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Avalon High

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Overview

Avalon High seems like a typical high school, attended by typical students: There's Lance, the jock. Jennifer, the cheerleader. And Will, senior class president, quarterback, and all-around good guy. But not everybody at Avalon High is who they appear to be ... not even, as new student Ellie is about to discover, herself. What part does she play in the drama that is unfolding What if the bizarre chain of events and coincidences she has pieced together means -- as with the court of King Arthur -- tragedy is fast approaching Avalon High Worst of all, what if there's nothing she can do about it

Editorial Reviews

Cabot (the Princess Diaries) brings the Arthurian legend to modern times in this clever novel. Ellie's parents are medieval studies professors on sabbatical in Annapolis, where Avalon High's senior class president tells her he feels a strange connection to her. Will seems like a golden boy, but Ellie soon hears strange rumors: Will's father had his best friend killed and married the man's wife, leaving Will with a troubled stepbrother. Plus, Ellie discovers Will's girlfriend cheating on him with his best friend. Readers will enjoy making the connections to the real Arthurian legend, puzzling out-as Ellie does-that girlfriend Jennifer is sort of like Guinevere, and Will's best friend, Lance, Lancelot. It will likely come as no surprise to readers when Ellie learns that Will's first name is really Arthur. But could it be true, as one teacher (and the Order of the Bear to which he belongs) believes, that Will is King Arthur reborn, destined to "lead the modern-day world out of the Dark Ages and into a new age of enlightenment"-unless his brother kills him Ellie cannot deny the similarities in their stories, but she refuses to believe she is Elaine of Astolat (aka the Lady of Shalott), who killed herself over Lancelot. If that's the case, she thinks, why is she crushing on Will Readers will be swept up in the fantasy framework (and likely be willing to accept some delectably outrageous plotting, such as when Will learns that his stepmother is actually his true mom). There is plenty of suspense here to hold their attention, as they, like Ellie, try to fit together all the pieces. Ages 12-up. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot was born on February 1, 1967, during the Chinese astrological year of the Fire Horse, a notoriously unlucky sign. Fortunately she grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, where few people were aware of the stigma of being a fire horse--at least until Meg became a teenager, when she flunked freshman Algebra twice, then decided to cut her own bangs. After six years as an undergrad at Indiana University, Meg moved to New York City (in the middle of a sanitation worker strike) to pursue a career as an illustrator, at which she failed miserably, forcing her to turn to her favorite hobby--writing novels--for emotional succor. She worked various jobs to pay the rent, including a decade-long stint as the assistant manager of a 700-bed freshmen dormitory at NYU, a position she still occasionally misses. She is now the author of nearly fifty books for both adults and teens, selling fifteen million copies worldwide, many of which have been #1 New York Times bestsellers, most notably The Princess Diaries series, which is currently being published in more than 38 countries, and was made into two hit movies by Disney. In addition, Meg wrote the Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-You? series (on which the television series Missing was based), two All-American Girl books, Teen Idol, Avalon High, How to Be Popular, Pants on Fire, Jinx, a series of novels written entirely in e-mail format (Boy Next Door, Boy Meets Girl, and Every Boy's Got One), a mystery series (Size 12 Is Not Fat/ Size 14 Is Not Fat Either/Big Boned), and a chick-lit series called Queen of Babble. Meg is now writing a new middle-grade series called Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls, as well as an edgy new YA series, Airhead, both of which debut in Spring of 2008. Her new paranormal series, Abandon, debuts in Summer of 2009. Meg currently divides her time between Key West, Indiana, and New York City, with a primary cat (one-eyed Henrietta), various back-up cats, and her husband, who doesn't know he married a Fire Horse. Please don't tell him.

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Additional Info

Imprint

HarperCollins

Filesize

761.75 KB

Number of Pages

304

eBook ISBN

9780061187285

Awards

  • Bluegrass Award

Excerpt from: Avalon High by Meg Cabot

And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers
"'Tis the fairy Lady of Shalott."

"You are so lucky."

Trust my best friend Nancy to see things that way. Nancy is what you would call an optimist.

Not that I'm a pessimist, or anything. I'm just practical. At least according to Nancy.

Apparently, I'm also lucky.

"Lucky?" I echoed into the phone. "In what way am I lucky?"

"Oh, you know," Nancy said. "You get to start over. In a whole new school. Where no one knows you. You can be whoever you want to be. You can give yourself a total personality makeover, and there won't be anyone around to be all, 'Who do you think you're kidding, Ellie Harrison? I remember when you ate paste in first grade.'"

"I never thought of it that way," I said. Because I hadn't. "Anyway, you were the one who ate paste."

"You know what I mean." Nancy sighed. "Well. Good luck. With school and everything."

"Yeah," I said, sensing even over the thousand-mile difference between us, that, it was time to hang up. "Bye."

"Bye," Nancy said. Then added, "You're so lucky."

Really, up until Nancy said this, I hadn't thought there was anything lucky about my situation at all. Except maybe the fact that there's a pool in the backyard of our new house. We never had a pool of our own. Before, if Nancy and I wanted to go to the pool, we had to get on our bikes and ride five miles mostly uphill to Como Park.

I have to say, when my parents broke the news about the sabbatical, the fact that they were quick to add, "And we're renting a house with a pool!" was the only thing that kept down the vomit that started coming up in my throat. If you are a child of professors, sabbatical is probably about the dirtiest word in your own personal vocabulary. Every seven years, most professors get offered one basically a yearlong vacation, so they can recharge and try to write and publish a book.

Professors love sabbaticals.

Their kids hate them.