The fourteen-year-old narrator of In Zanesville is a late bloomer; a sidekick, a marching band dropout, a disastrous babysitter, the kind of girl whose Eureka moment is the discovery that 'fudge' can't be said with an English accent. Luckily, she has a best friend with whom she shares the everyday adventures of a 1970s American girlhood. Their friendship is tested - by their families' claims on them, by a clique of popular girls, and by the first, startling, subversive intimations of womanhood.
"One of the Top 10 Book Picks of the Year (2011)."
People
"One of the Best Books of 2011. EditorÂs Pick. ...Poignant...brilliantly captures a particular time and place...One of the book's greatest charms is its depiction of the narrator's intellectual awakening."
eMusic
"Starred Review. Beard is a faultless chronicler of the young and hopeful; readers couldn't ask for a better guide for a trip through the wilds of adolescence."
