Liar & Spy
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About the Author

REBECCA STEAD is the author of When You Reach Me, which was a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Newbery Medal and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction, and Liar & Spy, which was also a New York Times 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, Goodbye Stranger, was a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book for Fiction and a New York Times bestseller. She is also the author of First Light, which was nominated for many state awards. She lives in New York City with her family. Visit her online at rebeccasteadbooks.com.

Reviews

A Finalist for the Carnegie Medal
A New York Times Bestseller
A New York Times Notable Children's Book
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Named a Best Book of the Year by The 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, Chicago Public Library
Named to 21 State Award Lists "Readers will sympathize with Georges and Safer as they negotiate various familiar obstacles, but it's the celebration that will leave them exultant." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Starred review "The ending twists readers' entire perception of the events and creates a brilliant conclusion to an insightful novel." --School Library Journal, Starred review "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." --The Horn Book, Starred review "Chock-full of fascinating characters and intelligent questions, this is as close to perfect as middle-grade novels come." --Publishers Weekly, Starred review "[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" --Kirkus Reviews, Starred review

Gr 5-8-Georges's life is turned upside down when his father loses his job, forcing his mother to take on extra nursing shifts and prompting the family to move from their house into an unfamiliar Brooklyn apartment. At school, Georges is a bit of an outcast, having been abandoned by his one and only friend and often the subject of bullies' taunts. Then he sees a sign advertising a Spy Club and meets Safer, a homeschooled loner who lives in his building, and Safer's warm, welcoming, and quirky family offers him respite from the stress at home. Together the boys track a mysterious building resident who Safer is sure is hiding a sinister secret. As the investigation progresses, Georges grows increasingly uncomfortable with Safer's actions. Stead has written a lovely, quiet, and layered novel that explores friendship in all its facets. She particularly examines truths, secrets, deceptions, and imagination and whether these can destroy or ultimately strengthen a friendship. The ending twists readers' entire perception of the events and creates a brilliant conclusion to an insightful novel.-Naphtali L. Faris, Missouri State Library, Jefferson City (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

When seventh-grader Georges and his family move into a new apartment building in Brooklyn, N.Y., he meets 12-year-old Safer, who recruits him to join her spy squad in an attempt to gather intelligence about Mr. X, a man who resides in an upstairs suite. As Georges, narrator Jesse Bernstein is youthful yet wise: a child who's suffered more than his fair share of life. As Safer, Bernstein is darker, sounding like a troubled youth who is ready to control any situation. Of course, there's more than meets the eye in Stead's novel, and Bernstein's understated performance leaves room for interpretation. Listeners will be charmed by this memorable listen and Bernstein's rendition of two unusual and endlessly interesting characters. Ages 8-up. A Wendy Lamb hardcover. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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