Crunch Time [Hardcover]

Mariah Fredericks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 20, 2005

Mariah Fredericks is the author of the bestselling novel The True Meaning of Cleavage. In a starred review Booklist said, "Fredericks, a first-time novelist, writes with amazing truth and perception." Meg Cabot, author of the Princess Diaries series, called it "Laugh-out-loud funny and way twisted!" Of her second book, Head Games, Kirkus Reviews said, "Fredericks has a gift for replicating teen vernacular." Mariah Fredericks lives with her husband in Queens, New York, where she is working on more novels for young people.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up–After skipping out of an SAT prep class, juniors Leo, Daisy, Max, and Jane agree to meet regularly at Jane's apartment for their own study group. They all work hard, seem to improve their test-taking skills, and forge friendships in the process. Soon, Max reveals to best friend Daisy that he wants more than friendship from her. Daisy, however, falls hard for Leo, who appears to fall back but doesn't know how to be devoted in a relationship, especially when he is drinking. Jane is the rich, beautiful wallflower whom Max could ask out if the idea occurred to him. After the SAT, a senior high scorer confesses that she was paid to take the exam for someone else. The whole school is in an uproar as the senior refuses to disclose the cheater's name. When two members of the study group are among the suspects, things begin to unravel. The extreme preoccupation with the SAT and getting into good colleges becomes somewhat weighty during the course of the novel and some of the plot elements test believability. However, because it is, for the most part, insightfully told from the various viewpoints of the four main characters in short, quick-moving segments with true-to-life dialogue, the story is redeemed. Readers will wonder what will happen to the friends as they embark on senior year at the conclusion.–Diane P. Tuccillo, City of Mesa Library, AZ
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From Booklist

Gr. 8-11. "In life there are those who count and there are nose pickers," says Leo, who along with three other juniors at his private Manhattan high school, has blown off traditional SAT prep courses and founded a private study group. The four teens--Leo, Max, Daisy, and Jane--move in different social orbits, but as they share the enormous pressures of preparing for the SAT and college applications, unlikely friendships and even romances form. Then comes the news that one student has paid another to take the SAT, and suspicions land on members of the study group. The narration, which moves briskly among the four teens' authentic voices, doesn't always allow for full character development. But as in The True Meaning of Cleavage (2002), Fredericks writes about high-school academics and social rules with sharp insight and spot-on humor, and the questions about social judgments and the intensity and fairness of the college-admissions process ("I guess there's no test that measures 'amazing human being,'" says Daisy) will resonate strongly with teens. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books; 1St Edition edition (December 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068986938X
• ISBN-13: 978-0689869389
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #187,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sorry,this is coming. I've just experienced a bout of amnesia and have forgotten everything about myself.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Only Get One Shot, June 4, 2006

By 

Jonathan Stephens "Jonathan Stephens" (Huntington Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crunch Time (Hardcover)

On the surface, Mariah Fredericks' CRUNCH TIME might be about 4 kids who band together their own SAT prep group because they don't want to do the whole formal class thing. What's funny is how a story like that can delve so deeply into matters of identity, where the worst thing you thought about people turns out to be true and that's all anyone sees. I guess it comes down to who you are at the end of the day.

Are you the sweet guy who never gets the girl? Or the hot guy who never gets to keep her? Are you the girl with nothing who wishes for the world? Or the one with everything who knows the loneliness it has to offer? Or are you the cheater?

Whoever you think you are on the inside, you have to be somebody on the outside. And if you aren't sure who you want that to be, you've got to pretend. Be somebody. "Or else people will make it up" for you.

The 4 points of view in this novel, all told in first person, are woven together so seamlessly that in the same conversation you end up in heads of all four characters. Their psyches are different and their passions diverse enough that their characters prove themselves both unique and separate. Yet they're all eerily on the same path to somewhere, wherever it is that teenage path leads us all.

It's funny how one test, how one stupid number (2110 - 1250 - 1880 - 2400), labels you for life. But it does. It might be the SAT's, a big game, the decision to bare your soul to that special someone, or a nasty rumor. Whatever it is, it gets to decide your future. And, like Leo says in the book, you don't get any backsies. It's not a test you get to take again. You only get one shot. And that's it.

Then comes the rest of your life.

Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars She shoots. She scores., February 13, 2006

By 

Thomas Craughwell (Bethel, CT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Crunch Time (Hardcover)

Like death and taxes, standardized tests are inescapable, so I predict a huge (and enthusiastic!) audience for Crunch Time. Mariah Fredericks has captured perfectly the turbulent emotions of ambitious kids preparing for the SATs, and then waiting for their scores. The story spotlights four students at a private school-two boys, two girls-who form their own study group. Naturally, the group is fertile ground for romance, jealousy, and who-likes-who-best angst. But the real fireworks start when the school learns that someone actually cheated. And got away with it. A flawlessly plotted novel. Dive in!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Crunch Time, May 25, 2006

By 

Chelsie Lacny "Chel" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crunch Time (Hardcover)

I liked this book way better than The True Meaning of Cleavage. This one actually had a point, and suspense leading up to an unsuspecting ending (of course, I read ahead and didn't do the guessing game. If I were you I would not do that. It spoils the fun of the whole book)
Anyways, I like how four completely different people can be friends all because of the stress of the SAT's. I really liked the truth and honesty of this book. I also liked how you have four points of veiw over the same thing, and it makes the book more interesting.
Way to go, Mariah! Way better than The True Meaning of Cleavage.