Big Mouth & Ugly Girl

Matt Donaghy has always been a Big Mouth. But it's never gotten him in trouble -- until the day Matt is accused of threatening to blow up Rocky River High School. Ursula Riggs has always been an Ugly Girl. A loner with fierce, staring eyes, Ursula has no time for petty high school stuff like friends and dating -- or at least that's what she tells herself. Ursula is content with minding her own business. And she doesn't even really know Matt Donaghy. But Ursula is the only person who knows what Matt really said that day...and she is the only one who can help him. In her first novel for young adults, acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates has created a provocative and unflinching story of friendship and family, and of loyalty and betrayal. Joyce Carol Oates is the author of many novels, including the National Book Award nominee and bestseller Blonde and the national bestseller We Were the Mulvaneys. Her most recent children's novels include After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away; Freaky Green Eyes, and Sexy. A recipient of the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Achievement in the Short Story, Ms. Oates is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Princeton University. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey. Hilary Swank won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Boys Don't Cry and most recently Million Dollar Baby. Among her other films are Freedom Writers, The Reaping, and The Black Dahalia. Chad Lowe, an Emmy Award winning actor, has starred in such television series as Life Goes On, E.R., Now and Again, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and 24.