Golden Ticket

In Aisling "Ash" McNulty's small Maine town, everyone comes out for the Quigley School Quiz Bowl, an annual fundraiser, plus "a party and a contest all rolled into one." A fifth grader almost always wins the top prize, but in last year's upset, then-fourth-grader Ash took the win. She's determined to secure a repeat victory at the upcoming contest, especially since she's been secretly falling behind in the school's gifted and talented program. One parent criticizes the program, calling it a "golden ticket" for the 2% of students who ace a test in the second grade: "The best teacher, for such a tiny group of students. Who wouldn't succeed in a class like that?" But Ash's identity and hopes for the future--involving her Irish emigrant parents' pressure regarding getting a good education--are wrapped up in the program, and when she comes across the quiz bowl answers, she takes what she feels is a clear route "to keep being a 'good' kid." Through realistically flawed characters and engaging third-person prose, Egan (the Magic Shop series) explores resource allocation, internal and external definitions of success, and what it means to be "gifted." Characters read as white. Ages 8-12. Agent: Nancy Gallt, Gallt and Zacker Literary. (June)

Through realistically flawed characters and engaging third-person prose, Egan (the Magic Shop series) explores resource allocation, internal and external definitions of success, and what it means to be "gifted." — Publishers Weekly

Egan creates a high degree of tension in the early chapters, mirroring the conflict within Ash, a good kid who makes some bad decisions and has to live with the consequences, but just as involving is her later exploration of who she is, where she fits in, and what she really wants. . . engaging —Booklist