Marcella Pixley
Author of Freak
Freak has been selected by Kirkus Reviews for inclusion in its Special Edition of Best Young Adult Books of 2007.
Freak has also been selected by the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) for inclusion in its CCBC CHOICES 2008 list of Best Young Adult Books.
For Miriam Fisher, a budding poet who reads the Oxford English Dictionary for fun, seventh grade is a year etched in her memory “clear as pain.” That’s the year her older sister, Deborah, once her best buddy and fellow “alien,” bloomed like a beautiful flower and joined the high school in-crowd. That’s the year high school senior Artie Rosenberg, the “hottest guy in the drama club” and, Miriam thinks, her soul mate, comes to live with Miriam’s family. And that’s the year the popular “watermelon girls” turn up the heat in their cruel harassment of Miriam—ripping her life wide open in shocking, unexpected ways. Teased and taunted in school, Miriam is pushed toward breaking, until, in a gripping climax, she finds the inner strength to prove she’s a force to be reckoned with.
This riveting first novel introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine, an outsider who dares to confront the rigid conformity of junior high, and in the process manages not only to save herself but to inspire and transform others.
© Dinaphoto
MARCELLA PIXLEY teaches eighth grade Language Arts at the Carlisle Public Schools. Her poetry has been published in literary journals such as Prairie Schooner, Feminist Studies, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review and Poet Lore, and she has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Ms Pixley lives in an antique farm house in Westford Massachusetts with her husband and two sons. She is a graduate of Vassar College, University of Tennessee and Bread Loaf School of English.
Contact the Author
To arrange an author visit, please contact the author directly at mpixley@carlisle.k12.ma.us or contact Farrar Straus and Giroux’s Children’s Marketing Department at (212) 741-6900 ext. 242, or write: childrens.marketing@fsgbooks.com.