Vicious is My Middle Name
Age range 9 to 12
'...a must-read for anyone who has ever felt like a misfit and found solace in books and music.' —Jennifer Whiteford, author of Grrrl
With a partially-shaved head, purple Doc Marten boots, and the sinking realisation that no one in a fifty-mile radius has ever heard of her favourite all-female punk band Lite Brite, 13-year-old Sydney Vicious Talcott wants to be anywhere but her new home of Beaver Dam, NC, especially when mean girl Brittany Winters treats her like the punch-line to every joke. But just as life begins to seem more tolerable with her two new book-nerd friends and a growing appreciation for the beauty of the Appalachian mountains, Sydney discovers that a shady corporation is planning to build an environmentally-damaging asphalt plant right next to the school. Her attempts to work through the system to stop the plant’s construction fail, so it’s up to Sydney to fight the corporation and their political lackeys the only way she can, using the do-it-yourself tools she has learned from punk rock. But before she can triumph, Sydney, her family, and friends must endure bullying, harassment, immigration raids, and more.
Kevin Dunn plays in several bands, runs a small record label, publishes zines, and writes for Razorcake magazine. He also works at a small liberal arts college, where he teaches and publishes on a range of topics from African politics to international relations to global punk. He and his family split their time between Western New York state and Western North Carolina. Vicious is My Middle Name is his first novel.
