Everything you need to understand or teach Ace Hits the Big Time by Barbara Beasley Murphy and Judie Wolkoff.
Delacorte Press published Murphy and Wolkoff's novel, Ace Hits the Big Time, in 1981. It recounts the adventures of Horace "Ace" Hobart, a sixteen-year-old boy, as he moves with his family from Guttenberg, New Jersey, to Manhattan, New York, so that his father will not have to "sweat the traffic anymore." On his first day of school, Ace meets the Purple Falcons, the toughest gang in Kennedy High. How Horace greets the Falcons, meets the most beautiful girl he has ever known, and becomes a star propels readers through this lively comedy.