An Egg on Three Sticks

"You can't stop reading An Egg on Three Sticks once you start it. Three pages in, I was hooked."—Billie Letts, author of Where the Heart Is

"The author does a fine job of capturing Abby's point of view, from adolescent angst to denial then anger at her mother's—and family's—condition and finally all-out rebellion. And she does it in an interesting way, which is with little punctuation not even quotation marks sometimes and lots of ands and you knows and eventually she or Abby have one long paragraph or stream of consciousness which would you know probably cause an adult reader or reviewer for that matter to come down with the kind of shakes you get when someone accidentally on purpose like scrapes her fingernail across a chalkboard kind of which a young adult reader would probably have little problem with you know what I mean. Even though the setting is decades past, the issues—friendship, loyalty, helplessness, anger, fear, rebellion, shoplifting, suicide, teenage sex and pregnancy are contemporary . . . The book is a pretty good 'readamundo.'—Judy Crowder, Children's Literature

"Abby, one of the most engaging young narrators since Elizabeth Berg's Katie in Durable Goods, tells her story with honesty, toughness, and a vulnerability that carries the reader along with a sense of suspense and deep emotional investment to its heartbreaking conclusion. In an impressive and rewarding writerly feat, Fischer manages to make Abby's story funny, entertaining, devastating, and redemptive, all at the same time."—Stephanie Rosenfeld, Author of What About the Love Part?

"Fischer's novel is a spare, unflinching picture of a nuclear family's disintegration. At the same time, it's a nostalgic ride through the goofy, vulnerable years of early adolescence."—Emily Jenkins, author of Mister Posterior and the Genius Child p0

"In prose both fresh and piercing, Fischer brings us so close to her narrator that we feel what it's like to be thirteen . . . and to be tormented by a potent mixture of love, anger, and guilt as you start to face the hard truths of the adult world. Abby's voice is unfaltering; its honesty and pure tone animate a story of immediate and affecting emotional power."—Anitra Sheen, author of Things Unspoken

"A step into the bewildering world of adolescence . . . Profound, fresh, funny, it will make you laugh as it breaks your heart."—Tom Spanbauer, author of In the City of Shy Hunters

"The voice and flow of this funny, sad, life-loving work are so note-perfect that taking in An Egg on Three Sticks feels less like reading a novel than hanging out with its unforgettable teenage protagonist as she lays it all out to you. A remarkable debut."—Fred Pfeil, author of White Guys and What They Tell You to Forget