Big Mouth
No I did not. I did not, I did not. I did not say those things, and I did not plan those things. Won't It anyone believe me?
Ugly Girl
All right, Ugly Girl made a mistake. I'd told my mom what I'd heard in the cafeteria, and she'd told Dad. Evidently. I'd thought for sure they would want me to speak up for the truth.
Big Mouth
No I did not. I did not, I did not. I did not say those things, and I did not plan those things. Won't It anyone believe me?
Ugly Girl
All right, Ugly Girl made a mistake. I'd told my mom what I'd heard in the cafeteria, and she'd told Dad. Evidently. I'd thought for sure they would want me to speak up for the truth.
פורמטים זמינים-
- OverDrive Read
- EPUB eBook
מהדורה-
שפות:-
עותקים-
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זמין:1
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עותקים בספריה:1
רמות-
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רמת ATOS:5.1
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מדדLexile :720
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רמת עניין:UG
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קושי טקסט:3 - 4
פרסים-
- Best Fiction for Young Adults
Young Adult Library Services Association - Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement
Horror Writers Association
מובאות-
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Chapter One
It was an ordinary January afternoon, a Thursday, when they came for Matt Donaghy.
They came for him during fifth period, which was Matt's study period, in room 220 of Rocky River High School, Westchester County.
Matt and three friends -- Russ, Stacey, Skeet -- had formed a circle with their desks at the rear of the room and were conferring, in lowered voices, about Matt's adaptation of a short story by Edgar Allan Poe into a one-act play; after school, in Drama Club, the four of them were scheduled to read William Wilson: A Case of Mistaken Identity for the club members and their advisor, Mr. Weinberg. It was a coincidence that Mr. Weinberg, who taught English and drama at Rocky River High, was in charge of fifth-period study hall, and when a knock came at the door of the room, Mr. Weinberg went to open it in his good-natured, sauntering manner.
“Yes, gentlemen? What can I do for you?”
Only a few students, sitting near the front of the room, took much notice. They might have registered a note of surprise in Mr. Weinberg's tone. But Mr. Weinberg, with his graying sandy hair worn longer than most of his male colleagues' at Rocky River, and a bristling beard that invited teasing, had a flair for dramatizing ordinary remarks, giving a light touch where he could. Calling strangers “gentlemen” was exactly in keeping with Mr. Weinberg's humor.
At the rear of the room, Matt and his friends were absorbed in the play, for which Matt was doing hurried revisions, typing away furiously on his laptop. Anxiously he'd asked his friends, “But does this work? Is it scary, is it funny, does it move?” Matt Donaghy had something of a reputation at Rocky River for being both brainy and a comic character, but secretly he was a perfectionist, too. He'd been working on his one-act play William Wilson: A Case of Mistaken Identity longer than his friends knew, and he had hopes it would be selected to be performed at the school's Spring Arts Festival.
Typing in revisions, Matt hadn't been paying any attention to Mr. Weinberg at the front of the room talking with two men. Until he heard his name spoken -- “Matthew Donaghy?”
Matt looked up. What was this? He saw Mr. Weinberg pointing in his direction, looking worried. Matt swallowed hard, beginning to be frightened. What did these men, strangers, want with him? They wore dark suits, white shirts, plain neckties; and they were definitely not smiling. As Matt stared, they approached him, moving not together but along two separate aisles, as if to block off his route if he tried to escape. Afterward Matt would realize how swift and purposeful -- and practiced -- they were. If I'd made a break to get my backpack...If I'd reached into my pocket...
The taller of the two men, who wore dark-rimmed glasses with green-tinted lenses, said, “You're Matthew Donaghy?”
Matt was so surprised, he heard himself stammer, “Y-Yes. I'm -- Matt.”
The classroom had gone deathly silent. Everyone was staring at Matt and the two strangers. It was like a moment on TV, but there were no cameras. The men in their dark suits exuded an authority that made rumpled, familiar Mr. Weinberg in his corduroy jacket and slacks look ineffectual.
“Is something w-wrong? What do you want with -- me?”
Matt's mind flooded: Something had happened at home to his mother, or his brother, Alex...his father was away on business; had something happened to him? A plane crash...
