr\u003e   I blink again.\u003cbr\u003e   Wait – \u003cbr\u003e   No, \u003ci\u003ewait \u003c\/i\u003e– \u003cbr\u003e   Just now, just \u003ci\u003enow \u003c\/i\u003ewe were in the square – \u003cbr\u003e   Just now she was in my arms – \u003cbr\u003e   She was \u003ci\u003edying \u003c\/i\u003ein my arms – \u003cbr\u003e   “Where is she?” I spit into the dark, tasting blood, my voice croaking, my Noise rising like a sudden hurricane, high and red and furious. \u003ci\u003e“WHERE IS SHE?”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   “I will be the one doing the asking here, Todd.”\u003cbr\u003e   That voice.\u003cbr\u003e   \u003ci\u003eHis \u003c\/i\u003evoice.\u003cbr\u003e   Somewhere in the dark.\u003cbr\u003e   Somewhere behind me, somewhere unseen.\u003cbr\u003e   Mayor Prentiss.\u003cbr\u003e   I blink again and the murk starts to turn into a vast room, the only light coming from a single window, a wide circle up high and far away, its glass not clear but colored into shapes of New World and its two circling moons, the light from it slanting down onto me and nothing else.\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e  “What have you done with her?”\u003c\/i\u003e I say, loud, blinking against fresh blood trickling into my eyes. I try to reach up to clear it away but I find my hands are tied behind my back and panic rises in me and I struggle against the binds and my breathing speeds up and I shout again,\u003ci\u003e “WHERE IS SHE?”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   A fist comes from nowhere and punches me in the stomach. \u003cbr\u003e   I lean forward into the shock of it and realize I’m tied to a wooden chair, my feet bound to its legs, my shirt gone somewhere up on a dusty hillside and as I’m throwing up my empty stomach I notice there’s carpet beneath me, repeating the same pattern of New World and its moons, over and over and over, stretching out forever.\u003cbr\u003e   And I’m remembering we were in the square, in the square where I’d run, holding her, carrying her, telling her to stay alive, stay alive till we got safe, till we got to Haven so I could save her – \u003cbr\u003e   But there \u003ci\u003eweren’t \u003c\/i\u003eno safety, no safety at all, there was just \u003ci\u003ehim \u003c\/i\u003eand his men and they took her from me, they \u003ci\u003etook \u003c\/i\u003eher from my arms – \u003cbr\u003e   “You notice that he does not ask, \u003ci\u003eWhere am I?”\u003c\/i\u003e says the Mayor’s voice, moving out there, somewhere. “His first words are, \u003ci\u003eWhere is she?\u003c\/i\u003e, and his Noise says the same. Interesting.”\u003cbr\u003e   My head’s throbbing along with my stomach and I’m waking up some more and I’m remembering I \u003ci\u003efought \u003c\/i\u003ethem, I fought them when they took her till the butt of a gun smashed \u003cbr\u003e against my temple and knocked me into blackness – \u003cbr\u003e   I swallow away the tightness in my throat, swallow away the panic and the fear – \u003cbr\u003e   Cuz this is the end, ain’t it?\u003cbr\u003e   The end of it all.\u003cbr\u003e   The Mayor has me.\u003cbr\u003e   The Mayor has her.\u003cbr\u003e   “If you hurt her –” I say, the punch still aching in my belly. Mr. Collins stands in front of me, half in shadow, Mr. Collins who farmed corn and cauliflower and who tended the Mayor’s horses and who stands over me now with a pistol in a holster, a rifle slung round his back and a fist rearing up to punch me again.\u003cbr\u003e   “She seemed quite hurt enough already, Todd,” the Mayor says, stopping Mr. Collins. “The poor thing.”\u003cbr\u003e   My fists clench in their bindings. My Noise feels lumpy and half-battered but it still rises with the memory of Davy Prentiss’s gun pointed at us, of her falling into my arms, of her bleeding and gasping – \u003cbr\u003e   And then I make it go even redder with the feel of my own fist landing on Davy Prentiss’s face, of Davy Prentiss falling from his horse, his foot caught in the stirrup, dragged away like so much trash.\u003cbr\u003e   “Well,” the Mayor says, “that explains the mysterious whereabouts of my \u003ci\u003eson\u003c\/i\u003e.”