âWhen weâre born, weâre sentenced to, like, life. And some of usâIâd be a prime exampleâare made to do hard time."
So says Annie Ireland, sentenced to a life of trying to live up to her parentsâ never-ending expectations. For a long time the only person she can count on for unconditional support is her best friend, Arby, known to the horror and delight of many as âThe Roach Boy.â
And then Pantagruel Primo, Esquire, comes into Annieâs life, and just like that, she has another friend, this one ageless and with special powersâand not looking like himself (at all), at first.
Suddenly, as a result of a story she writes for English class, Annie and her friends find themselves sentenced to five days in the county jail and then to an indefinite stay at the Back to Basics Center, a wilderness school for âproblemâ kids.
After a series of comic misadventures they manage to escape its bizarre, unpleasant clutches, and Annie comes to realize sheâs unique and strong and lovable, and that it doesnât matter what some other people think.
Delightfully ridiculous (but also timely), part fantasy and part real life, Hard Time is a humorous, sophisticated tale about one girlâs struggle to be who she is rather than the person some adults keep wanting her to become.