From the Publisher
Twelve-year-old Ambrose is a glass-half-full kind of guy. A
self-described "friendless nerd," he moves from place to place
every couple of years with his overprotective mother, Irene. When
some bullies at his new school almost kill him by slipping a peanut
into his sandwich - even though they know he has a deathly allergy
- Ambrose is philosophical. Irene, however, is not and decides that
Ambrose will be home-schooled.
Alone in the evenings when Irene goes to work, Ambrose pesters
Cosmo, the twenty-five-year-old son of the Greek landlords who live
upstairs. Cosmo has just been released from jail for breaking and
entering to support a drug habit. Quite by accident, Ambrose
discovers that they share a love of Scrabble and coerces Cosmo into
taking him to the West Side Scrabble Club, where Cosmo falls for
Amanda, the club director. Posing as Ambrose's Big Brother to
impress her, Cosmo is motivated to take Ambrose to the weekly
meetings and to give him lessons in self-defense. Cosmo, Amanda,
and Ambrose soon form an unlikely alliance and, for the first time
in his life, Ambrose blossoms. The characters at the Scrabble Club
come to embrace Ambrose for who he is and for their shared love of
words. There's only one problem: Irene has no idea what Ambrose is
up to.
In this brilliantly observed novel, author Susin Nielsen transports
the reader to the world of competitive Scrabble as seen from the
honest yet funny viewpoint of a boy who's searching for acceptance
and for a place to call home.
From the Jacket
"This is a tender, often funny story with some really interesting
characters. It will appeal to word nerds, but even more to anyone
who has ever longed for acceptance or had to fight unreasonable
parental restrictions."
- Starred Review from School Library Journal
"…a beautifully drawn character…. [a] funny, wry tale, a tale that
involves a lot of Scrabble (at the championship level), the
reformation of an ex-con/druggie and the coming-into-himself of a
boy. And there's a bit of love, too, actually."
- The Globe and Mail
About the Author
Gemini Award-winner Susin Nielsen got her start feeding cast and
crew muffins and bologna sandwiches on the popular television
series, Degrassi Junior High. They hated her food (a fact
that's memorialized forever in a poem the cast wrote: "An ode to
Susin, the Bran Muffin Queen, we eat them, we die, then we turn
green"). Luckily for Susin, they saw a spark in a spec script she
wrote. Nielsen went on to pen sixteen episodes of the hit
television show, and four of the books in the Degrassi book series.
Since then, Nielsen, who has received two Canadian Screenwriter
awards, has written and story-edited many TV series, including
Ready or Not, Madison, The Adventures of
Shirley Holmes, Edgemont, and two animated series,
What About Mimi and Braceface. She co-created the
pre-school series Franny's Feet, and is the co-creator and
showrunner of the critically acclaimed series Robson Arms.
She also adapted author Susan Juby's book, Alice, I
Think, into a TV series. Nielsen has also published three
children's books: Hank and Fergus, winner of the
Mr. Christie's Silver Medal Award, Mormor Moves
In, and The Magic Beads. She lives in
Vancouver with her husband, Goran, son, Oskar, and cat, Sam.
Hardcover
256 Pages, 6.5 x 7.88 x 0.86 in
September 9, 2008
Tundra
English
088776875X
9780887768750