Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: QUAGMIRE TIARELLO COULDN’T BE BETTER by Mylisa Larsen
Introduction by Heavy Medal Award Committee Member Janeé Jackson-Doering

Everyone at the middle school knows Quagmire. He’s the snarky, soon to be high school freshman who’s a whiz with the sound board after taking over the middle school’s sound booth during their Jazz Lab protest concert. He’s looking forward to summer and not facing questions from Principal Deming. He’d like to get to know his classmate (and crush) Cassie Byzinski better – so much so that he lied by telling her that he’s a “birder” (pg. 9) and agreeing to go to Art Camp with her.
What Cassie doesn’t know is that Quagmire’s mom, Moira, suffers from a mental illness. Moira is unstable. Her “spells” leave Quagmire to fend for himself for days. It also leads him to grow up faster than his peers. During this recent “spell,” Moira vandalizes the library and removes her neighbor’s flowers.
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“What are you supposed to do when your mom chops down all the flowers within five blocks, dumps them on your kitchen floor, and then disappears? Did not go over that one in health class last year. Probably “talk to a trusted adult.” (pg.54).
Soon, Quagmire realizes that he needs a trusted adult after Moira drives him from upstate New York and abandons him along the highway. Quagmire finds in Moira’s purse a lifeline: the contact information to Moira’s brother Jay – the uncle Quagmire has never met.
In QUAGMIRE TIARELLO COULDN’T BE BETTER by Mylisa Larsen, Quagmire thought he knew who he was:
“He is someone who gets up every Saturday and logs into his mom’s bank account and pays the bills, so they’ll get paid…He is someone who for fourteen years has kept his mom safe and then couldn’t keep her safe anymore.” (pg. 185).
Larsen’s delineation of characters and plot make this book a worthy candidate for Mock Newbery. Quagmire is a teen who’s just trying to do the right thing and keep the status quo. He’s fiercely independent, smart and snarky – and teens can relate to him. From helping Uncle Jay take care of animals on the farm in Nebraska, to learning how to drive a truck – Quagmire learns to recalibrate his formidable survival skills to build a new life – as a teen. I could feel Quagmire’s anger and tears when he punches his arm in the barn after learning his mother won’t get better (pg. 192).
Interspersed with Quagmire’s quirky research about birds and audio files from his phone for the Art Camp’s radio play; this book tackles themes of growing up, anger, first love, mental illness and anxiety through wry humor.
For those reasons, QUAGMIRE TIARELLO COULDN’T BE BETTER deserves to be on the Mock Newbery list.
And Fun Fact: Quagmire first appeared in Mylisa Larsen’s previous book, Playing Through the Turnaround.
Heavy Medal Award Committee members and others are now invited to discuss this book further in the Comments section below. Let the Mock Newbery discussion begin!
Filed under: Book Discussion, Heavy Medal Mock

About Steven Engelfried
Steven Engelfried retired from full-time library work a couple years ago and now works as a part-time Youth Librarian at the West Linn Public Library in Oregon. He served on the 2010 Newbery committee, chaired the 2013 Newbery Committee, and also served on the 2002 Caldecott committee. You can reach him at sengelfried@yahoo.com.
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One thing I appreciated about QUAGMIRE was the narrative voice. It’s third person, present tense, but clearly we’re inside of Quag’s head. We get his sarcasm that’s always there on the surface, but also go a level deeper and see that he’s someone who really thinks about stuff and cares deeply. Like this passage, where he’s watching Rhia, who kind of annoys him, play baseball:
“And because Quag is mad at her for that hand-on-the-head crap, he hopes she’ll choke, hopes she strikes out, that she has to walk back to the dugout a little smaller. But part of him isnot surprised when she steps into a pitch, lifts it cleanly over the infield, and rips it into a seam between the outfielders. Part of him can’t help watching her run. She runs like you would imagine someone would run if they planned on saving the world. Part of him is not surprised at all when she doesn’t even hesitate at second, though the outfielders have gotten themselves sorted out by then. And when she makes it safe to third by sliding hard and fast under the tag, all he feels is respect. Because Quagmire Tiarello is someone who understands what nerve looks like and gives credit where it’s due.” (67-68)
That sarcastic/caring dynamic is still there in the second half, but it gets more impactful in that new situation, where he’s living somewhere different and his mother is really gone and his future is so unknown. By the end, we don’t get the snarky comments as much, but he still seems like the same kid. Maggie asks him a personal question about his mom, and instead of being angry or funny or changing the subject, he’s more straight:
“’How are you doing with all this stuff with your mom?,’ she asks. ‘You gonna be okay?’
