Stuff
Product Details
Simon Pulse, January 2005
Trade Paperback, 144 pages
ISBN-10: 0689871899
ISBN-13: 9780689871894
Grades: 7 and up
Book Club Pick
Get the reading group guideAwards and Nominations
- Pacific Northwest Young Reader's Choice Award Master List
Description
Del's lived in Los Angeles for seventeen years, bouncing among foster homes. Smart, sharp-tongued, and a master mimic, she's fed up with her world and with being Del. So she's changing her name and leaving both herself and L.A. behind -- until her escape lands her in an all-day traffic jam.
Fast-forward eight years. It's opening night for the one-woman show Del has written and is starring in -- a show called Breakout about a Los Angeles traffic jam.
As the novel flashes between Del's present and future, we get a backstage pass into this young playwright's psyche, watching her life being transformed into art, heartache into comedy, solitude into connection. And, finally, anger giving way to acceptance.
Read more:
Browse Inside Breakout"Fleischman's artful structure, distinctive voices, and carefully chosen details make this a splendid choice for teens on the verge of a breakout of their own."
-- School Library Journal, starred review
"A stunning tour de force."
-- Kirkus Reviews, starred review
