Crushed (25 page)

READERS CIRCLE BOOKS

Before
We
Were
Free
• Julia Alvarez •
978-0-440-23784-6
Under a dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in 1960, young Anita lives
through a fight for freedom that changes her world forever.

The
Sisterhood
of
the
Traveling
Pants
Ann Brashares •
978-0-385-73058-7

Over a few bags of cheese puffs, four girls decide to form a sisterhood and take the vow of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The next morning, they say goodbye. And then the journey of the Pants, and the most memorable summer of their lives, begin.

The
Chocolate
War
• Robert Cormier •
978-0-375-82987-1

Jerry Renault dares to disturb the universe in this groundbreaking and now classic novel, an unflinching portrait of corruption and cruelty in a boys' prep school.

The
Rag
and
Bone
Shop
• Robert Cormier •
978-0-440-22971-1

A seven-year-old girl is brutally murdered. A twelve-year-old boy named Jason was the last person to see her alive—except, of course, for the killer. Unless
Jason
is the killer.

The
Parallel
Universe
of
Liars
Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson •
978-0-440-23852-2

Surrounded by superficiality, infidelity, and lies, Robin, a self-described chunk, isn't sure what to make of her hunky neighbor's sexual advances, or of the attention paid her by a new boy in town who seems to notice more than her body.

Girl,
15,
Charming
but
Insane
• Sue Limb •
978-0-385-73215-4

With her hilariously active imagination, Jess Jordan has a tendency to complicate her life, but now, as she's finally getting closer to her crush, she's determined to keep things under control. Readers will fall in love with Sue Limb's insanely optimistic heroine.

The
Silent
Boy
• Lois Lowry •
978-0-440-41980-8

When tragedy strikes a small turn-of-the-century town, only Katy realizes what the gentle, silent boy did for his family. He meant to help, not harm.

It didn't turn out that way.

Shades
of
Simon
Gray
• Joyce McDonald •
978-0-440-22804-2

Simon is the ideal teenager—smart, reliable, hardworking, trustworthy. Or is he? After Simon's car crashes into a tree and he slips into a coma, another portrait of him begins to emerge.

Zipped
• Laura and Tom McNeal •
978-0-375-83098-3

In a suspenseful novel of betrayal, forgiveness, and first love, fifteen-year-old Mick Nichols opens an e-mail he was never meant to see—and learns a terrible secret.

In
My
Hands

Irene Gut Opdyke with Jennifer Armstrong •
978-0-553-49411-2

Irene Gut was just seventeen when war broke out in her native Poland. Forced to work as a housekeeper for a Nazi major, she successfully hid twelve Jews in the basement of his home until the Germans' defeat.

Milkweed
• Jerry Spinelli •
978-0-440-42005-7

He's a boy called Jew. Gypsy. Stopthief. Runt. He's a boy who lives in the streets of Warsaw. He's a boy who wants to be a Nazi someday, with tall, shiny jackboots of his own. Until the day that suddenly makes him change his mind—the day he realizes it's safest of all to be nobody.

Stargirl
• Jerry Spinelli •
978-0-440-41677-7

Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of “Stargirl, Stargirl.” The students are enchanted. Then they turn on her.

Shabanu:
Daughter
of
the
Wind

Suzanne Fisher Staples •
978-0-440-23856-0

Life is both sweet and cruel to strong-willed young Shabanu, whose home is the windswept Cholistan Desert of Pakistan. She must reconcile her duty to her family and the stirrings of her own heart in this Newbery Honor–winning modern-day classic.

ALSO AVAILABLE:
The Decoding of Lana Morris

BY LAURA AND TOM MCNEAL

Sixteen-year-old Lana Morris wishes her life were different. She wishes Veronica Winters, her Ice Queen of a foster mother, would leave her alone. She wishes K.C. and Trina and Spink—the only teens around, not counting the “special needs” kids in the Winters house— would let her into their creepy little club. She wishes she knew what to do about her feelings for Whit, her foster father.

Then Lana stumbles into Miss Hekkity's mysterious antique shop and trades her most valued possession for a single box of paper: thirteen thick, pink-flecked sheets enclosed in a black leather case. Thirteen blank pages . . . like thirteen wishes waiting to be made. As soon as Lana's charcoal pencil meets the paper, strange events begin to unfold—whatever she draws seems to happen, and whatever she erases comes undone. But just as Lana starts to think she might actually have the power to change things, a carefully drawn wish threatens to harm those she loves most.

Award-winning authors Laura and Tom McNeal weave a warm-hearted and suspenseful story about the power—and danger—of a wish.

ALSO AVAILABLE:

Crooked

BY LAURA AND TOM MCNEAL

“This book has everything: likable characters, a terrific plot, and plenty of suspense.” —
The Philadelphia Inquirer

“A pleasure. The McNeals have an uncanny ear for teen dialogue.” —
Booklist

“Suspenseful. . . . This novel has the makings of a truly masterful juvenile thriller. The writing style is gripping.” —
Children's Literature

Winner of the California Book Award for Juvenile Literature
An ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults
A
Booklist
Top 10 Youth Romance
A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age

ALSO AVAILABLE:

Zipped

BY LAURA AND TOM MCNEAL

“The McNeals spin a wonderfully rich story.” —
Kirkus Reviews

“Well-realized, sympathetic teen and adult characters populate this novel packed with family problems, romance, and wry humor.” —
School Library Journal

“The McNeals skillfully weave together several story lines in their well-honed novel about young suburbanites who face adult complications. . . . Readers will be sucked in as Mick and Lisa begin to see ‘the face behind the face behind the face.'” —
Publishers Weekly

Winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award
for Children's Literature
A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age

About the Authors

Laura Rhoton McNeal is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a master's degree in fiction writing from Syracuse University. She taught middle school and high school English before becoming a novelist and journalist.

Tom McNeal graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and was a Wallace Stegner Fellow and Jones Lecturer at Stanford University. His prize-winning stories have been widely anthologized, and his novel
Goodnight, Nebraska
won the James A. Michener Memorial Prize and the California Book Award for Fiction.

Together, Laura and Tom McNeal are the authors of two award-winning novels set in the same town as
Crushed:
Crooked,
winner of the California Book Award for Juvenile Literature and an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults, and
Zipped,
winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Children's Literature. The McNeals live in Fallbrook, California, with their two sons, Sam and Hank.

Also by Laura and Tom McNeal

Crooked
Zipped
The Decoding of Lana Morris

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the
product of the authors' imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2006 by Laura McNeal and Tom McNeal

KNOPF, BORZOI BOOKS, and the colophon are registered trademarks of
Random House, Inc.

www.randomhouse.com/teens

Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at
www.randomhouse.com/teachers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McNeal, Laura.
Crushed / by Laura and Tom McNeal.
p. cm.
SUMMARY: Seventeen-year-old Audrey's life is turned upside down when her father
loses his job, she falls in love with a mysterious newcomer, her best friend betrays
her, and a vicious gossip sheet exposes the secrets of both students and teachers
at her school.

[1. Gossip—Fiction. 2. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 3. Family problems—
Fiction. 4. Secrets—Fiction. 5. High schools—Fiction. 6. Schools—Fiction.]
I. McNeal, Tom. II. Title.
PZ7.M47879365Cru 2006
 [Fic]—dc22
2005004320

www.randomhouse.com

eISBN: 978-0-307-43325-1

v3.0_r1