“Quag lets the question sit for a minute. ‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘I think so. Eventually.’ Because that’s the real answer. That’s the answer you would give a friend….(214)
The author never really tells us how Quag has grown and changed, but she shows it in his words and actions….excellent character development.
I agree with you Steven! Where QUAGMIRE really shined was in the characterization of Quag. He was so dang funny and acerbic without being too mean or cutting. I loved all the bird asides and thought this had some of the strongest narration out of the entire HMAC list. He also does grow a lot and come into his own as a character!
Development of a Plot –
One of the pleasures of reading a physical book is the visceral sense of knowing how far you are from the finish. Sometimes though, as the remaining pages become a tiny pinch, one worries about how the book can end. Sometimes, as in MAX, it’s because you didn’t realize there was going to be a sequel. In QUAGMIRE, the book’s climax, when Quag steals Jay’s keys and credit card to spring his mom from the hospital, occurs on page 207. And there are only a pinch of remaining pages (less than 20). Already disoriented by the book’s unusual pacing (though loving it), I started to worry.
Some things end too many times like the movie version of The Return of the King. An example from children’s literature is Timberlake’s One Came Home, a 2014 Newbery Honor and a very fine book, which I felt ended three separate times to its detriment. QUAGMIRE, in its last 11 or so pages has six endings, and it’s not weakness; it feels like authorial magic that each ending satisfies, but the next feels even better.
The first ending is the last paragraph of page 215, when Quag Doordashes doughnuts to ArtCamp. It’s a callback to Quag’s last interaction with Cassie before getting into his mom’s car on p. 85. Cassie gives him a twenty to buy doughnuts, and, despite all that happens, Quag has kept that $20. The first sentence of this paragraph reflects Quag’s new understanding with Jay, “Quag wants to use the credit card again, but he asks this time.” For those who haven’t read Playing Through the Turnaround, this is doubly nice, because, in an event referenced on page 20, Quag had stolen a teacher’s keys, and even after returning them, gets kicked out of drama crew. Page 215’s ending, “because you never know, maybe Mikey likes that kind,” would have worked for me as the book’s last sentence. There could be an author’s note and/or acknowledgments in that small pinch of pages left.
But then, p. 218-19 is an even better ending. In a comment in the COLOR OF SOUND discussion, I already mentioned flying as symbolically significant to Quag’s understanding of his mother. Here, Quag retraces his journey and imagines flying back to Cassie. These pages are completely in the subjunctive, ending with incantatory sentences all constructed the same way, “They’d walk along the creek, under the green leaves of the birches. They’d stand elbow to elbow on the old stone bridge and watch the blossoms from a redbud float past. They’d walk back to Cassie’s house and sit on the porch steps until Aunt Becca called Cassie in.” This section ends with the setting sun and would also have been a dynamite, if rueful finish.
But then p. 220, back in the real world: “For a long time he looks at the last impossible text shouting, ‘TALK TO ME QUAG’ at him from the screen. And then he calls Cassie. And he talks to her,” would also have been a fine ending reminiscent of Kelly’s Medal-winning Hello, Universe. And the facing page 221 could work as an epilogue. I had been super-dense and hadn’t realized the point of the “Audio Files”. Unlike Steven, I didn’t really care for them when they popped up, especially as late as page 216 when I was already panicked about how few pages were left. But it was all in the service of this page which is even better closure than doughnuts.
But there are still a few pages left. Whereas on page 1, Quag thinks, “he might wander down the street where Cassie Byzinski lived, in case she was out on her porch or something,” on page 222-223, it is Quag standing on the porch steps and Cassie “getting out of a dusty red car and walking toward him.” There are sentences here that parallel the ones on p. 219, but emphatically not in the subjunctive, “They walk down through the sweet grass, listening to it whisper secrets. They sit shoulder to shoulder on the bank of the creek for a long time just hearing the songs of the grass and the water braid together.” The chapter ends focused on a car getting smaller and smaller until it disappears.
