Moriarty, Jaclyn. The year of secret assignments.Scholastic. 344p. c2004. 0439-49881-3. $16.95. JS * A wonderfully imaginative, difficult to describe novel from the author of Feeling Sorry for Celia, and any readers familiar with that first novel will grab eagerly for this new one. Basically, it is a school story, set in Australia. Three girlfriends, Em, Lyd, and Cassie, attend an all-girls high school. Their English teacher arranges a letter exchange with an English class in the local public high school, and the three girls start exchanging letters with three boys. That's the basic framework, but it hardly begins to describe what transpires--a series of "secret assignments," many of which are imaginative school pranks A school prank is a prank pulled at school by a student or group of students, usually on another student or even a teacher. School pranks can vary in their intent, elaborateness, and severity. , some of which are flirtatious flir·ta·tious adj. 1. Given to flirting. 2. Full of playful allure: a flirtatious glance. flir·ta rendezvous See Bonjour and TIB/Rendezvous. 1. rendezvous - In Ada, the method of synchronising the activity of different tasks. 2. rendezvous - Query language, close to natural English. ["Seven Steps to Rendezvous with the Casual User", E. , some of which are plots of vengeance Vengeance Absalom kills half-brother, Amnon, for raping sister, Tamar. [O. T. . But Moriarty sets the enmeshed en·mesh also im·mesh tr.v. en·meshed, en·mesh·ing, en·mesh·es To entangle, involve, or catch in or as if in a mesh. See Synonyms at catch. "assignments" in such a way that they seem a large puzzle “Puzzle solving” redirects here. For the concept in Thomas Kuhn's philosophy of science, see normal science. A puzzle is a problem or enigma that challenges ingenuity. for the reader, who must be patient to see how the pieces eventually fit together. The three girls are highly intelligent, articulate, and imaginative. Two of the boys are as well, and the third boy deserves all the wonderfully fitting punishments the others eventually inflict on him. Cassie is the most fragile, because she and her mother are still trying to recover from the death of Cassie's father. Her friends are extremely concerned about her and they try to protect her, even if she insists on keeping her own secrets and hiding her own vulnerability. This YA novel definitely fits into the alternate formats we see more and more frequently, since letters and e-mails tell this story: not just one person's letters, not an exchange of letters between two people. but six people writing letters in various combinations. This is intelligent fun. Claire Rosser, KLIATT J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers. S--Recommended for senior high school students. *--The asterisk (1) See Asterisk PBX. (2) In programming, the asterisk or "star" symbol (*) means multiplication. For example, 10 * 7 means 10 multiplied by 7. The * is also a key on computer keypads for entering expressions using multiplication. highlights exceptional books. |
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