CUT

A tingle arced across my scalp. The floor tipped up at me and my body spiraled away. Then I was on the ceiling looking down, waiting to see what would happen next.

Callie cuts herself. Never too deep, never enough to die. But enough to feel the pain. Enough to feel the scream inside.

Now she's at Sea Pines, a "residential treatment facility" filled with girls struggling with problems of their own. Callie doesn't want to have anything to do with them. She doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone. She won't even speak.

But Callie can only stay silent for so long...

Patricia McCormick is a two-time National Book Award finalist, is the author of several critically acclaimed novels and picture books, including Cut, Never Fall Down, The Plot to Kill Hitler, Sgt. Reckless, the True Story of the Little Horse Who Became a Hero and Sold, which was adapted into a feature film in 2016. She is also the co-author of I am Malala. Her next picture book, The Bicycle, was published by Balzer + Bray in May 2024. Her books have been named to the New York Times Notable Books list, Publishers Weekly Best Books list, NPR's Best Books list and iTunes Best Books lists. She has received the New York Foundation on the Arts fellowship, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts fellowship, and a MacDowell Center fellowship. She attended Rosemont College, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and has an MFA from the New School. She lives in New York.