But the actual, actual ending takes a viewpoint that enlarges to the whole “big and wild” world. I hadn’t understood the purpose of the bird interludes either. Like the audio files, I wasn’t sure there was a point to them. I’d read countless other books where similar devices only serve to dish up interesting facts to the young reader. They started innocently and logically enough on page 12 in the guise of Quag’s research to back up his birder claim. Eventually, I came to appreciate the metaphorical function of these sections and also came to think of them as an homage to Gary Schmidt. But unlike the audio files, I couldn’t see a direct plot purpose for them. But then the viewpoint collapses back to the porch where Uncle Jay and Aunt Becca and Cassie and Quag sit together. And Cassie’s throwaway line from p. 10, “My Aunt Becca is a birder,” ends up gifting a possible, bright future to our characters.
These notes probably feel longer than the few pages they examine. But at every turn, this book shows this precision and mastery of construction: an obviously unusual and risky construction at that. (I am super-intrigued by the acknowledgment mentioning “the question of structure.”) Steven has already done a superb analysis of this book’s strength in Setting in another post and talks about Character here. Really the same could be done for any of the Criteria. At least from my admittedly somewhat traditional standpoint, I feel this book is miles ahead of most of its competitors.
PREACH!!!
I loved the multiple endings as well. And everything about this book. Thanks for putting it into words and a strong argument for this book’s brilliance!
QUAGMIRE TIARELLO COULDN’T BE BETTER was both heartbreaking and heartwarming all rolled into one great book. I couldn’t put it down. I loved all the snark and bird facts. Quag felt like a fully realized teen and probably had the best inner monologue and one-liners as Steven pointed out above.
I think where this book fell short for me was the pacing. I was completely okay for the entire novel to shift to a small town, trust building exercise between Quag and his uncle, but I felt like the ending was stilted and wrapped up so quickly. Quag’s mom felt like a non-entity. It was hard to see why he had loyalty to her when she barely makes an appearance and he clearly has a good understanding of what’s going on even if he doesn’t have a clear word for it. It felt weird to me to spend all the time on the theater club and that world for the only resolution with that group of friends was to send them some donuts. I thought the resolution with Cassie was much better, bringing the birds back around and the hope for the future. But it felt like a novel that didn’t know what it wanted to be. Maybe this was a problem of the author not wanting to let go of the characters from a previous book, but didn’t really have a good way to fuse the plot of QUAG with the characters of PLAYING THROUGH THE TURNAROUND?
I know we haven’t gotten to THE TENTH MISTAKE OF HANK HOOPERMAN yet, but I felt like it did a better job of wrapping up the plot and the wreckage of a parent leaving. So if we had to vote for the top 5, I’d choose HANK over QUAG. Sorry QUAG!
I defended the portrayal of Quag’s mom elsewhere, where no one would think to look for it, so here’s that: https://heavymedal.slj.com/2024/12/31/heavy-medal-mock-newbery-finalist-the-color-of-sound-by-emily-barth-isler/#comment-33548
And I explained my preference for Quag’s ending over Hank’s (and Max’s) in the conversation here:
https://heavymedal.slj.com/2024/11/18/battle-of-the-books-compare-two-newbery-2025-contenders/#comment-29565
Just want to clarify that Quag and Cassie are the only kids from Playing Through the Turnaround that appear in this book (the absence of the others because of summer camps and travel is briefly mentioned) so I don’t think that explains the book. I completely get that the book’s proportions are going to be the make-or-break issue for most people–that’s why I called it “risky” above–but to my way of reading it’s completely intentional.
Oh okay! I assumed the other kids in the group were also from the previous novel. Thanks for the clarification.
Yeah, I guess your “risky” is my “didn’t work for me” but I definitely feel like this is a strong book. The language in it is beautiful.
I can’t think of anything to say about this book, given that it’s one of my least favored on the list, except to echo that I vastly preferred HANK HOOPERMAN in all areas, and they are so much a part of the same “terrible parent / resilient kid” bundle I consumed this year.
So many “terrible parent / resilient kid” books! I was surprised that AND THEN, BOOM! didn’t make this list as well as THE WRONG WAY HOME. I thought both of them were better than QUAGMIRE although I don’t know if both are better than HANK HOOPERMAN.
