Presenting Our Second Quarter Graduates
We have a wide variety for our readers: everything from tall tales to gay (ex) boyfriends, poetry, fantasy, drama, humor, sketchbooks, heartbreaks, friendships, and romance. The Class of 2k7 is excited to announce its latest batch of new releases:
April 10: Shark Girl, by Kelly Bingham
April 24: Bloom, by Elizabeth Scott
May 1: Beauty Shop For Rent, by Laura Bowers
May 1: Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel, by Ruth McNally Barshaw
May 1: Tips On Having A Gay (ex) Boyfriend, by Carrie Jones
May 8: Tall Tales, by Karen Day
May 10: Girl Overboard, by Aimee Ferris
May 10: Quad, by C.G. Watson
June 12: Wicked Lovely, by Melissa Marr
June 21: Into The Wild, by Sarah Beth Durst
June 26: Before, After, And Somebody In Between, by Jeannine Garsee
June 26: First Light, by Rebecca Stead
Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham - YA Poetry, April 10 - Candlewick
On a sunny summer day in June, fifteen-year old Jane Arrowood went for a swim in the waters off of a California beach. And then everything—absolutely everything—changed. Now she’s counting down the days until the returns to school with her fake arm and kids will whisper, “That’s her. That’s Shark Girl.”
But right now there are only questions. Why did this happen? Why her? What about her art? What about her life?
In this artful first novel, Kelly Bingham uses poems, letters, telephone conversations, and newspaper clippings to look unflinchingly at what it’s like to lose part of yourself and the courage it takes to find yourself again.
Kelly Bingham was a story artist and director for Walt Disney Feature Animation before receiving her MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College. She lives with her husband and their five children in Ellijay, Georgia. Please visit her website at www.kellybingham.net
Bloom by Elizabeth Scott - YA, April 24 - Simon Pulse
Okay, imagine you’re a seventeen-year old girl starting the second half of your junior year. Do you:
a. begin cramming for the SATs, make a list of colleges you want to attend, and start planning your senior year schedule accordingly?
b. hope you don’t get stuck taking a class you were supposed to take last year but put off?
c. plot ways to get the guy—you know, the perfect one that everyone wants?
or
d. hate anyone who would chose a. and then realize you’re stuck in the class you put off taking. And, oh yeah, the perfect guy? You’re stuck with him too.
If you’re Lauren Smith, d. isn’t just your answer — it’s your life.
Elizabeth Scott spends her days as a sword swallower and her nights fighting crime. Just kidding. She actually lives just outside Washington, D.C., with her husband, writes novels and tries to return her library books on time, and frankly, finds writing about herself in the third person rather strange.
Beauty Shop For Rent by Laura Bowers - YA, May 1 - Harcourt
Hypothetical question of the week - What would happen if you put together:
- An old-fashioned beauty shop no one has wanted to rent for years.
- Abbey Garner, a teenage girl with a fiery determination to be nothing like the mother who abandoned her.
- A cranky great-grandmother named Granny Po who just wants to retire. Sort of.
- Her raucous group of friends called The Gray Widows.
- A glamorous stylist who’s surprisingly interested in renting the shop and …
- The mother who could ruin it all?
You get Beauty Shop For Rent, a funny, touching novel about family—both the one we are born to and the one we create for ourselves:
Abbey has a plan: to earn a million dollars by the time she’s thirty-five. No way is she going to fall prey to the curse of unhappiness that plagues the women in her family. Determined to fulfill her dream, Abbey works at Granny Po’s struggling beauty shop, where the feisty Gray Widows go to primp, polish, perm … and, of course, gossip. There, among the hair dryers and curling rods—and with the help of a new friend—Abbey finds the courage to open her heart. But when her mother suddenly shows up with a wild scheme of her own, Abbey’s plans begin to fall apart.