על המחבר-
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Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Medal of Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Book Award, and the 2019 Jerusalem Prize, and has been several times nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She has written some of the most enduring fiction of our time, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys; Blonde, which was nominated for the National Book Award; and the New York Times bestseller The Falls, which won the 2005 Prix Femina. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.
ביקורות-
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Starred review from May 12, 2003
A high school junior leaps to her classmate's defense when his throwaway joke about blowing up the school makes him a suspected terrorist. "The relationship between the two grows credibly and compellingly, against a convincing high school backdrop," said PW
in a starred review. Ages 12-up. -
Starred review from April 22, 2002
Believable, full-blooded characters propel Oates's first YA novel past some plotting that doesn't quite add up. Ursula Riggs, a high school junior, has adopted a stance of invincible indifference ("Since that day I woke up and knew I wasn't an ugly girl, I was Ugly Girl"). Against her mother's wishes, she leaps to her classmate Matt Donaghy's defense when his throwaway joke about blowing up the school makes him a suspected terrorist, but then rebuffs Matt's overtures to friendship. Told in alternating perspectives (Ursula's in first-person and Matt's in third), the novel intensifies even though Matt is quickly exonerated. Matt's friends ice him out, citing pressure from their parents, and his family receives hate mail. When Matt's family files suit against the school and his accusers, the hostilities escalate, and Matt nearly attempts suicide (Ursula, again in the right place at the right time, saves him once more). In turn, Matt helps Ursula realize that her Ugly Girl persona "wasn't right for all occasions." The weak spots here have to do with the villains (including the students who reported Matt's "joke" and those who bully him); they are barely developed, and stereotypes seem to have taken the place of their motivation. But the relationship between Ursula and Matt grows, credibly and compellingly, against a convincing high school backdrop. Readers will relate to the pressures these two experience, both at school and from their parents, and be gratified by their ability to emerge the wiser. Ages 13-up. -
June 10, 2002
Accomplished actors and real-life spouses Swank (Boys Don't Cry) and Lowe (Life Goes On) find a comfortable rhythm reading the alternating chapters from Oates' first YA novel. Swank is Ursula Riggs, whose alter-ego, "Ugly Girl," often gets her in a jam; Lowe plays Matt Donaghy, who readily admits to being a "Big Mouth." The two high school juniors barely know each other until the day Matt is accused of making terrorist threats at school. Ugly Girl quickly comes to Matt's defense, understanding that the offhand lunchroom remarks she heard him make were intended as a joke. The two become unlikely friends. As the consequences of Matt's actions unfold (and are resolved in somewhat bizarre fashion), Oates takes ample opportunity to comment on current events, media hype and high school life. Though they occasionally sound stiff during the earliest narrated passages, both performers shine in delivering Oates's snappy, realistic dialogue and the protagonists' e-mail transcripts. A Reading Group Guide of discussion questions from the publisher is included. Ages 13-up. (May)FYI:Simultaneous release with the HarperTempest hardcover. -
Kirkus Reviews
"Compelling. Honest and penetrating." — Kirkus Reviews
"Believable, full-blooded characters. Convincing high-school back-drop." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A thought-provoking, character-driven drama." — ALA Booklist (starred review)
"A fast-moving, timely, compelling story." — School Library Journal
"A divinely readable novel, one of the finest and most provocative in any genre of late." — Ruminator Review
"A superb story bursting with themes relevant to high school life today." — Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Middle and high school kids will find a lot rings true in "Big Mouth and Ugly Girl." — San Francisco Chronicle
"Gripping." — Washington Post
"Should bring Oates a whole new generation of fans." — Denver Rocky Mountain News
פרטי כותר+
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מו"ל
HarperCollins -
OverDrive Read
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EPUB eBook
תאריך יציאה:
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- הגנת זכויות יוצרים (DRM) הנדרשת על ידי המוציא לאור יכולה להיות מופעלת על הכותר הזה על מנת להגביל או לאסור הדפסה והעתקה. שיתוף קבצים והפצה אסורים. הגישה שלכם לגשת לחומר הזה פגה בסוף תקופת ההשאלה. אנא ראו I הערה חשובה לגבי חומר המוגן בזכויות יוצרים עבור תנאים המיושמים על החומר הזה.
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