It is so interesting to me how similar Quagmire is to Hank. Lauren noted above that she feels that Hank wraps up the plot better and yet I feel Quagmire flows better overall and has better sentence level writing. There are such great descriptions of the setting from the very beginning with the rain and the duck. The scene on page 8 and 9 of him getting caught by Cassie while adjusting the camera was so painfully awkward and perfect. When Quagmire gets Cassie to smile on pg 80 after she has been mad at him – the description is so full of teenage crush. He thinks “It feels good to have done that to a face.” Another great description is of the dog on pg.129. “Like someone made a dog joke from what was left in the bottom of a scrap bin.”
I think one of the most powerful sections for me was on page 185 as he ponders the question of who he is.
“He is someone who has waged was with every stupid teacher, every jerk kid, and every inane assignment since he was seven , just to have something solid to fight against while this shadowy thing he couldn’t fight loomed in the corners of his apartment, pushed against the edges of his mom’s mind.” I work with kids like this every day – fighting what they can, getting power in any way they can even if it doesn’t make sense.
I really liked the different bird sections. At first they seemed random but they really did relate to the plot. I thought the one about cowbirds on pg 195.
I have other examples of the language and analogies throughout the book but I’ll stop for now. I will note that I had no idea that there was a book before this and this book really held its own without having to read that one. I may have to grab it at some point but 2025 books are coming soon so we’ll see. ;0
Julie- I will totoally cede that QUAGMIRE had better writing. You’re 100% right that the “language and analogies” were much better crafted in QUAGMIRE.
I can’t wait to debate these two with everyone because I think it’s clear from the discussion that QUAGMIRE and HANK are both well-loved but for completely different reasons.
I loved loved loved loved Quag and felt the book was genius in its humor and empathy. So many children have someone they love who has mental health issues and this book deals with these issues in a heartfelt realistic way. ALL ABOUT QUAG!!
I really struggled with this book. I do think that Quag was a great character, but I thought the portrayal of mental illness of his mother was poorly done. It felt like her mental struggles was used as a plot device, and partly because she was so underdeveloped. Anyone that struggles with mental illness or has a loved one with mental illness I hope knows that they are more than just a catalyst for someone else’s personal growth.
Valid point! Lauren said in an earlier comment that Quag’s mom feels like a non-entity, and I agree. She has such little agency. I will say that I could just feel Quag’s heartbreak on pgs. 187-188, when he admits that he knows what other people think of his mom, but that he wishes they also knew that she was funny, that she is “so alive” and that “She tries. People say that like it’s nothing. But it is everything. She tries so hard.” I do wish we could have seen more of her during these moments, and not just during the moments when her spins drive Quag’s plotline.
It figures I am out of town and brought MID-AIR and not QUAGMIRE. So I can’t quote and am working from memory. I can’t speak to the portrayal of mental illness, but I do think as a character in a novel, I did not feel Quag’s mom was underdeveloped. (I should confess as part of my being generally dense while reading this, that mental illness did not even occur to me until we see Jay reading about it very late in the book.)
The method of showing unspoken but real change that Steven illustrates with Quag above, I think we see when you compare Quag’s mom at, say, the first restaurant, where she is energetic, eager to try something new, sociable, taking selfies with strangers, but insensitive to boundaries vs. the far different, diminished, and haunted person that shows up at Jay’s and shows once and for all that their old way of life is no longer tenable. (Remember, Quag and his mom have managed for years, and the book takes pains to say what’s happening is not how things usually are.)
She is a vibrant presence in the book’s opening pages, waking Quag up, bringing him food, wanting to know the best thing about his school year, being very taken with the shaven heads story, but following Quag around too closely and talking non-stop. These few pages (because Larsen can seemingly accomplish anything in a few pages) are at least in my opinion strong characterization. In my other “Quag’s mom” post, I cite a page where Quag knows how people see his mom. I think we readers, because we see the effect on Quag, are inclined to see her the same way. But there are signs throughout the book that she is more than that and that Quag and Larsen want us to see her sympathetically. In a different kind of book, she’d be a classic manic, pixie dream girl — a would-be free spirit who shares rooftop sunrises and takes spontaneous road trips to try new foods. (Maybe that’s how Hank’s more straightfowardly villainous and selfish mom wants to be seen). It is not malice, or selfishness, or neglect, but physical injury, caused by Quag, and ensuing, blinding anger about her “small” life that leads to Quag’s sudden abandonment and a flight to somewhere he can no longer reach her but somewhere where she does eventually realize she lost him.
