The Gospel According to Larry

After creating a controversial and hugely popular Web site, teenager Josh Swensen becomes trapped inside his brilliant creation and must find a way to remain anonymous.

Homicide, suicide, genocide: these are words you can find in the newspaper every day. But pseudocide . . . now here was something different. My mind wanders from my homework to the blue cotton threads of my bedspread. Pseudocide. A way to start again as someone completely new, a way to burn the old self and try on a new one.

Josh Swensen isn't your average teenager — when he observes America, he sees a powerhouse of consumerism and waste. He's even tried to do something about it, with his controversial start-up Web site. But when Josh rises to messiah status in the Internet world, he discovers that greed and superficiality are not easily escaped. Trapped inside his own creation, Josh feels his only way out is to stage his death and be free of his Internet alter ego, "Larry." But this plan comes with danger, and soon Josh finds himself cut off from the world, with no one to turn to for help. In this suspenseful young adult novel, Janet Tashjian has written a probing tour de force.

Author Biography: Janet Tashjian has been hailed in reviews as having her finger on the adolescent pulse. She is the author of Multiple Choice; Marty Frye, Private Eye; and Tru Confessions, which was named a New York Public Library Best Book for the Teenage. Ms. Tashjian lives in Needham, Massachusetts, with her family.