In this collection of original short stories (only one has appeared in print in the U.S. before), Aidan explores moments of truth, when a character or event reveal an often surprising meaning. A girl loses her humanity when she takes a summer job as a theme-park character; a boy believes he sees a girl jump to her death, only to discover the same event happened 100 years before--these provocative stories lend themselves beautifully to discussion. The titular story in particular, in which what begins as an innocent game turns deadly, will haunt the reader for a long time after.

 

 

There are 216 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2011 by Abrams .

Aidan Chambers won the Carngie Medal for Postcards from No Man's Land and the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award for the body of his work - the highest international recognition given to creators of children's books. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.