Golden Ticket

April 25, 2022
In Aisling “Ash” McNulty’s small Maine town, everyone comes out for the Quigley School Quiz Bowl, an annual fundraiser, plus “a party and a contest all rolled into one.” A fifth grader almost always wins the top prize, but in last year’s upset, then-fourth-grader Ash took the win. She’s determined to secure a repeat victory at the upcoming contest, especially since she’s been secretly falling behind in the school’s gifted and talented program. One parent criticizes the program, calling it a “golden ticket” for the 2% of students who ace a test in the second grade: “The best teacher, for such a tiny group of students. Who wouldn’t succeed in a class like that?” But Ash’s identity and hopes for the future—involving her Irish emigrant parents’ pressure regarding getting a good education—are wrapped up in the program, and when she comes across the quiz bowl answers, she takes what she feels is a clear route “to keep being a ‘good’ kid.” Through realistically flawed characters and engaging third-person prose, Egan (the Magic Shop series) explores resource allocation, internal and external definitions of success, and what it means to be “gifted.” Characters read as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Nancy Gallt, Gallt and Zacker Literary.