Zipped by Laura McNeal, Tom McNeal

From Barnes & Noble

For 15-year-old Mick Nichols, everything changes the moment he opens up the wrong email. In the misplaced missive is evidence that Mick's beautiful and loving stepmother is having an affair. But what should Nick do with this dangerous information? Should he confront his stepmother? tell his father? or track down the other man? Obsessed with the infidelity, Mick must also cope with other distractions, including the welcome (but confusing) affection of hot college freshman Myra Vidal. An absorbing read.

From the Publisher

WHEN 15-YEAR-OLD MICK Nichols opens the wrong e-mail, he learns a terrible secret: His stepmother is having an affair with a man named Alexander Selkirk. Mick is stunned. Should he tell his father, confront his stepmother, or keep it all to himself? And who, exactly, is Alexander Selkirk? Mick becomes obsessed with the infidelity, in spite of some serious distractions. Distractions like Lisa Doyle, the religious field-hockey player with the coppery red hair. Like the surprising (but appreciated) affections of Myra Vidal, a famously gorgeous college freshman with a secret of her own. And at the moment Mick discovers Selkirk’s true identity, he realizes his problems are all zipped up together—and that he may have to go to drastic lengths to untangle them.

“The McNeals spin a wonderfully rich story.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A well-honed novel. . . . Readers will be sucked in.”—Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly

This novel's narrative alternates between three teens, each of whom face their own trials. According to PW, "The authors skillfully weave together several story lines into a well-honed novel." Ages 12-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Patti Sylvester Spencer <%ISBN%>0375814914 - VOYA

As summer vacation nears, leather-jacket clad Mick faces challenges and opportunities. He applies for a grounds-crew position at a retirement community, the girl he has been admiring from afar is hired on the same crew, and his history paper revision disappears somewhere in the computer-fairly typical events in the life of a bike-bound fifteen-year-old. In many ways, however, Mick's life is anything but typical. Years ago his mother all but abandoned her family for a high-paced job in a distant city, his mechanic father remarried a woman Mick drools over, and Mick discovers trashed e-mail correspondence between his stepmother and her lover as he searches for that missing history paper-too much revelation. How Mick handles the infidelity-taken extremely personally-drives the novel. Numerous subplots enhance the novel, including a crime wave at the retirement community, budding romances, grounds-crew supervisor Maurice's power trips (he speaks of himself in second person and deserves a novel of his own), a developing friendship between Mick and an older beauty queen, and some strong characterizations. Unnecessary or underdeveloped subplots, such as sexual harassment on several fronts and a crush on a Mormon elder, detract. The McNeals' subject matter itself is engaging and sexually charged-multiple, overt references to hickeys, crotches, nipples, underwear, and more ring out as overplayed and heavy-handed. Morally ambiguous characters and Mick's haunting dilemma provide intrigue. Readers who flock to Chris Crutcher's books and those interested in Mormon characters and themes will be drawn to this book. VOYA Codes: 3Q 4P M J S (Readable without serious defects; Broad general YA appeal;Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2003, Knopf, 192p,

Claire Rosser - KLIATT

To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, January 2003: The McNeal husband-and-wife writing team won a lot of praise for their first YA novel, Crooked. Each is an accomplished writer, and Laura has also taught English in middle school and high school in addition to being a journalist. This background is evident in Zipped, with frequent allusions to literary works that typical high school students would recognize, with a challenging plot and theme, and with well-developed characters who are articulate and thoughtful. The narrative is in the third person, and the point of view shifts among several characters—Mick, Lisa, Maurice, and Janice, with many chapters. Details of plot, numerous characters, thoughts and feelings are zipped together to make one cohesive story, and it seems clear that the authors are making that classic point that everything is connected—everything is zipped together. We may not see how at first, or in the middle of the story; but in the end the connection is clear. The story line is difficult to summarize concisely, but here are several main elements to the story: Mick has discovered that his adored and attractive stepmother is having an affair and his home life and emotional security are threatened; Mick has a crush on a classmate, Lisa, but also has a friendship with a most attractive college student who is trying to escape from her own demons; Lisa is a Mormon who is attracted to a young Mormon missionary living in the area, but her friendship with Mick is growing and developing into something more romantic; Mick and Lisa work for a disturbed person, Maurice, who is having a love affair with Lisa's best friend Janice. Themes of goodand evil and the gray zone in between, of betrayal, of forgiveness, of love, of tolerance, abound. The McNeals have given YA readers a challenging YA novel, with a strange little figure of a baby devil on the cover. KLIATT Codes: JS*—Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2003, Random House, Knopf, 283p., Ages 12 to 18.

