Jay is the author of Thirteen Reasons Why (Razorbill/Penguin, Fall 2007)
Links:
Biography:
The first YA novel Jay ever read was Stotan! by Chris Crutcher. Years later, when his YA manuscript, Thirteen Reasons Why, won SmartWriters.com’s W-I-N competition, guess who judged the YA category. Chris Crutcher! “This is a wonderful idea,” Crutcher said in the judge’s notes. “It sets us up in the beginning with mystery, yet promises to be a book with great insights into relationships [and] friendships…” The same manuscript also won a Work-In-Progress Grant from the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators. The novel sold at auction to Razorbill/Penguin with a two-book contract.
Jay began Thirteen Reasons Why in Wyoming while working simultaneously as an assistant children’s librarian and a bookseller at an independent bookstore. He continued working on the manuscript after moving back to California’s central coast where he found jobs at a chain bookstore, a discount bookstore, and…finally!…back in the public library system. While he works on his second novel for teens, he hopes to sell at least one of the many picture books or humorous middle grade novels he’s written.
Book: Thirteen Reasons Why
The rules are pretty simple. There are only two. Rule number one: You listen. Number two: You pass it on. Hopefully, neither one will be easy for you. (from Cassette 1: Side A)
Hannah Baker records the defining moments of the past few years of her life onto seven audiotapes. Thirteen stories involving several people at her school. She packs the tapes into a shoebox and mails them to the first person on the list. Then, she goes home to kill herself.
Two weeks later, Clay Jensen comes home from school to find a box with no return address leaning against his front door. Inside are seven audiotapes, their sides labeled 1 through 13 in blue nail polish. He has no idea what’s on the tapes, which is kind of exciting…until he presses PLAY.
With Hannah’s voice as his narrator, Clay spends the rest of the night wandering through town, visiting places mentioned on the tapes, unearthing the thirteen reasons why Hannah chose to kill herself.
And one reason belongs to him.
Reviews:
“Very clever premise, strong voice, perfect suspense. This one will keep you reading. Jay Asher is a fine storyteller.”
— Chris Crutcher
“A spectacular first novel. Jay Asher tells his story with such honesty and simplicity that the tragedy feels shatteringly real.” — Gordon Korman
Thirteen Reasons Why