The Assassin's Guide to Babysitting
243 pages · Released Jan 7, 2025 · Candlewick Press
Content report card
The Assassin's Guide to Babysitting parent’s guide: what’s inside
Substance use
What it offers
Educational value
A note for parents
This YA thriller balances action-driven plot with genuine character development and found-family themes. Violence includes combat and assassination contexts, but is not graphically depicted; the emotional weight of parental murder and identity struggles carries more narrative weight than gore. The story explores trust, belonging, and self-acceptance through Tru's relationships and her journey from hiding to owning her identity. While engaging for older teens who enjoy suspense, the mature themes of assassination work and parental loss, plus some language and mild romantic tension, place it firmly in the YA/older teen range.
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From the publisher
This riveting, superpowered adventure unveils a shadow world of Talented bounty hunters—and plumbs the nature of identity, deadly secrets, and found family. Tru has been hiding all her life. Her parents taught her to conceal her bastion Talent: indestructible skin, muscles, and bones. In a world where Talents are commo... This riveting, superpowered adventure unveils a shadow world of Talented bounty hunters—and plumbs the nature of identity, deadly secrets, and found family. Tru has been hiding all her life. Her parents taught her to conceal her bastion Talent: indestructible skin, muscles, and bones. In a world where Talents are common and varied, no one trusts a bastion—they’re too powerful. Hiding failed to keep Tru’s parents alive, but moments before their murder, Tru’s mom pointed her to Logan Dire, a famed recluse assassin who adopted and trained orphaned Tru. At seventeen, she’s still hiding. Not even her closest friends know her true name or Talent, or that she’s balancing high school with knife and stealth training (while crushing on her BFF’s older sister). When assassins interrupt a mundane babysitting job booked through BountyApp—where lethal hunters find work and babysitters for their kids—Tru flees with a one-year-old strapped to her chest and spiraling questions: Who killed her parents? Whom can she trust? What does it mean to be a bastion? And is it ever OK to kiss a girl who’s trying to hunt you down? From an award-winning author comes a masterfully plotted thriller that holds character and relationship on a par with action and nail-biting suspense.
Shelved under
- Young Adult Fiction
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ISBN 9781536240238 · Candlewick Press