"An emotional and darkly comic examination of growth, love, secrets, and lies." - USA Today

The Miss America Family is co-chronicled by Pixie Kitchy -- who was Miss New Jersey 1970, her talent: the accordion -- and her sixteen-year-old son, Ezra. This is the summer when Pixie becomes dangerous and Ezra gets pegged for "deflowering" the podiatrist's daughter while trying to invent a list of Rules to Live By. An irreverent evocation of suburban dissolution. you might find a fictional world that closely resembles the emotional complexity and comedic dysfunction of your own. "Baggott's debut novel is a touching coming-of-age story ....[a] multi-layered, psychological tale... Appealingly quirky characters will charm readers." -Publishers Weekly "With her first two novels, Julianna Baggott has achieved a premier place among American writers." -Fred Chappell “An accomplished and charmingly messy tale of love and redemption.” -Kirkus Reviews “[C]ombines the indigenous dysfunction of Phillip Roth's American Pastoral with the uninhibited disclosure of Russell Banks's Rule of the Bone." Intelligencer Journal "This is a stunningly written novel, lyrical and undeniable and relentlessly insightful about the love hiding within the oddities of family life ... Smart, witty, and authentically touching, this is a story to be thankful for.” -Tom Coyne, author of A Gentleman’s Game The Miss America Family was published by Simon and Schuster’s Pocket Books/Washington Square Press in February 2002. Boston Globe’s Bestseller, The Miss America Family was also published overseas – Arrow/Random House in London, Nagel and Kimche, and Flammarion.