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CUT
by Patricia McCormick

CUT by Patricia McCormick

An astonishing novel about pain, release, and recovery from two-time National Book Award finalist, Patricia McCormick. Originally published in 2000, CUT remains as timely and powerful as ever, and Scholastic is now re-releasing it for today's teens.

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...

Praise for CUT

"This novel, like Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, sympathetically and authentically renders the difficulties of giving voice to a very real sense of harm and powerlessness. Refusing to sensationalize her subject matter, McCormick steers past the confines of the problem-novel genre with her persuasive view of the teenage experience." - Publishers Weekly, starred review

"McCormick tackles a side of mental illness that is rarely seen in young-adult literature in a believable and sensitive manner…A thoughtful look at teenage mental illness and recovery." - Kirkus, starred review

"Callie's first-person account of her stay at Sea Pines, a mental-health facility, is poignant and compelling reading." - School Library Journal, starred review

"A vivid and inspiring first novel…Cut is deft and fascinating—part psychological mystery story (what's eating Callie?) and part adolescent drama (will her friends help her get better?)" - The New York Times Book Review

"Cut, a debut novel by Patricia McCormick, is one of the best young-adult novels in years...Riveting and hopeful, sweet, heartbreaking." - The Boston Globe

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.