Author(s): Avi
Format: Paperback
No. of Pages: 304
Publisher: Algonquin Books (division of Workman)
Language: English
Date Published: 2016-03-07
Dimensions: 140 x 210 x 22.86mm
Publication City/Country: New York, United States
Edition: Reprint
Illustrations: text only

Twelve-year-old Pete Collison is a regular kid who loves Sam Spade detective books and radio crime dramas, but when an FBI agent shows up at Pete's doorstep accusing his father of being a Communist, Pete finds himself caught in a real-life mystery. Could there really be Commies in Pete's family? At the same time, Pete's class turns against him, thanks to similar rumors spread by his own teacher; even Kat, Pete's best friend, feels the pressure to ditch him. As Pete follows the quickly accumulating clues, he begins to wonder if the truth could put his family's livelihood--and even their freedom--at risk.

In the tradition of his book Nothing But the Truth, Avi's newest novel tells a funny, insightful story packed with realistic period detail of a boy in mid-twentieth-century America. Its unique look at what it felt like to be an average family caught in the wide net of the Red Scare has powerful relevance to contemporary questions of democracy and individual freedoms.

For middle-grade readers 8-12, who are fans of spy stories, baseball, and family dramas.