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Well-realized, sympathetic teen and adult characters populate this novel packed with family problems, romance, and wry humor. Fifteen-year-old Mick Nichols opens his stepmother's e-mail by mistake and discovers that Nora is having an affair. Unable to confront her or tell his father, he turns surly and uncommunicative at home. Meanwhile, he's embarked on a confusing friendship with a college girl and a budding romance with a high school classmate, the beautiful Lisa Doyle. Mick has a troubled relationship with his mother, who left the family years ago, and has always admired-as well as had a mild crush on-his young, attractive stepmother. Her affair shatters his illusions. While he searches for clues to the identity of Nora's lover, he also gets to know Lisa better on their weekend job. Obstacles stand in the way of love, including her interest in an off-limits Mormon missionary. Mick commits an uncharacteristic act of vandalism aimed at his stepmother's lover, and ultimately has an emotionally satisfying confrontation with Nora. The teen's romance with Lisa finally takes off, and several other subplots wrap up as well, sometimes too neatly. Mick learns that the adults whom he has idolized have their own problems, and that relationships are far more complex than he ever imagined. Refreshingly, Mick's father and stepmother are fully fleshed out characters, not stereotypes. This is a believable novel that will especially appeal to teens interested in moral ethics and human dynamics.-Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Mick Nichols has women problems. His mother, who left his father and lives far away, can't seem to remember his age. Lisa Doyle, the cute field hockey player, seems not to notice him, and Myra Vidal, college sophomore and former beauty queen, is paying him all kinds of attention. But far, far worse-his attractive stepmother, whom he adores, is carrying on a torrid affair. Every one of the women here has a problematic love life. Lisa, for example, likes Mick, but loves Elder Keesler, an older boy and a missionary in her church, Lisa's friend Janice is going out with a muscle-bound slime ball. Mick acts as a sort of bell-weather for all of them as the plot unfolds. Eventually, everything falls into place: Lisa gets over her fixation on the missionary, Myra comes out to Mick, and Mick and his step-mother are reconciled as Mick learns that life can be very complicated and that even good people make big mistakes. The McNeals (Crooked, 1999) spin a wonderfully rich story. It is a little bothersome that only Mick and his father seem to lead straightforward lives unmarred by moral uncertainty, (apart from Mick's impulsive act of vandalism meant to punish his stepmother's paramour) while the various females in the story are tortured by a variety of conflicted feelings and bad choices. The authors steer clear of moralizing, however, and wrap everything up in a most satisfying way. (Fiction. 13+)

Product Details

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Reading Group Guide

1. In chapter one, Mick visits Nora’s classroom and talks to her about Lisa Doyle and his summer plans. What are some of the other memories he shares about time spent with Nora? Does he see her as a traditional stepmother? How does he feel about her and the experiences they’ve shared? How do his feelings change once he has read Nora’s e-mail? Mick asks Nora to drop the nickname Maestro, explaining, “I don’t like it. It’s not true” (p. 23). Is he talking only about the nickname here, or does his request have greater significance?

2. Why won’t Mick take off his coat at the end of chapter one? Look at the moments throughout the book when Mick pats the disk that is zipped into his jacket pocket. What is he thinking about when he does this? What is he really trying to keep zipped up? Does it work? Similarly, Myra puts her feelings for Pam into a letter. At the end of the novel, Mick and Myra send their disk and letter up into the sky with a bunch of balloons. What does this act symbolize for each of them?

3. On page 21, Mick takes a long look at this father, and later he challenges his father to a particularly competitive game of foosball in an attempt to “make him play a little harder” (p. 26). What is Mick trying to bring out in his father? Through whose point of view is Mick seeing his father now?

4. Internal conflict is a struggle within a character over an issue or a choice he or she must make. Lisa considers the forbidden fruits of the Mormon religion: “drinking, caffeine, boyfriends, and fun” (p. 33). How does she feel about these rules? What is Lisa’s internal struggle? By the end ofthe novel, do you think Lisa is on her way to resolving these problems? What choices do you think she will make? What are Myra’s internal conflicts? Mick’s? Nora’s? How are they resolved?

5. Betrayal is one of the themes of the novel. Which characters feel betrayed? How and by whom? How does each of these characters deal with his or her feelings? Would you be able to forgive an act of betrayal like Nora’s? Why or why not? Does Mick forgive her?

6. A symbol is a physical thing that stands for an idea or an emotion. Nora adds a new figurine to her car’s dashboard--a small plastic devil she calls Beelzebub. How does Mick feel about this item and why? Where do you think it came from? What does this figure symbolize to Nora? Do her feelings about it ever change? Where does this figure end up and what does its condition represent?

7. Birds’ nests appear throughout the story. Toward the end, a singing bird is building a new nest in the backyard. Contrast the image of the dried, abandoned nests in Nora’s classroom with the lively new nest at the end, in which “. . . the five white eggs were still together and intact” (p. 269). What do you think these images symbolize about the status of the Nichols family at different points in the novel?

8. The setting of a story--when and where it takes place--can establish its atmosphere, or mood. Where does this story take place? During what season? Mick observes, “The air was warm sometimes, but you couldn’t trust it ” (p. 7). How does this climate foreshadow, or hint at, the situation Mick is about to find himself in? How are the lines “Everything looked green--the trees, the yard, the valley and hillside beyond--everything” (p. 272), indicative of Mick’s new situation? Do the authors use the weather to set the mood in other parts of the story?

9. Do you think Maurice is racist or prejudiced? Why or why not? What are some of the characteristics that make the reader and characters dislike him? Describe Janice’s feelings for Maurice. Do they change when she looks into the orange juice container? Eventually, Lisa decides Maurice is not a total “sleazeball” (p. 273). Why does she come to this conclusion? Do you have sympathy for Maurice? Why or why not?

10. Lisa and Janice are best friends, but they don’t spend much time together as the book progresses. How do their differences become clearer? What kinds of choices do each of them make? Have any of your friendships ever taken similar turns? What do you think will happen to their relationship? Is Lisa a good friend? If not to Janice, then to whom? At the end of the novel, after Elder Keesler departs, Lisa visits Home Park Gardens “one last time” (p. 265). What does she see? How is this view different from what she used to see? What do you think this means?

11. Many of the characters in the book are different on the inside than they appear to be on the outside. Myra calls this phenomenon the “face behind the face behind the face” (p. 120). How do Nora and Myra fit this category? What does Mick expect from Nora and how is he surprised by her behavior? What does Mick assume Myra will be like and how does she surprise him? Does Mr. Cruso fit Mick’s assumptions? Nora says, “Adults are like everybody else, Mick. Usually they do what they’re supposed to do. Sometimes they don’t” (p. 255). What does this teach Mick about himself and other people?

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