Not Going To Plan (a Powerful Verse Novel From A Yoto Carnegie Shadowers' Choice Winner)

By (author) Fisher, Tia
Short description/annotation:

Marnie''s really messed up this time - expelled and forced to change schools, the only empty seat in Marnie''s new school is next to Zed, a nerd with zero tolerance for mistakes.

Description:

Marnie''s really messed up this time - expelled and forced to change schools, the only empty seat in Marnie''s new school is next to Zed, a nerd with zero tolerance for mistakes. Marnie (skilled at art and Spanish, struggles with numbers) can''t wait to lose her virginity. Zed (brilliant at maths and physics, loathes languages) is a loner who can''t stand being touched. They couldn''t be less alike, but they both need good grades in the subjects they hate.

What starts as a trade in tuition turns into an unlikely friendship - and after Marnie has sex with a boy who lies about using a condom, she needs Zed''s help to make the hardest decision of her life.

Review quote:
NOT GOING TO PLAN is a truly hilarious, moving and beautiful novel that captures teenagehood, its pressures and its complexities so perfectly; it''s such a vital story that I hope will spark much needed and long overdue conversations about agency, consent and our right to choose, and I absolutely adore Marnie and Zed; they will stay with me for a very long time.
Biographical note:

Tia Fisher writes books for the rebel inside her. She spent her youth desperate to escape the boredom of a tiny village in Norfolk, writing poems of love and rebellion and reading indiscriminately through the shelves of the local library.

After being expelled from boarding school and dropping out of university, Tia had a bewildering variety of jobs - from TV presenter to ESOL teacher to artists'' model - before finding her happy place working in libraries and writing stories. In her fifties she went back to university, and is now the proud owner of a master''s degree in writing for young people. She recently moved back to Norwich and now she loves it.

Tia''s debut teen verse novel, Crossing the Line, was the winner of the 2024 Yoto Carnegie Shadowers'' Choice Medal and the UKLA 11-14+ prize, and is in the 2024 Reading for Empathy collection. In 2026 Piccadilly Press will publish Tia''s debut middle-grade story, Operation Doodlebug, which is set in World War Two.

Tia''s website is at tiafisher.com. Tia''s socials can be found at linktr.ee/tiafisherwrites.

Promotional headline:
A powerful verse novel about sexual consent, unplanned pregnancy and the breaking of taboos.
Feature:
A powerful and timely verse novel tackling sexual assault and unplanned pregnancy.
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From the acclaimed and multiple prize-winning author of Crossing the Line
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Features the author''s trademark research as well as helpline links and supported by brook, the national sexual health and wellbeing charity
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The verse narrative and dual points of view give a rounded and accessible perspective
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For ages 14+