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She Rides Shotgun: An Edgar Award Winner
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Published:
HarperCollins 2017
Accelerated Reader:
IL: UG - BL: 4.2 - AR Pts: 8
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Description

*WINNER OF A 2018 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST DEBUT NOVEL*

*WINNER OF AN ALEX AWARD FROM THE ALA*

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2017 BY St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Booklist

A propulsive, gritty novel about a girl marked for death who must fight and steal to stay alive, learning from the most frightening man she knows—her father.

Eleven-year-old Polly McClusky is shy, too old for the teddy bear she carries with her everywhere, when she is unexpectedly reunited with her father, Nate, fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car. He takes her from the front of her school into a world of robbery, violence, and the constant threat of death. And he does it to save her life.

Nate made dangerous enemies in prison—a gang called Aryan Steel has put out a bounty on his head, counting on its members on the outside to finish him off. They've already murdered his ex-wife, Polly's mother. And Polly is their next target.

Nate and Polly's lives soon become a series of narrow misses, of evading the bad guys and the police, of sleepless nights in motels. Out on the lam, Polly is forced to grow up early: with barely any time to mourn her mother, she must learn how to take a punch and pull off a drug-house heist. She finds herself transforming from a shy little girl into a true fighter. Nate, in turn, learns what it's like to love fiercely and unconditionally—a love he's never quite felt before. But can their powerful bond transcend the dangerous existence he's carved out for them? Will they ever be able to live an honest life, free of fear?

She Rides Shotgun is a gripping and emotionally wrenching novel that upends even our most long-held expectations about heroes, villains, and victims. Nate takes Polly to save her life, but in the end it may very well be Polly who saves him.

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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
06/06/2017
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780062394422
ASIN:
B00OG9IX0K
Accelerated Reader:
UG
Level 4.2, 8 Points
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Jordan Harper. (2017). She Rides Shotgun: An Edgar Award Winner. HarperCollins.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Jordan Harper. 2017. She Rides Shotgun: An Edgar Award Winner. HarperCollins.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Jordan Harper, She Rides Shotgun: An Edgar Award Winner. HarperCollins, 2017.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Jordan Harper. She Rides Shotgun: An Edgar Award Winner. HarperCollins, 2017.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Date Added:
Jun 12, 2018 17:11:33
Date Updated:
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*WINNER OF A 2018 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST DEBUT NOVEL*

*WINNER OF AN ALEX AWARD FROM THE ALA*

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2017 BY St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Booklist

A propulsive, gritty novel about a girl marked for death who must fight and steal to stay alive, learning from the most frightening man she knows—her father.

Eleven-year-old Polly McClusky is shy, too old for the teddy bear she carries with her everywhere, when she is unexpectedly reunited with her father, Nate, fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car. He takes her from the front of her school into a world of robbery, violence, and the constant threat of death. And he does it to save her life.

Nate made dangerous enemies in prison—a gang called Aryan Steel has put out a bounty on his head, counting on its members on the outside to finish him off. They've already murdered his ex-wife, Polly's mother. And Polly is their next target.

Nate and Polly's lives soon become a series of narrow misses, of evading the bad guys and the police, of sleepless nights in motels. Out on the lam, Polly is forced to grow up early: with barely any time to mourn her mother, she must learn how to take a punch and pull off a drug-house heist. She finds herself transforming from a shy little girl into a true fighter. Nate, in turn, learns what it's like to love fiercely and unconditionally—a love he's never quite felt before. But can their powerful bond transcend the dangerous existence he's carved out for them? Will they ever be able to live an honest life, free of fear?

