Sneaks

Monday, September 24
Watches Don t Crawl
1
Ben Harp saw the wristwatch scuttling sideways across the hallway, crablike, as he and the rest of his sixth-­grade class filed into the library on Monday morning. It was there among the feet of his classmates, and then it was gone.
Ew! Was that a cockroach? cried Jessica Masterson, who had nearly stepped on it.
I think it was a mouse! Audrey Banks clutched Jes­sica s arm.
Ben had seen it clwearly, if only for a second: the leather strap, the round white watch face. The strap had been curling and flattening like a caterpillar, but moving much faster than any caterpillar. A watch crawling across the hall and into the library of its own accord is hard to process at ten in the morning, however. Cockroach, his brain stoutly tried to persuade him. Or mouse. But he felt uneasy as he sat down on the carpet in the library.
There s a cockroach on your sweater! Jae Park yelled at Jessica Masterson; the girls shrieked at him in mock fury.
Ms. Pryce, the school librarian, silenced them with a slight widening of her eyes. When Ms. Pryce first came to their school last year, the kids thought they could get away with anything, because she was new and looked so young, but she disabused them of that notion very quickly. She was a petite woman, the only Black teacher at their school, and the youngest by nearly twenty years. She wore big glasses with red frames and tailored outfits in bright colors. Her clothes said fun, but the expression on her face said something else altogether.
Class, today we are beginning the Livingston history project we discussed last week, said Ms. Pryce. I want each of you to find a partner, quietly.
Even though Ben had known it was coming, his stomach dropped.
This had never been a problem before sixth grade. Before, when a teacher said, Find a partner, Ben and Ashok gave each other the thumbs-­up, and that was that. They had been best friends since first grade.
But Ashok and his family had

CATHERINE EGAN grew up in Vancouver, Canada. Since then, she has lived on a volcanic island in Japan (which erupted while she was there and sent her hurtling straight into the arms of her now husband), in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Beijing, on an oil rig in the middle of Bohai Bay, then in New Jersey, and now in New Haven, Connecticut. She is currently occupied with writing books and fighting dragon armies with her warrior children. Sneaks is her middle grade debut. You can read more about her at catherineegan.com and follow her on Twitter at @ByCatherineEgan.

"An action-packed adventure that focuses on friendship and teamwork." Kirkus Reviews

"The action comes early and doesn t let up. A thrilling, speedy adventure where the positive ending is assured but the path there is not so easily predicted." Bulletin

"[A] friendship-focused puzzle novel. Combining the whimsically written Sneaks with an underlying threat of invasion, Egan places a strong emphasis on camaraderie and forgiveness as the protagonists learn to trust and support one another." Publishers Weekly