Are You in the House Alone?

An updated look for the classic YA thriller from genre heavyweight Richard Peck

Sixteen-year-old Gail is living the upper-class suburban life when she begins receiving terrifying phone calls and notes in her locker. And the calls keep coming. When she's attacked by the town's golden boy everyone refuses to take action against him and his powerful family. A frightening drama that deals with heavy teen issues and the idea of justice (or lack thereof) from bestselling author Richard Peck.

A sixteen-year-old girl with a steady boyfriend suddenly begins receiving threatening phone calls while she is babysitting and anonymous notes in her high school locker.

"Forget it," Alison counseled. "It never happened." But it was happening. The obscene notes. "Stop reading that garbage!" Alison shrieked and grabbed the neatly lettered page from Gail's frozen hands. And whenever Gail was alone, the phone rang and went dead as soon as she answered it. As her world shaded into a nightmare, Gail, surrounded by friends, family, and teachers, found herself utterly alone.

Then one evening her nightmare became fact when she learned an even more tragic truth; in spite of violence and degradation, she was still alone, the victim of a crime that punished the innocent and let the criminal go free.

Children's Literature

This is a highly suspenseful but brutally honest story of teenage rape. Gail Osburne is a high school student who moved with her family from New York City to a small town, where life was supposed to be calmer and safer. She tells the story of being stalked by a presumed stranger and finally assaulted while she is babysitting. No forced entry, no witnesses. Her own casual sex with her boyfriend as well as her use of the pill and the social status of the rapist are all seen as impediments to a rape conviction and there isn't even a trial. The boy goes off to boarding school and life in the small town goes on. The reader will hang on every page to learn who the stalker is. The dialogue is fast, fluid and real. When Gail is talking to her parents or her friends, the conversations have all the tensions and insecurities familiar to teenagers, though Gail is often perceptive and thoughtful. The book demands discussion at the very least about how and whether society's perception of rape and rape victims has changed in the quarter century since this book was written. No young person should read this book alone and not have a chance to talk about it. 2000 (orig. 1976), Puffin/Penguin, Ages 16 to 18, $11.70, $5.99 and $4.99. Reviewer: Karen Leggett

Richard Peck lives in New York City. His extensive list of honors includes the Newbery Medal, the Edgar Award, the Margaret A. Edwards Award, and the National Humanities Medal. He has twice been a finalist for the National Book Award.