Period 8 - Paperback

by Chris Crutcher (Author)

In this terrifying and provocative novel by the bestselling and award-winning author of Deadline and Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, a teenage boy tries to uncover what happened to a girl who has vanished from his high school. Was she abducted, or did she run for her life?

Paul "The Bomb" Baum tells the truth. No matter what. It was something he learned at Sunday school. But telling the truth can cause problems, and not just minor ones. And as Paulie discovers, finding the truth can be even more problematic. Period 8 is supposed to be that one period in high school where the truth can shine, a safe haven. Only what Paulie and Hannah (his ex-girlfriend, unfortunately) and his other classmates don't know is that the ultimate liar is in their midst. Terrifying, thought-provoking, and original, this novel combines all the qualities of a great psychological thriller with the controversy, ethics, athletics, humor, and raw emotion of a classic Crutcher story.

Front Jacket

Period 8. An hour a day. You can hang out. You can eat your lunch. You can talk. Or listen. Or neither. Or both. Nothing is off-limits. The only rule is that you keep it real; that you tell the truth.

Heller High senior Paul Baum--aka Paulie Bomb--tells the truth. Not the Wow, that's an ugly sweater variety of truth, but the other kind. The truth that matters. It might be hard. It often hurts. But Paulie doesn't know how not to tell it. When he tells his girlfriend Hannah the life-altering, messed-up, awful truth, his life falls apart. The truth can get complicated, fast.

--School Library Journal

Back Jacket

Period 8. An hour a day. You can hang out. You can eat your lunch. You can talk. Or listen. Or neither. Or both. Nothing is off-limits. The only rule is that you keep it real; that you tell the truth.

Heller High senior Paul Baum--aka Paulie Bomb--tells the truth. Not the "Wow, that's an ugly sweater" variety of truth, but the other kind. The truth that matters. It might be hard. It often hurts. But Paulie doesn't know how not to tell it. When he tells his girlfriend Hannah the life-altering, messed-up, awful truth, his life falls apart. The truth can get complicated, fast.