Children's Fiction Self-esteem & Self-reliance
The Outsmarters
- Publisher
- Groundwood Books Ltd
- Initial publish date
- Aug 2024
- Category
- Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance, School & Education, Drugs, Alcohol, Substance Abuse
- Recommended Age
- 9 to 12
- Recommended Grade
- 4 to 7
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781773068572
- Publish Date
- Aug 2024
- List Price
- $18.99
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781773068589
- Publish Date
- Aug 2024
- List Price
- $16.99
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
What can you do when the adult world lets you down?
Suspended from school and prone to rages, twelve-year-old Kate finds her own way to get on with her life, despite the messed-up adults around her. Her gran, for one, is stubborn and aloof — not unlike Kate herself, who has no friends, and who’s been expelled for “behavioral issues,” like the meltdowns she has had ever since her mom dumped her with her grandmother three years ago. Kate dreams that one day her mother will return for her. When that happens, they’ll need money, so Kate sets out to make some.
Gran nixes her idea to sell psychiatric advice like Lucy in Peanuts (“You’re not a psychiatrist. You’ll get sued.”), so Kate decides to open a philosophy booth to provide answers to life’s big and small questions. She soon learns that adults have plenty of problems and secrets of their own, including Gran. When she finds that her grandmother has been lying to her about her mother, the two have a huge fight, and Gran says she can’t wait for Kate to finish high school so she’ll be rid of her at last. Kate decides to take matters into her own hands and discovers that to get what she wants, she may have to reach out to some unexpected people, and find a way to lay down her own anger.
Key Text Features
quotations
dialogue
literary references
signs
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.5
Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.
About the author
Deborah Ellis is the internationally acclaimed author of more than twenty books for children, including The Breadwinner Trilogy; The Heaven Shop; Lunch With Lenin; Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees; and Our Stories, Our Songs: African Children Talk About AIDS. She has won many national and international awards for her books, including the Governor General’s Award, the Vicky Metcalf Award, Sweden’s Peter Pan Prize, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and the Children’s Africana Book Award Honor Book for Older Readers.Deborah knew she wanted to be a writer at the age of 11 or 12. Growing up in Paris, Ontario, she loved reading about big cities like New York. In high school, Deborah joined the Peace Movement, playing anti-Nuclear War movies at her school. Since then Deborah has become a peace activist, humanitarian and philanthropist, donating almost all of the royalties from her books to communities in need in Asia and Africa. Heavily involved with Women for Women in Afghanistan, Deborah has helped build women’s centers and schools, giving children education and finding work for women.In 2006, Deborah was named to the Order of Ontario. She now lives in Simcoe, Ontario.
Awards
- Nominated, Forest of Reading Red Maple Award
- Commended, New York Public Library Best Books for Kids
- Commended, Kobo Best Books of 2024
Excerpt: The Outsmarters (by (author) Deborah Ellis)
I fetch an old shoebox from the back of the crawl space and climb up on my bed.
I open the box.
Inside: A collection of pictures of fancy bedrooms clipped from magazines and held together with a paperclip. An incomplete math test with a big red F at the top and big red curse words where there should have been a Venn diagram. One long pink and orange sock and one hair elastic with dark blue bobbles on it.
These were my mother’s things …
Also in the box — three small wooden puzzles, the kind with the small pieces that fit together only one way to make a cube or an egg. These are the puzzles I had in my pockets when Mom dumped me here. She was always getting them for me because they were easy to steal …
I put the six dollars in the shoebox … put the box under my bed and then sit by my window and look at my philosophy booth.
When Mom comes back for me — and she will — I’ll have a ton of money saved.
Then she can dump whatever jackass boyfriend is with her and just be with me.
Editorial Reviews
The Outsmarters is an encouraging look at how hard work can bring about second chances.
CM: Canadian Review of Materials
Issue-filled but not issue-driven, well-paced, and not too modern to feel stuck in time, Ellis' tale of the families left behind by addiction will resonate with readers ... who seek strong-willed female protagonists that stick in your heart.
Booklist
Heartfelt ... With engaging dialogue and realistic issues surrounding drug addiction, broken families, and bullying, The Outsmarters is a must-read for coming-of-age readers.
Canadian Children's Book News
Kate's first-person narration allows her quirky, perceptive, and wryly funny worldview to shine … An insightful young person makes a powerful difference in this emotionally astute work.
Kirkus Reviews
Ellis offers an emotional, inspirational, and relatable story ... A compelling and poignant book that celebrates a courageous young girl's journey toward growing up. STARRED REVIEW
School Library Journal
The subject matter here is heavy, ranging from child abuse to the opioid crisis, and the adults aren't particularly reassuring, having all let Kate down at some point ... but the burgeoning relationships she's formed will give readers hope that even if everything isn't going perfectly for Kate, she will be okay.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Deborah Ellis has written another first-class story with a memorable main character in The Outsmarters.
Winnipeg Free Press
Ellis's storytelling is immersive, her writing precise and wise, with moments of cataclysmic heartbreak and fragments of hope mixing together to bring readers a potent emotional experience. Deftly written, with brilliantly layered and memorable heroines in Kate and Gran, The Outsmarters is a standout. STARRED REVIEW
Quill & Quire
An absorbing, smartly paced novel ... Narrated in Kate's tough yet sympathetic voice and replete with complex characters navigating difficult issues, this hard-hitting, hopeful story also holds warmhearted moments of friendship and community, which are even more powerful for being hard-won. STARRED REVIEW
Publishers Weekly
A compelling read that will leave readers feeling hopeful and with a better understanding of kids with tough home lives.
Youth Services Book Review
Deborah Ellis is one remarkable storyteller. ... [This] story is heartbreaking, hopeful, and leaves readers with memorable characters.
Sal's Fiction Addiction Blog
