But while she’s putting cluestogether, Mischa tries living a life that really interests her-and honest conversations,kissing her best male friend, and skydiving prove so much more satisfyingthan passionless striving. With the help of three hackers whooperate under the guise of an all-girls STEM club, Mischa eventually uncoversscandalous administrative application-tampering. How am I supposed to tell mymother my future is in a septic tank?” Aside from her work ethic, Mischa is a bitof a blank slate, and as she gets to know herself without the pressure of academicachievement, readers get to know her as well. She narrates with a sharp, sarcastic voice thatportrays her desperate panic in a humorous and sympathetic light: “My prospectshave moved into the sewer…the sewer’s too nice. Mischa investigates this seeming academic injustice while grapplingmightily with the shame of failure. Her dreams, however, are thwarted when she’s rejectedeverywhere. Mischa Abramavicius’s single, second-generation immigrant mother works hardto pay Mischa’s prep-school tuition, so Mischa works hard building her resumeto get to the Ivy League. An overachiever learns there’s more to life than grades:it’s a familiar theme, but one that is buoyed here by thoughtful observations onclass, ambition, and the value and hazards of education-as well as by an engagingmystery.

But while she’s putting cluestogether, Mischa tries living a life that really interests her-and honest conversations,kissing her best male friend, and skydiving prove so much more satisfyingthan passionless striving. An entertaining twist on a familiar theme: A high-achieving teen figures out who she really is at heart despite the pressures of the high school rat race.

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