Laura Bowers lives in Maryland with her husband, two boys, three horses and one rambunctious cattle dog. When she’s not writing, Laura spends her time reading, horseback riding or cheering for her kids at a baseball field or basketball court. She enjoys finding story inspiration from ordinary things, like a cluster of evergreens, a rarely-used dirt road, or a small headstone. Her first young adult novel, Beauty Shop For Rent, was inspired by a rusted sign that was posted in front of an old, but charming house. You can learn more about Laura and her book by visiting www.laurabowers.net.
Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel by Ruth McNally Barshaw - MG, May 1 - Bloomsbury US
One girl. One sketchbook. One week of camping with the world’s most annoying relatives! Ellie McDougal (better known to her friends as McDoodle) is being held prisoner … by her aunt, uncle, three annoying cousins, and baby brother, Ben-Ben. Sentenced to a camping trip with them while her parents are out of town, Ellie is absolutely, positively determined to hate every single minute of it. Thank goodness she at least has her sketch journal in which to record all of the excruciating (and, ahem, funny) details. But how will Ellie keep her journal from falling into Er-ick the Enemy’s hands? And what will happen if — inconceivable! — she actually starts having fun? Part graphic novel, part confessional journal, part wilderness survival guide, Ellie’s story is a treat for young campers, vacationers, or any kid looking to curl up with a great summer read.
Ruth McNally Barshaw, life-long writer and artist, has worked in the advertising field, illustrated for newspapers, and won numerous essay-writing contests. She lives in Lansing, Michigan, with her family. This is her first book for young readers; watch for the sequel in July, 2008. See her work at www.ruthexpress.com
Tips On Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend, by Carrie Jones - YA, May 1 - Flux/Llewellyn
Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend:
- Do not tell anyone.
- Do not call yourself a fag hag, as this is a derogatory term that conjures up Paris Hilton impersonators, Liza Minnelli, and far too much blue eye shadow plastered on a face that has been dried out from one too many highballs.
- Do not whine for over a week, but during that week explain profusely that a mere seven days is not a sufficient amount of time to overcome the reality that your whole entire identity has been stolen, that your faith in the world has shattered.
- Wonder why being a girlfriend was your identity. Listen to kick ass rocker girls who don’t give a crap about anything.
When Belle’s long-time boyfriend announces gay, she has no idea how to cope, or how to understand that her perceptions of people are not necessarily reality. So, she stumbles through, wishing somebody somewhere would be who she thinks they are. Although, she isn’t herself.
Winner of a Maine Literary Award, Martin Dibner Fellowship and multiple press awards, Carrie Jones has had a lot of gay boyfriends. Why?
- She has no idea.
- If you can figure it out please call her.
An ‘07 graduate of Vermont College’s MFA in Writing for Children program. Carrie’s facts include:
- Coffee makes her insane. Carrie is very responsive to loving strokes on the hair, kind of like a puppy. However, do not do this without asking first unless you are a ridiculously handsome man or an editor who is about to offer her a trillion dollars for the first draft of her novel.
- Carrie is secretly really, really shy even though she’s pathetically outgoing in person. She has a very hard time calling people. So, if you want to talk to her, make the first move. And, if you’re her in-Maine female best friend, Jennifer, do NOT get mad at her because she is so bad at returning emails.
- Carrie sometimes wears mismatched socks, if you do not think this is cool, do not tell her. You will hurt her feelings.
- Carrie really, really wants you to like her books. Please like her books. PLEEEAASSSEEEE. She’ll be your best friend forever. That is, if you want a friend who is shy about calling and emailing and who wears mismatched socks and can’t drink caffeine and likes being pet on the head. Hhmmm….
- Carrie is not above begging.
Tall Tales by Karen Day - MG, May 8 - Wendy Lamb Books/Random House
What do you do when you’re 12 and very thing you want is also what scares you the most? That’s what Meg Summers faces when she finally makes a best friend at her new school. Grace Bennett is smart, friendly and honest, and she and Meg become instant friends. Yet the closer they get, the more worried Meg becomes. She has a secret about her family that she doesn’t want anyone to know, especially Grace. And so she tells elaborate tall tales about her life and family to hide the painful truth.