Wow, it is very clear to me that QUAG deserves further discussion. It seems to be the more polarizing book on our list! I, for one, loved this book. I can see why some of us compare it to and prefer HANK; put simply, we just spent more time with Hank and Boo and were invested in them getting a happy ending. But consider that one of the points of Quagmire’s character developments is that he must learn that unfortunately, he and his mom may not get a happy ending. If we spent a longer novel hoping for Hank and Boo to be adopted by Ray, we spent a very unsafe and uncertain roadtrip with Quag hoping for SOME lifeline for him.
Regarding Moira’s mental illness, I can see both points. I agree with Leonard, we do empathize with her and I think we are pretty clearly given to understand that she suffers from a mental illness. I don’t think she’s vilified at all, and I appreciate Leonard pointing out the instances where we do get to see the funny, lively mom that Quag knows and loves. I do think, however, that in the portion of the book that takes place before they drive to Nebraska, we spend the most time with Quag either alone or with art club. The most time we spend with her is when she’s already in one of her “spins” that leads them from the hot dog place all the way to Nebraska. The pacing felt a little off there for that reason.
That being said, though, I do think this is an absolutely superb book and I wanted to echo what everyone has said about how poetic it is on a sentence level. The way his friendship with Cassie comes full-circle with the mirror images of them on the porch at the beginning and end of the story. The way Quag gives Maggie “the answer you would give a friend” the way she confided in him when they first met. AND THE WAY HE WISHES HE WERE A BIRD JUST FLYING AWAY FROM HIS REALITY AFTER SPENDING A WHOLE BOOK GIVING US BIRD FACTS 🙁 Truly the mark of a talented writer.
QUAGMIRE TIARELLO COULDN’T BE BETTER was the last book I read on the HMAC list. I needed a little sunshine from CHERRY HILL first because, I came to the book “bad-mom” tired.
From one Q to another- loved the name! Bottom line is when Steven Englefried tags a book, I am curious to read it. I agree with him that that Mylisa Larsen’s outside observer, present tense narrative was unique and the language choices were advanced. QUAG’s challenges written through the 3rd person perspective created a sense of urgency and injustice that kept me engaged and the smart humor was excellent. The ending(s) so well puzzled together.
I also agree with Julie Williams on serval points. The bird facts were placed well through the novel and tied thematically into what was happening with QUAG. The theme in several top books this year are really similar. In Newbery discussion, is this going to be a show down between QUAG and THE TENTH MISTAKE OF HANK HOOPERMAN ? Could they cancel each other out? Or does one rise in the collective rubrics?
I am still juggling these two and may go in for one more re-read.
And thanks Janeé Jackson-Doering for the intro- superstar librarian!
Quade’s question about two books with similar themes canceling each other out is an interesting one. In discussion, does a book look stronger if it stands out among books that have common themes and content? Or is it easier for a book that does not have very direct comparisons? Looking at QUAGMIRE and HANK, as well as SHARK TEETH, AND THEN, BOOM!, and others, we’d be talking about how each writer deals with some of the same challenges. The mothers in QUAGMIRE and HANK, as discussed above, is one example.
The same could happen with other books this year. It’s easier to compare writing styles when we just look at the novels in verse, for example. Comparing the plots of MAX IN THE HOUSE OF SPIES and THE BLETCHLEY RIDDLE seems natural, since they’re both World War II spy novels. That kind of direct comparison can help a book stand out among the titles that it has most commonality with. It might be tempting to try to identify the one “struggling parent” novel and forget the rest, as well as the one spy novel or novel in verse. But of course, different committee members will rank them all differently.
In the end, I think it definitely makes sense to draw direct comparisons, and that will happen more often with books that share common themes or writing styles or plot content. Those comparisons could help a book stand out if it seems to do those same things even better than the others. Or it could detract from our view of the whole group, as we see that none of them does everything perfectly.
As usual, I fall back on the idea that every Committee is different, and we never know how discussions and comparisons will play out in each situation…