SYNOPSIS

When a new classmate, Betty, starts tormenting Anabelle, she says nothing to her parents.

The newcomer’s cruelty grows from taking Anabelle’s money to setting up deadly traps for her younger brother.

Betty’s games turn tragic when a stone blinds Anabelle’s friend in one eye, yet no one can prove Betty’s at fault.

Betty pins the crime on a town recluse and Anabelle’s friend, Toby.

When Betty disappears Anabelle helps Toby find and rescue her.

Betty has fallen in a well behind Toby’s house, and is impaled on a rusty iron rod; she dies soon afterward.

Toby is accused of her death, runs out of town, and is shot during a chase; people then learn he was a war hero.

Betty’s family refuse to believe her cruel doings.

PERFECT AGE 11 – 14

We love

• A gripping, gutting, and often quite scary plot that doesn’t let you stop reading until the end!
• Wonderful and complicated characters that the reader can relate to even if far removed in time and experience.
• Lauren Wolk’s language is so rich, powerful, and poetic – atypical for a YA novel, serves as unique intro to high-class prose.

WATCH OUT FOR (Language, Big / Sensitive Topics, Outdated Concepts):

• One of the characters is (perhaps) a sociopath, with plenty of violent outbursts – may be helpful to discuss beforehand.
• An innocent man is ostracized, targeted and ultimately killed by “mob mentality” – may be a rich topic to explore at home, given universal relevance.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

• Why did Anabelle choose to not tell her parents about Betty’s taunts and injuries of her and her younger brother?
• What other opportunities did Anabelle have to possibly stop or expose Betty before it became too late?
• How did Anabelle become convinced that Toby was a friend and someone who can be trusted?
• What are some experiences in Toby’s past that make him avoid people and often appear despondent?