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The Sin-Eater's Confession

  • Interest Level: Grade 9 - Grade 12
  • Reading Level: Grade 7

People in Merit, Wisconsin, always said Jimmy was . . . you know. But people said all sorts of stupid stuff. Nobody really knew anything. Nobody really knew Jimmy.

I guess you could say I knew Jimmy as well as anyone (which was not very well). I knew what scared him. And I knew he had dreams—even if I didn’t understand them. Even if he nearly ruined my life to pursue them.

Jimmy’s dead now, and I definitely know that better than anyone. I know about blood and bone and how bodies decompose. I know about shadows and stones and hatchets. I know what a last cry for help sounds like. I know what blood looks like on my own hands.

What I don’t know is if I can trust my own eyes. I don’t know who threw the stone. Who swung the hatchet? Who are the shadows? What do the living owe the dead?

Format Your Price Add
978-1-4677-3705-0
 $9.95
978-1-4677-6821-4
 $23.99
Available at all major wholesalers and distributors. Save 25% off list price on hardcovers and ebooks when you buy direct! Digital purchases will be accessed on Lerner Digital Bookshelf. An account will be created for you after purchase.
Interest Level Grade 9 - Grade 12
Reading Level Grade 7
Genre Young Adult
Category Diverse Books: LGBTQIA+, Diverse Books: Social Justice, Diversity
Copyright 2013
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Carolrhoda Lab ®
Language English
Number of Pages 296
Publication Date 2014-01-01
Reading Counts! Level 5.5
Text Type Fiction
BISACS YAF031000, YAF029000, YAF058020
Dewey [Fic]
Dimensions 5.25 x 7.5
Lexile 730
ATOS Reading Level 5.0
Accelerated Reader® Quiz 156824
Accelerated Reader® Points 12.0
Features Author/Illustrator biography, Awards, Reviewed, Starred Reviews, Teaching Guides, and eSource

Author: Ilsa J. Bick

Ilsa J. Bick is a child psychiatrist, as well as a film scholar, surgeon wannabe, former Air Force major, and an award-winning, best-selling author of short stories, e-books, and novels. She has written extensively in the Star Trek, Battletech, Mechwarrior: Dark Age, and Shadowrun universes. Her original stories have been featured in numerous anthologies, magazines and online venues. Ilsa’s YA paranormal, Draw the Dark, was also a semifinalist for the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (as Stalag Winter). Ilsa currently lives with her family and other furry creatures in rural Wisconsin and across the street from the local Hebrew cemetery. One thing she loves about the neighbors: They’re very quiet and come around for sugar only once in a blue moon.

Lerner eSource™ offers free digital teaching and learning resources, including Common Core State Standards (CCSS) teaching guides. These guides, created by classroom teachers, offer short lessons and writing exercises that give students specific instruction and practice using Common Core skills and strategies. Lerner eSource also provides additional resources including online activities, downloadable/printable graphic organizers, and additional educational materials that would also support Common Core instruction. Download, share, pin, print, and save as many of these free resources as you like!

The Sin-Eater's Confession

People in Merit, Wisconsin, always said Jimmy was . . . you know. But people said all sorts of stupid stuff. Nobody really knew anything. Nobody really knew Jimmy. I guess you could say I knew Jimmy as well as anyone (which was not very well). I knew what… View available downloads →

Awards

  • Westchester Fiction Award, Winner, 2014
  • Wisconsin Library Association's Outstanding Book by a Wisconsin Author, Winner, 2014
  • YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, Winner, 2014
  • Tayshas Reading List, Winner, 2013
  • Kirkus Best Teen Books of the Year, Winner, 2013
  • Cream of the Crop for Children's and Young Adult Literature, Winner, 2013
  • Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children, Winner, 2013

Reviews

Library Media Connection

Reviewed on 1 November 2013

“Bick has fashioned a disturbing novel that explores issues of personal identity, orientation, community values, and responsibility….This is a difficult book to read, both because of its unsettling content and because of its intense introspection; however, for the right reader the novel offers an engrossingly realistic entry into a young man’s coming of age.” —Library Media Connection

VOYA

Reviewed on 1 June 2013

This gut-wrenching story is like watching a terrible accident in slow motion….Fans of Bick’s Ashes zombie trilogy will be surprised if they pick this up, but those who do will find ample food for thought and discussion." —VOYA

Booklist

Reviewed on 1 March 2013

“Bick proves again she is a writer to her core, never at a loss for things to say and uninterested in easy answers. Her handling of Ben’s increasing paranoia and delusion is nimble, making this a violent, and very smart, take-no-prisoners experience.” —Booklist

School Library Journal

Reviewed on 1 March 2013

Reminiscent of Bick’s Drowning Instinct (Carolrhoda Lab, 2012), the story is told in flashback, this time in diary-type letters….This novel should be in all YA collections, and would be interesting reading for members of GSA’s." —School Library Journal

Publishers Weekly

Reviewed on 21 January 2013

“Bick (Drowning Instinct) crafts a powerful tale of bigotry and murder in small-town Wisconsin….a potent examination of teenage emotions and reactions to peer and parental pressures, and to the evil that people are capable of.” —starred, Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews

Reviewed on 1 January 2013

“Bick’s compelling tale manages to be a blistering confessional and a page-turning whodunit (or maybe what-really-happened) all in one… Readers won’t be able to look away even if they find they don’t much like—or trust—Ben.” —starred, Kirkus Reviews