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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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WE RIDE UPON STICKS

Quan Barry

It's the fall of 1989, and the Danvers High School Falcons Girls Field Hockey team is tired of losing. They'll do anything to take their senior-year season straight to States. Anything. Even signing a demonic pact with a certain brat-pack teen heartthrob.
Quan Barry's We Ride Upon Sticks and Are There Presently is a delightfully badass female romp through the coastal town of Danvers, MA, formerly known as Salem Village and the original site of the 1692 witch hunt. Inspired by the history of their ancestors, the Falcons sign their names in the Devil's Book (or, in this case, a spiral notebook with Emilio Estevez on the cover), establishing a secret bond that will carry them, chapter by chapter, all the way to the State Finals.

There's Abby Putnam, a bubbly go-getter and the descendent of a notorious 1692 accuser; Jen Fiorenza, whose bleached blond "claw" hairstyle is a character unto itself (did the Claw harness the supernatural in order to be elected co-captain?); "Girl" Cory, stylish, beautiful, and remote (you know the type she drives a white Fiero); "AJ" Johnson, the team's only black member, for whom enchantment brings racial awakening....I wish I could name all eleven!

As the players discover the powers that dwell within them, Barry paints a brilliant, addictive portrait of late-'80s girldom, in all its big-haired, Heathers glory - bringing us, in living color, the sassy and bold spiritual precursors to Buffy and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Empowering and witty yet woke to stale notions of femininity, We Ride Upon Sticks is just too much fun to miss as it celebrates teamwork and the magic of simply being yourself.

Raised on the north shore of Boston near the originating site of the Salem Witch Trials, Quan Barry twirled her way through four seasons as the Danvers High Marching Band mascot before going on to author five books including the novel SHE WEEPS EACH TIME YOU'RE BORN. The recipient of NEA Fellowships in both poetry and fiction and a member of the 1989 DHS Women's Varsity Field Hockey Team, Barry currently lives in the American Midwest where she teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Published 2020-03-03 by Pantheon

Comments

WE RIDE UPON STICKS is one of Hello giggles' 24 most anticipated books of 2020 to add to your reading list: "What if we told you that in 2020, you could read a novel about a field hockey team that forms a coven of witches? And that it's set in the '80s and overflowing with pop culture references? You'd totally freak out, right? Good, because that's exactly what you'll get in Quan Barry's endlessly fun, magical novel." Read more...

Spellbinding, wickedly fun ... Each sentence fizzes like a just-opened bottle of New Coke.

I've just finished Quan Barry's forthcoming novel We Ride Upon Sticks, which is very sad news for me, because I don't get to read it anymore. It's been a long, long time since I snorted and snickered my way through a book... Basically, this book is a must read if you were ever a teenage girl, played a team sport, contemplated witchcraft, and/or were alive in the 80s. If like me, all of these things apply, watch out: this book is going to get you. Read more...

Kirkus Best Books of 2020 Read more...

...whimsical, poignant novel... As the story wind-sprints toward its deeply gratifying ending, one can't help but grab a stick and hold on. Read more...

WE RIDE UPON STICKS is one of Vulture's 2 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2020: "Think about your favorite '80s teen movies, and then think of all the ills they perpetuated - the casual racism and the slut-shaming, not to mention the homophobic stereotypes. We Ride Upon Sticks is a novel that captures the giddy fun of your favorites - the wild parties and the teased bangs, the outsiders with the witty one-liners and the thrill of winning the big game - but it also breaks apart the myths of '80s teen tropes by putting the story in context. Read more...

Empfehlung Read more...

Touching, hilarious, and deeply satisfying. Read more...

Barry handles a large cast of characters nimbly and affectionately, allowing each to take a turn or two in the spotlight. Readers with fond, or even not so fond, memories of the 1980s are bound to be entertained. Read more...

Witchcraft to me has always been about female empowerment. [Witches were] always women who didn't fit inside the box of what it meant to be typically feminine - maybe it was older women, unmarried women, or women who didn't have children. Maybe it was women who were powerful in weird ways that society wasn't used to. So 300 years ago, the girls in Salem Village didn't have many options. Thinking about girls 300 years later, I thought, what kinds of options would be available to them? Read more...