You Must Not Miss

by Katrina Leno

Overview

"Channeling early Stephen King at his best" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), You Must Not Miss is a twisted and suspenseful story of female rage for fans of One of Us Is Lying and Carrie.

Magpie Lewis started writing in her yellow notebook the day after her family self-destructed. The day her father ruined her mother's life. The day Eryn, Magpie's sister, skipped town and left her to fend for herself. The day of Brandon Phipp's party.

Now Magpie is called a slut in the hallways of her high school, her former best friend won't speak to her, and she spends her lunch period with a group of misfits who've all been as socially exiled as she has. And so, feeling trapped and forgotten, Magpie retreats to her notebook, dreaming up a magical place called Near.

Near is perfect—a place where her father never cheated, her mother never drank, and Magpie's own life never derailed so suddenly. She imagines Near so completely, so fully, that she writes it into existence, right in her own backyard. At first, Near is a peaceful escape, but soon it becomes something darker, somewhere nightmares lurk and hidden truths come to light. Soon it becomes a place where Magpie can do anything she wants...even get her revenge.

You Must Not Miss is an intoxicating tale of magic, menace, and the monsters that live inside us all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316449793
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	08/11/2020
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	664,398
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	HL800L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Katrina Leno was born on the east coast and currently lives in Los Angeles. She is a photographer and the author of five books — The Half Life of Molly Pierce, The Lost & Found, Everything All At Once, The Summer of Salt, and You Must Not Miss. You can visit her online at katrinaleno.com

Editorial Reviews

★ 05/13/2019

In this emotionally raw drama, a teenage girl escapes her abysmal home life by conjuring up a fantastical echo of the real world in which everything is perfect. Magpie Lewis’s mother is an alcoholic, her father slept with her aunt, her older sister has left them all behind, and her former best friend no longer speaks to her. Haunted by the initially undisclosed incident that turned her into a social pariah, Mags drifts through life, slowly failing out of school and keeping her few remaining friends at arm’s length. But after she somehow opens a door into the world she calls Near, a world she’s been journaling about, she finds a place where she can finally be happy. In Near, she can have whatever she wants, from a loving family to revenge on those who have wronged her. Leno (Summer of Salt) portrays her traumatized heroine in a way that is both compelling and harrowing, especially as Mags pursues a self-destructive solution to her problems. Leno doesn’t shy away from challenging themes—including substance abuse, toxic friendships, rape, and suicide—and she brings lyrically haunting language to a story filled with inherent darkness. Ages 14–up. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for You Must Not Miss:
A 2020 CCBC Choice

* "Leno (Summer of Salt, 2018, etc.), channeling early Stephen King at his best, offers no neat conclusions, and her frank examination of depression, grief, alcoholism, and the ruinous aftermath of sexual assault, is grim yet effective. Readers will ponder this exceedingly creepy gut punch of a tale long after turning the last page."

—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

* "Compelling and harrowing.... Leno doesn't shy away from challenging themes... and she brings lyrically haunting language to a story filled with inherent darkness."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

* "Leno (Summer of Salt, 2018) takes a concept...and executes it with beautiful, brutal precision. Between the lines of spare and dreamlike prose lurks a girl who, though quiet at first, demands to be seen, and readers will not soon forget her."—Booklist (starred review)

"This unusual blend of realistic fiction, fantasy, and mayhem begs debate wherever it is read! Stock more than one copy."—VOYA

"A little bit Coraline, a little bit Stephen King.... A frank, unflinching look at grief, rage, depression, and how pain manifests as cruelty. You must not miss You Must Not Miss."—Mackenzie Vanengelenhoven, King's English Bookshop (Salt Lake City, UT)

"A mind-bender of a book."—Rosie Lee, Readers Books (Sonoma, CA)

From the Publisher

04/01/2019

Gr 6 Up—Six months ago Margaret "Magpie" Lewis's life was pretty good: she had a best friend, a family, and a strong academic career. Then, in one day, it all falls apart. She is suddenly exiled by her friends and forgotten by her family. To combat her overwhelming feelings of hopelessness and neglect, Magpie starts writing in a yellow notebook and creates her sanctuary, a place called Near. It becomes so real to her that she actually dreams it into existence, accessed through a shed in her backyard. Now Magpie has a place where she is safe and loved and in control, a place she can have anything she wants—even if what she wants most is revenge. The story takes too long to get going; readers are a third of the way through before they enter Near with the protagonist. Also, the rules and consequences of Near seem arbitrary and contrived at times and never get fully established. Teens are told by Hither, Magpie's guide and advisor in Near, that there are consequences to her actions, but sometimes those consequences are as benign as a headache and other times it's implied that she loses a part of herself. These don't ultimately serve as a deterrent anyway. By the end, the protagonist seems to be on the verge of finding real friendship and even love, so her final revenge seems a little forced. VERDICT Too many issues derail an otherwise interesting premise.—Erik Knapp, Davis Library, Plano, TX

School Library Journal

★ 2018-12-09

A depressed New England teen writes her perfect world into reality and uses it to exact revenge.

Sixteen-year-old Margaret "Magpie" Lewis' father left soon after she caught him having sex with her mother's sister. Since then, Magpie's older sister, Eryn, a college senior, has stopped communicating with her, and her mother's drinking has gotten much worse. In addition, her ex-best friend, Allison, has shunned her and branded her as a slut after a horrid encounter with Allison's boyfriend, Brandon. School is an afterthought, but Magpie has made new friends: Clare, whose father committed suicide; bisexual Luke; Brianna, who suffered a humiliating incident; and Ben, who is trans. Magpie also copes by writing about a place called Near. After a portal to Near manifests in Magpie's backyard shed, she spends days there with her Stepford-esque family—one untouched by tragedy—but as Magpie tests her new abilities, her numb, shattered heart tells her that revenge will be sweet, no matter the cost. Poor Magpie's spiral is a heartbreaking example of how deep pain often masquerades as cruelty, and her actions are tragic. Leno (Summer of Salt, 2018, etc.), channeling early Stephen King at his best, offers no neat conclusions, and her frank examination of depression, grief, alcoholism, and the ruinous aftermath of sexual assault is grim yet effective. Characters are presumed white.

Readers will ponder this exceedingly creepy gut punch of a tale long after turning the last page. (Thriller. 14-adult)

Kirkus Reviews