No Purchase Necessary, Maria Marianayagam
No Purchase Necessary, Maria Marianayagam
List: $23.99 | Sale: $16.79
Club: $11.99

No Purchase Necessary

Author: Maria Marianayagam

Narrator: Rama Krishna Vallury

Unabridged: 5 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 01/14/2025

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

The wannabe-cool, Tamil-nerd vibes of Never Have I Ever meet the hidden life of Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim in this funny, poignant coming-of-age middle grade debut from Maria Marianayagam. A Sri Lankan boy’s life spirals out of control when he wins a prize in a stolen candy bar, pushing him to navigate his identity amid his ever-watchful family.Ajay Anthonipillai has a million-dollar problem. Ajay has lived his life dutifully following the rules set by his Tamil parents.Rule #3: Straight As onlyRule #5: There is no such thing as a no-homework day.Rule #10: Never watch scary movies.However, moving to a new school gives Ajay a new rule to follow: Get on seventh-grade all-star Jacob Underson’s good side.When Jacob asks him to steal a Mercury bar from Scary Al’s convenience store, Ajay feels this is his chance to finally “get cool” and stop eating alone. But Jacob rejects the stolen chocolate bar, leaving Ajay to unwrap it and discover that it contains Mercury’s Twenty-fifth Anniversary Grand Prize…one million dollars.Faced with an extreme dilemma, Ajay will have to bear the weight of his actions and battle his morality in deciding whether to claim the prize that may change the life of his family forever.Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

About Maria Marianayagam

Maria Marianayagam is a Tamil Sri Lankan Canadian children’s book author, engineer, and wannabe-cool nerd. She was born in India and grew up across Canada. Maria fell in love with children’s books (again!) after becoming an amma and now enjoys writing stories that draw on her identities and their intersections. When Maria is not writing, she can be found traveling the world, devouring books, and spending time with her wonderful family. She resides in Alberta, Canada, with her husband and two daughters. Find out more at marianayagam.com and follow her on Instagram @msmarianayagam.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bookishrealm on January 28, 2025

No Purchase Necessary was one of my most anticipated releases of 2025 and it did not disappoint. Marianayagam created a wonderful character in Ajay that I think middle grade readers will connect to. CW: bullying, racism What Worked: I could be wrong, but this might be my first time reading a middle g......more

Goodreads review by Srivalli on January 06, 2025

3.5 Stars One Liner: More like a children’s book for adults Ajay Anthonipillai has followed the rules all his life. However, his desire to make friends with Jacob, the famous kid in school leads him to steal and lie. Worse, the Mercury chocolate bar he stole is special. It has the Twenty-fifth Anni......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie on November 06, 2024

No Purchase Necessary by Maria Marianayagam is a riveting middle grade novel that had me compulsively turning the pages to find out what happened next. It's about a Sri Lankan boy’s life that spirals out of control when he wins a prize in a stolen candy bar, pushing him to navigate his identity amid......more

Goodreads review by DaNae on March 09, 2025

The first part of this story had my eyeballs rolling out of my head. I swear I’ve read dozens of books recently that began the same way. Nice immigrant kid picked-on by jerky entitled, rich white kid. (Whom we will have empathy for by the end of the book) Bully entraps them into doing someone unethi......more

Goodreads review by Shifa on March 24, 2025

Loved this fast paced book and the audio is so fun too🩷🩷🩷......more