Initiation - Susan Fine

Mauricio Londo-o's goal for his freshman year at St. Stephen's is simple: basic survival. "I had no idea what could come of packing all those boys into one school building, how the competition would play out in relentless insults, the constant sorting-out that went on every day, all day, to determine who was okay and who was worthless." Terrified and feeling like an uninvited guest at the all-boys St. Stephen's School, Mauricio Londo-o sets his main goal for freshman year: basic survival. But despite his efforts to tiptoe through the school year, Mauricio can't resist the allure of the world inhabited by his precocious classmates and the drama that plays out on FaceSpace. When a cruel digital scheme sweeps through the school, Mauricio not only becomes one of its victims but also starts to think that maybe it's not so bad to be honest about who he really is.

After many years in New York City, Susan Fine said goodbye to Zabar's and Grey's Papaya in search of an affordable apartment. She, her husband, their two young boys, and 10,000 pieces of Lego landed in Chicago, where they love everything except the weather. When she isn't reading The Dangerous Book for Boys, she's working on her second novel. A former English teacher, Susan can still hear a me/I error from about a mile away. For assistance with sorting out the me/I conundrum, check out pages 110-113 in her first book Zen in the Art of the SAT.