The Best Night of Your
Tara Altebrando
Hardcover
(Dutton Books for Young Readers, July 5, 2012)
High-school senior Mary Gilhooley and her friends have spent their entire lives--but especially the last four years--feeling like underdogs and also-rans. Having suffered constant ridicule from Oyster Point's resident bully king and superjock, Jake Barbone, they are all just dying to go away to college and never come back. But with only a week until graduation, there's one last thing Mary feels they absolutely must do together: compete against Barbone in the Oyster Point High Official Unofficial Senior Week Scavenger Hunt--and win. Everyone is racing for the finish line with complicated motives, and Mary's all-night adventure quickly becomes non-stop drama as shifting alliances, flared tempers, and crushing crushes take over. Though they are racking up points at a rapid clip, it soon becomes clear that she and her friends must reinvent their strategy--and themselves--if they want to even stand a chance at winning. Infused with a brilliantly exhaustive list of items, clues, and tasks, this funny, frenetic read will have you rooting for Mary the whole way--hoping that glory will be hers for the taking.