A surreal and timely novel about the effects of isolation and what it means to be connected to the world from the Printz Award-winning author of Dig.
Time has stopped. It's been June 23, 2020 for nearly a year as far as anyone can tell. Frantic adults demand teenagers focus on finding practical solutions to the worldwide crisis. Not everyone is on board though. Javelin-throwing prodigy Truda Becker is pretty sure her "Solution Time" class won't solve the world's problems, but she does have a few ideas what might. Truda lives in a house with a switch that no one ever touches, a switch her father protects every day by nailing it into hundreds of progressively larger boxes. But Truda's got a crow bar, and one way or another, she's going to see what happens when she flips the switch.
★ "Timely and extraordinary, teen readers will find themselves immersed in this timeless world."—SLJ, starred review
★ "An unsettling but emotionally resonant novel for our own unsettling times."—Bookpage, starred review
★ “King explores the meaning of time and the toxicity of family secrets. This inventive, surreal novel’s dedication, ‘For the class of 2020,’ makes a direct address to real-life teens’ ‘lost’ COVID-19 year.” —Horn Book, starred review
"A work of literary genius."—Booklist
"Printz Award winner King returns with another surrealist masterpiece."—Kirkus
"Poignant, propulsive, and profound."—Publishers Weekly
A BookPage Best Book of 2021 A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2021
A surreal and timely novel about the effects of isolation and what it means to be connected to the world from the Printz Award-winning author of Dig.
Time has stopped. It's been June 23, 2020 for nearly a year as far as anyone can tell. Frantic adults demand teenagers focus on finding practical solutions to the worldwide crisis. Not everyone is on board though. Javelin-throwing prodigy Truda Becker is pretty sure her "Solution Time" class won't solve the world's problems, but she does have a few ideas what might. Truda lives in a house with a switch that no one ever touches, a switch her father protects every day by nailing it into hundreds of progressively larger boxes. But Truda's got a crow bar, and one way or another, she's going to see what happens when she flips the switch.
Praise
★ "Timely and extraordinary, teen readers will find themselves immersed in this timeless world."—SLJ, starred review
★ "An unsettling but emotionally resonant novel for our own unsettling times."—Bookpage, starred review
★ “King explores the meaning of time and the toxicity of family secrets. This inventive, surreal novel’s dedication, ‘For the class of 2020,’ makes a direct address to real-life teens’ ‘lost’ COVID-19 year.” —Horn Book, starred review
"A work of literary genius."—Booklist
"Printz Award winner King returns with another surrealist masterpiece."—Kirkus
"Poignant, propulsive, and profound."—Publishers Weekly
A BookPage Best Book of 2021 A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2021