\u003cbr\u003e   And if I didn’t know better, I’d say he sounded almost \u003ci\u003eamused\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e   But I notice the only way I can tell this is from the sound of his voice, a voice sharper and smarter than any old Prentisstown voice he might once have had, and that the nothing I heard coming from him when I ran into Haven is still a big nothing in whatever room this is and it’s matched by a big nothing from Mr. Collins.\u003cbr\u003e   They ain’t got Noise.\u003cbr\u003e   Neither of ’em.\u003cbr\u003e   The only Noise here is mine, bellering like an injured calf.\u003cbr\u003e   I twist my neck to find the Mayor but it hurts too much to turn very far and all I can tell is that I’m sitting in the single beam of dusty, colored sunlight in the middle of a room so big I can barely make out the walls in the far distance. \u003cbr\u003e   And then I do see a little table in the darkness, set back just far enough so I can’t make out what’s on it. \u003cbr\u003e   Just the shine of metal, glinting and promising things I don’t wanna think about.\u003cbr\u003e   “He still thinks of me as Mayor,” his voice says, sounding light and amused again.\u003cbr\u003e   “It’s President Prentiss now, boy,” grunts Mr. Collins. “You’d do well to remember that.”\u003cbr\u003e   “What have you done with her?” I say, trying to turn again, this way and that, wincing at the pain in my neck. “If you \u003ci\u003etouch\u003c\/i\u003e her, I’ll –”\u003cbr\u003e   “You arrive in my town this very morning,” interrupts the Mayor, “with nothing in your possession, not even the shirt on your back, just a girl in your arms who has suffered a terrible accident –”\u003cbr\u003e   My Noise surges. “It was no \u003ci\u003eaccident \u003c\/i\u003e–”\u003cbr\u003e   “A very bad accident indeed,” continues the Mayor, his voice giving the first hint of the impayshunce I heard when we met in the square. “So very bad that she is near death and here is the boy who we have spent so much of our time and energy trying to find, the boy who has caused us so much trouble, offering himself up to us \u003ci\u003ewillingly\u003c\/i\u003e, offering to do anything we wish if we just \u003ci\u003esave the girl\u003c\/i\u003e and yet when we try to do just that –” \u003cbr\u003e   “Is she all right? Is she safe?”\u003cbr\u003e   The Mayor stops and Mr. Collins steps forward and backhands me across the face. There’s a long moment as the sting spreads across my cheek and I sit there, panting.\u003cbr\u003e   Then the Mayor steps into the circle of light, right in front of me.\u003cbr\u003e   He’s still in his good clothes, crisp and clean as ever, as if there ain’t a man underneath there at all, just a walking talking block of ice. Even Mr. Collins has sweat marks and dirt and the smell you’d expect but not the Mayor, no. \u003cbr\u003e   The Mayor makes you look like yer nothing but a mess that needs cleaning up. \u003cbr\u003e   He faces me, leans down so he’s looking into my eyes.\u003cbr\u003e   And then he gives me an asking, like he’s only curious.\u003cbr\u003e   “What is her name, Todd?”\u003cbr\u003e   I blink, surprised. “What?”\u003cbr\u003e    “What is her name?” he repeats.\u003cbr\u003e    Surely he must know her name. Surely it must be in my Noise –  \u003cbr\u003e    “You know her name,” I say.\u003cbr\u003e    “I want you to tell me.”\u003cbr\u003e    I look from him to Mr. Collins, standing there with his arms crossed, his silence doing nothing to hide a look on his face that would happily pound me into the ground. \u003cbr\u003e    “One more time, Todd,” says the Mayor lightly, “and I would very much like for you to answer. What is her name? This girl from across the worlds.”\u003cbr\u003e    “If you know she’s from across the worlds,” I say, “then you must know her name.”\u003cbr\u003e    And then the Mayor smiles, actually \u003ci\u003esmiles\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e    And I feel more afraid than ever.","brand":"Candlewick","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303067996389,"sku":"NP9780763676179","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780763676179.jpg?v=1767738210","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-ask-and-the-answer-isbn-9780763676179","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}