--- description: Find out why We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry is on TIME's list of the must-read books from this year. title: 'We Ride Upon Sticks' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7c56179b59cb9a9/698a1412db29874ca426600d/best-books-2020-We-Ride-Upon-Sticks.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 09, 2020 # We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  In Quan Barry’s delightful, [pop culture-packed novel](https://time.com/5791625/best-books-march-2020/ "undefined"), the 1989 Danvers High School field-hockey team is willing to do whatever it takes to play in the state finals. Danvers, a quaint town in Massachusetts, is known for its ties to the 1692 witchcraft trials, and the field-hockey squad decides to consult some dark magic in order to start winning games. Their powers may or may not come from a special pledge made to a notebook with Emilio Estevez’s face on the cover. If the plot sounds zany, that’s because it is, but Barry pulls it off through her sharp attention to detail, filling _We Ride Upon Sticks_ with plenty of ‘80s references and teenage angst. In revealing the team members’ individual histories, the book becomes more than just a story of field hockey and witchcraft—it’s an energetic and original examination of young people wrestling with all the complicated parts of growing up. **Buy Now:** _We Ride Upon Sticks_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781524748098 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1524748099/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time-books-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1524748099&linkId=86f9a7e7a308715afefea5df50ee868c "undefined") These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904262/we-ride-upon-sticks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904262/we-ride-upon-sticks/"},"headline":"'We Ride Upon Sticks' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020","datePublished":"2020-11-09T20:07:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:44:22.913Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904262/we-ride-upon-sticks/","keywords":["E-Commerce","Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7c56179b59cb9a9/698a1412db29874ca426600d/best-books-2020-We-Ride-Upon-Sticks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7c56179b59cb9a9/698a1412db29874ca426600d/best-books-2020-We-Ride-Upon-Sticks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904262/we-ride-upon-sticks/","name":"'We Ride Upon Sticks' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020"}}]}] ```