She Rides Shotgun is a gripping and emotionally wrenching novel that upends even our most long-held expectations about heroes, villains, and victims. Nate takes Polly to save her life, but in the end it may very well be Polly who saves him.

gradeLevels
      • value: Grade 2
      • value: Grade 3
reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
      • content:

        "Fascinating...tightly written...readers will find this book hard — hard to put down." — St. Louis Post-Dispatch

        "Polly will charm readers instantly. She's fresh and winning...A gritty, dark thriller packed with action. — Dallas Morning News

        "Urgent and beautiful. The writing is as sharp as broken glass but it's the characters who will stay with you, bloody hearts pinned on their sleeves and struggling for redemption and towards each other." — Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls

        "In Polly McClusky, the eleven-year-old girl at the heart of his darkly irresistible debut novel She Rides Shotgun, Jordan Harper gives us a hero for our times. With shades of Mattie Ross but an intelligence and fervor all her own, she is unforgettable." — Megan Abbott, author of You Will Know Me

        "Confident, brutal, but always human, Jordan Harper's She Rides Shotgun is a violent parable of family and sacrifice. The best debut novel that I've read this year." — -Johnny Shaw, Anthony Award-winning author of Big Maria

        "She Rides Shotgun has more kicks than any crime fiction out there, sure, but it's also got a heart that'll keep you up nights, slapping your head and pacing. Don't try to tell me this is a debut novel; I won't hear anything but Jordan Harper's a master." — Benjamin Whitmer, author of Cry Father

        "From its bravura prologue to its immensely satisfying ending, this first novel comes out with guns blazing and shoots the chambers dry. It's both a dark, original take on the chase novel and a strangely touching portrait of a father-daughter relationship framed in barbed wire." — Booklist (starred review)

        "The characters' loyalty, love, and struggle for redemption grip the reader and don't let go." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

        "Visceral... Expert pacing and well-developed characters lift this above the thriller pack." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

        "An exquisitely violent father-daughter story, burns bright and fast. I kept waiting for the inevitable slow-down, but it never came. An extremely impressive debut." — Peter Swanson, author of The Kind Worth Killing

        "Quite simply one of the best debuts I've ever read. Beautifully and lyrically written, it's like a perfect song you hear for the first time and feel like you've always known it. It's an instant classic and if I read a better novel this year I will be amazed." — Simon Toyne, author of Sanctus

        "A electrifying thriller, a shattering family tragedy, and a pitch-black coming of age story...The language is searing, the action relentless, the beauty wrenched from ugliness truly astounding—this book will grab you by the throat and hang on tight until you've greedily swallowed every last word."Robin Wasserman, author of Girls on Fire

        "An impeccable crime novel with a giant heart, massive doses of hatred, vengeance, pain, and violence, and some of the sharpest, tightest prose you'll encounter in 2017." — LitReactor

        "She Rides Shotgun is a True Grit sort of saga, but on hot-wired horsepower instead of horseback. With Harper's storytelling chops, it's a rolling hell-bent adventure with all the snappy dialogue and action of the best noir fiction." — Shelf Awareness

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        Starred review from April 24, 2017
        At the start of Harper’s visceral, pulpy, vernacular-filled first novel, introspective 11-year-old Polly McClusky has an unexpected reunion on the steps of her Southern California middle school with her estranged father, Nate. Nate has recently been released from Pelican Bay State Prison, where a gang known as Aryan Steel issued a death warrant for him and his family, including Polly’s mom, Avis. Nate is committed to saving Polly from the Aryan Steel killers, though he’s too late to prevent the brutal murder of Avis and her new husband. Nate, Polly, and her stuffed bear, who serves to articulate the swirling emotions that Polly hesitates to voice, go on the run, sought by not only the gang but also Det. John Park, who’s investigating the murders. Nate and Polly’s relationship blooms, despite their being in constant crisis-survival mode, as the action builds to a climax that’s over-the-top but consistent with what has gone before. Expert pacing and well-developed characters lift this above the thriller pack. Harper is also the author of a story collection, 2016’s Love and Other Wounds. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber.