But when the truth finally comes out, Meg learns a valuable lesson in being honest, standing up for what you believe in, and trusting the healing powers of friendship.
Karen Day’s favorite writer is Jane Austen and revisits her books frequently for inspiration and instruction. What she likes about Emma and Pride and Prejudice, for example, are the subtle looks between characters, the conversations they have or don’t have. On the surface not much seems to happen. But underneath there is a mountain of information about wants and hopes and fears and desires.
Karen has written for magazines and newspapers and taught writing at New York University. Tall Tales has evolved dramatically since it was first written as a short story 15 years ago. But the themes of isolation yet wanting to connect, love and letting go, disappointment and hope remain.
Girl Overboard by Aimee Ferris - YA, May 10 - Penguin
One if by land, two if by sea…
Swimsuit: check. Flip-flops: check. Scuba gear: check. Leaving behind a longtime boyfriend: not so easy. Marina has been waiting her whole life to get out on the open sea. And now that she’s studying abroad on a luxury yacht in the Caribbean, her dreams are finally coming true. She loves the feel of the sun on her face, the sand between her toes, and the island music swaying over her. And even better, she’s getting hands-on marine biology experience swimming alongside dolphins in the Bahamas, sharks in the Bay Islands, and sea turtles in the Dominican Republic! but while her experiences tell her she’s in exactly the right place, her boyfriend wants her home in Vermont. And her distractingly cute Aussie boatmate couldn’t disagree more. As the island heat rises, Marina must decide once and for all where her heart is—on land or at sea.
Aimee Ferris spent five sun soaked years in the Caribbean where she trained dolphins, swam with whale sharks, transplanted sea turtle eggs, did well over a thousand scuba dives…and only fell overboard once. She’s hung up her surf-shorts to live happily ever after in the Catskills.
Quad by C.G. Watson - YA, May 10 - Razorbill
When Ranger Ng realizes the truth about those pops he’s hearing, he and a group of kids barricade themselves inside the Muir High School student store. The question is: who is wandering through the quad with a gun? And why? Has Ranger’s best friend, Rufus, snapped after years of torment and decided to snuff out the hateful “steroid posse”? Is the steroid posse exacting revenge for the humiliating article about them that appeared in the school’s underground paper, the Metro? Is Theo making good on his end of a twisted scheme to bring down the elite of Muir High after his girlfriend, Maggie, reveals herself as the Metro creator? The complicated social structure of Muir High is so sharply divided that the shooter could, very nearly, be anyone.
Quad is an unflinching exploration of the subculture of high school that is both fraught with tension and rife with humor. The relationship between student groups is so instinctively rooted in hostility and isolation that tragedy seems a natural conclusion. Without being pedantic or preachy, Quad merely poses the question: how could something like this happen?
There was never a time when C.G. Watson was not writing. In grade school, she created her own magazines, blending a then-interest in clothing design (fashion to the peaceful) with anti-Vietnam-War sentiment. Alas, the concept never caught on.
In junior high and high school, she began cultivating her poetry and prose styles. Some of her best poetry was written during Algebra class, and some of her best prose was re-written by the teacher before going into the school literary anthology. Her flair for the poetic later dovetailed with another lifesaving hobby, held over from adolescence: music. Having taught herself guitar at the age of twelve, her poetry now had a soundtrack, and she soon became a performing songwriter—something she continued into her early thirties. She began writing Quad in 05 to alleviate the frustration of an especially difficult teaching year, watching as students interacted with each other in the cruelest ways imaginable. One of these days, she couldn’t help thinking, someone’s going to snap. The problem is, you never know who it will be….
C.G. Watson is a high school teacher from Northern California. She has an amazing husband, Tom, and two of the coolest kids on the planet.
