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Ivy vs. Dogg: With A Cast Of Thousands!

by Brian Leung

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Teenage Ivy Simmons shocks her small town by daring to challenge hometown boy-hero, Jimmy Doggins, in a showdown election for the title of Junior Mr. Mayor. Does anyone win?

Teenage Ivy Simmons has a longstanding rivalry with Jimmy, “Dogg,” Doggins, high school tennis star, and hometown hero. Their sparring comes to a head when the town of Mudlick’s annual Jr. Mr. Mayor election is announced and Ivy becomes the first female ever to run. Mudlick’s busybody leaders, known as “the committee” do not approve, especially when Ivy reveals that she is pregnant. Displeased with the public debate over what Ivy should do about her unborn child, reclusive matriarch, Abigail Colton, displays a lifelike topiary girl on her front lawn, enchanting all of Mudlick to the point where they fear for the life of this “girl” when Colton also rolls out a topiary of a giant squid. Between this and the election, emotions run high, squeezing Ivy and Dogg from all sides and forcing them to make the most adult decision of their lives.

HYPE

“Like Tom Perrotta’s Election except told by a “committee” of over-invested small-town biddies, Brian Leung’s sharp-eyed novel is satire of suburban politics and helicopter parenting, lampooning the rules we follow to keep people in their place. As two fiesty, tender-hearted teenagers compete for the title of “Junior Mr. Mayor” — and defy everyone’s expectations, including your own — their delightfully star-crossed campaigns reveal to us the fault lines in community and the courage it takes to be both candidate and human being.”

–Austin Bunn, author of The Brink and the film Kill Your Darlings

“Leung invents, in Mudlick, an American small town that is weird all over, yet filled with characters both human and humane. The absurd collides with the quotidian. And a fabulous chaos ensues. We couldn’t ask for a better tour guide here. Just watch out for the giant squid.”

–Adam McOmber, author of My House Gathers Desires, The White Forest and This New & Poisonous Air

Ivy vs. Dogg roasts American sanctimony on a spit. Through The Committee in the town of Mudlick, Brian Leung turns a hilarious, satirical eye at the confluence of who we truly are and how we wish to be seen. When two young people challenge the nostalgic delirium that the town is under, each character is left to face new truths that are at the same time comical and tragic, political and deeply personal. This novel brings essential news about the conflicted, misguided, well-meaning heart of America, and right when we need it most.”

–Teres Mailhot, author of Heart Berries