Summary

In “The Assignment,” 14-year-old Peak Marcello starts writing in a Moleskine journal his Greene Street School English teacher Vincent gave him. He introduces himself, explaining that he did not get to choose his strange name, or his parents. Vincent asked him to write a story about his life after he got in trouble recently. He is starting the assignment “in the back of a Toyota pickup in Tibet” (1). He studies the scenes out the window and considers Vincent’s writing advice.

In “The Hook,” Peak climbed the Woolworth Building in his hometown of Manhattan in March. At the top, Peak tagged the building with his signature mountain stencil. Then an NYPD helicopter appeared and arrested him for trespassing and vandalism.

In “A Couple of Stitches & the Slammer,” Peak was flooded by reporters when he got out of the Woolworth...