Boy Proof

What happens when an antisocial cinephile meets up with the worldly new guy at school — a quick-witted artist who's savvy enough to see through her sci-fi disguise?

Meet Egg. Her real name is Victoria Jurgen, but she's renamed herself after the kick-ass heroine of her favorite sci-fi movie, TERMINAL EARTH. Like her namesake, Egg dresses all in white, colors her eyebrows, and shaves her head. She always knows the right answers, she's always in control, and she's far too busy — taking photos for the school paper, meeting with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Club, and hanging out at the "creature shop" with her dad, the special-effects makeup wizard — to be bothered with friends, much less members of the opposite sex. As far as Egg is concerned, she's boy proof, and she likes it that way. But then Egg meets a boy named Max, a boy who's smart and funny and creative and cool . . . and happens to like Egg. Could this be the end of the world — at least as Egg knows it?

Cecil Castellucci grew up in New York City. She is a writer, a filmmaker, an actress, and a singer-songwriter, and engages in many other creative pursuits. She is also an avid science fiction fan: as a testament to her devotion, she lived for six weeks on Hollywood Boulevard, waiting for the opening of STAR WARS: EPISODE ONE. "Sci-fi fandom is always given such a bad rap," she says. "I'm a card-carrying geek and proud of it." Currently, Cecil Castellucci lives in Los Angeles, in the "belly of the beast" known as Hollywood. This is her first book with Candlewick Press.