What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski

What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski

• ALA Notable Children's Book
• Regional Indie Bestseller
• Audie Award Winner
• Edgar Award Nominee
• Cybils Award Nominee
• YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults
• New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
• Chicago Public Library Best of the Best
• Amazon Best Book of the Year
• SLJ Best Book of the Year
• California Young Readers Medal winner
• Texas Lone Star Reading List
• Capital Choices Noteworthy Book for Children
• BookPage Best Book of the Year
• Elizabeth Burr/Sheridan Worzalla Award for the most distinguished work in children's literature

In this engrossing and inventive contemporary middle grade novel that's Where'd You Go, Bernadette with a #MeToo message, an eighth grader uses social media posts, passed notes, and other clues to find out why a formerly popular girl is now the pariah of her new school.

Anna Hunt may be the new girl at East Middle School, but she can already tell there's something off about her eighth-grade class. Rachel Riley, who just last year was one of the most popular girls in school, has become a social outcast. But no one, including Rachel Riley herself, will tell Anna why.

As a die-hard podcast enthusiast, Anna knows there's always more to a story than meets the eye. So she decides to put her fact-seeking skills to the test and create her own podcast around the question that won't stop running through her head: What happened to Rachel Riley?

With the entire eighth grade working against her, Anna dives headfirst into the evidence. Clue after clue, the mystery widens, painting an even more complex story than Anna could have anticipated. But there's one thing she's certain of: If you're going to ask a complicated question, you better be prepared for the fallout that may come with the answer.

Claire Swinarski is a writer who founded and hosts The Catholic Feminist podcast. She served as a FOCUS missionary from 2013 to 2015. A 2013 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she has a bachelor's degree in mass communication and political science, with a certificate in criminal justice. She has appeared on numerous podcasts, including The Catholic Hipster, Catching Foxes, Girlfriends, and Jesuitical. Her work has been featured in Radiant magazine, Blessed Is She, and FemCatholic. She has written for publications including the Washington Times, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Verily, Relevant, and America. Swinarski and her husband, Krzysztof, live with their family in Brookfield, Wisconsin.