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        Starred review from April 1, 2017
        In his first novel, Harper returns to the seamy criminal fringe he explored in his story collections (Love and Other Wounds, 2015, etc.) for a grim yet moving tale about an ex-con's efforts to protect his young daughter.Meek, intellectually precocious 11-year-old Polly finds her tattooed, heavily muscled father, Nate, waiting outside her school in Fontana, California. Having been in prison for more than half of Polly's life, Nate has now been granted an early release. Unfortunately, though, the head of the Aryan Steel gang has just put out a call from his prison cell for his gang members to kill Nate, his ex-wife, and their daughter. Polly's mother is knifed before Nate can reach her, but he takes Polly on the run to evade hit men while planning how to stop the vendetta. His love for Polly overpowers and empowers him, but there is no sentimentality here--he recognizes with paternal pride that she shares his "buried rage." He trains her to fight, then takes her along when he robs stores and attacks his Aryan Steel enemies. Although she remains attached to her teddy bear, Polly discovers she takes after her badass daddy more than she or he imagined. The novel combines striking images, like Nate's "gunfighter eyes" and the "old man of a car" he shows up driving, with disturbingly raw violence--a drug mule gutted by a crooked sheriff to get out the merchandise, the same sheriff gouging out an eye. Even more disturbing are the characters' raw emotions: after witnessing Nate hold an Aryan Steel member's back against the coals from a barbecue-grill fire until he gives desired information, Polly finds herself smiling. Yet there is a moral core here. Acknowledging that his vengeful behavior is "dumb and selfish," Nate knows he isn't good for Polly. And despite her developing toughness, Polly retains her urge to save the innocent. For all the darkness and even ugliness displayed, the characters' loyalty, love, and struggle for redemption grip the reader and don't let go.

        COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: School Library Journal
      • content:

        October 1, 2017

        Eleven-year-old Polly knows little about her father, Nate, who has been in prison for most of her life. When he suddenly appears after school, in a car that doesn't belong to him, she is wary but goes with him. Nate isn't a man of many words, but watchful Polly learns that she can never return to her mother's house. Thanks to Nate's actions in prison, Polly isn't safe, and the next few weeks are a whirlwind of robberies, strength training, and brainstorming ways to survive the hit that the prison gang Aryan Steel has put out on the two of them. As in an episode of Breaking Bad, disaster constantly looms on the horizon. Readers will race through this nail-bitingly suspenseful novel as the duo wreak havoc on Aryan Steel establishments around Los Angeles. Harper's portrayal of the California underworld rings true, and the loving connection that develops between Polly and Nate is full of hope and promise. VERDICT This emotional and fast-paced tale will stick with mature teens who appreciate gritty contemporary fare.-Sarah Hill, Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL

        Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        Starred review from April 1, 2017
        When short-timer Nate McClusky kills a member of the Aryan Steel prison gang in Susanville, California, the victim's brother (who happens to be the gang's president) sends a death warrant from Supermaxnot only for Nate but also for his ex-wife, Avis, and his daughter, Polly. Nate survives his last week in prison but returns home to find Avis dead. Picking up 11-year-old Polly from middle school, he intends to drop her off with a relative until circumstances suggest the only way to keep her permanently safe is to take on Aryan Steel and hit them where it hurts. Polly is at first terrified (and contacts the police) but soon displays an aptitude for crimeshe's her father's daughter, after alland decides she wants to be more than just a passenger. Meanwhile, in chapters that read like mid-period James Ellroy, Detective Park searches the bleak and barren parts of California for the girl who now regrets her call for help. From its bravura prologue to its immensely satisfying ending, this first novel (Harper previously penned the short story collection Love and Other Wounds, 2015) comes out with guns blazing and shoots the chambers dry. It's both a dark, original take on the chase novel and a strangely touching portrait of a father-daughter relationship framed in barbed wire.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

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shortDescription

*WINNER OF A 2018 EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST DEBUT NOVEL*

*WINNER OF AN ALEX AWARD FROM THE ALA*

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2017 BY St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Booklist

A propulsive, gritty novel about a girl marked for death who must fight and steal to stay alive, learning from the most frightening man she knows—her father.

Eleven-year-old Polly McClusky is shy, too old for the teddy bear she carries with her everywhere, when she is unexpectedly reunited with her father, Nate, fresh out of jail and driving a stolen car. He takes her from the front of her school into a world of robbery, violence, and the constant threat of death. And he does it to save her life.

Nate made dangerous enemies in prison—a gang called Aryan Steel has put out a bounty on his head, counting on its members on the outside to finish him off. They've already murdered his ex-wife, Polly's...

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An Edgar Award Winner
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