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr - YA, June 12 - HarperCollins
In a world unseen by most mortals, the forces of Summer and Winter are At war. Two faery courts have been seeking the Summer Queen for more than Nine centuries—one to restore the power of Summer and one to banish it. One teenage girl with the rare ability to see the beauty and ferocity of These creatures has been chosen to face the ultimate trial. If she succeeds, The full force of Summer will be unleashed. If she fails, she will suffer The piercing cold of Winter. Either way, Aislinn’s normal life, her dreams of college, her new relationship with her best friend, her friends in the Pool halls and clubs—everything that made sense is at risk of vanishing since a Faery King started stalking her.
Melissa Marr is a former college lit teacher, photography dabbler, and tattoo aficionado. If you ask on a particularly vulnerable day, she’ll admit to believing in faeries (among other creatures). Wicked Lovely is the first of three novels that include trains, faeries, and body art. The second one, Ink Exchange, will release in 2008.
Into The Wild by Sarah Beth Durst - MG, June 21 - Razorbill
The Wild is a fairy-tale world — at least it was until the fairy-tale characters escaped — but lately it’s just a mass of hungry vines stuffed under Julie’s bed. Julie, her mom Rapunzel (yep, that Rapunzel — think long hair, tower, prince), and her brother Puss-in-Boots (okay, he’s a cat) do their best to keep it hidden and under control. But Julie’s sick of living with the Wild — it eats her jeans and sneakers whenever it wants! Junior high is tough enough, even with a normal family.
When someone makes a dangerous wish that sets the Wild free, it grows and grows and quickly begins to devour Julie’s entire Massachusetts town. The Wild is hungry, and this time it wants its characters back for good.
Julie must venture deep into the Wild and outsmart wicked witches, feisty giants, and super-cute princes in the ultimate quest to save her family. She fights her way to the heart of the fairy tale and discovers she must risk everything or lose her chance to live in the real world… and if Julie can’t find a way to defeat the happily-ever-after, she’ll never see her family again.
Sarah Beth Durst grew up in Northboro, MA, a town in central Massachusetts which (she claims) was temporarily transformed into a fairy tale kingdom for several days in 1986. These events later inspired her novel, Into the Wild, as well as her paralyzing fear of glass footwear.
Sarah has been writing fantasy stories since she was ten years old. She holds an English degree from Princeton University and currently resides in Stony Brook, NY, with her husband and daughter. Visit her online at: www.sarahbethdurst.com
Before, After, and Somebody In Between by Jeannine Garsee - YA, June 26 - Bloomsbury US
Fourteen-year-old Martha’s crazy, alcoholic mom has moved the two of them into a scummy neighborhood to be with her sleazy boyfriend. As if putting up this isn’t bad enough, Martha’s terrorized on a daily basis by a bully at her new school. Her dream of becoming a cellist is all that keeps her sane but even that goes up in smoke when her cello is stolen and her desperate attempt to replace it ends in tragedy. Then, unexpectedly given a chance to start from scratch, Martha hides her past, invents a brand new identity, and moves in with the normal family she’s always secretly longed for—only to find out that everyone has secrets, and sometimes those secrets can be more terrible than your own.
Jeannine Garsee, an RN in an inner city hospital, lives in Cleveland, Ohio with her husband and kids, and a psychotic cat named Max.
First Light by Rebecca Stead - MG, June 26 - Wendy Lamb Books/Random House
Peter is thrilled to join his parents on an expedition to Greenland, where his father studies global warming. Peter will get to skip school, drive a dogsled, and - finally - share in his dad’s adventures. But on the ice cap, Peter struggles to understand a series of visions that both frighten and entice him.
Thea has never seen the sun. Her extraordinary people, suspected of witchcraft and nearly driven to extinction, have retreated to a secret world they’ve built deep inside the arctic ice. As Thea dreams of a path to the Earth’s surface, Peter’s search for answers brings him ever closer to her hidden home.
Rebecca Stead has been writing stories since elementary school. Several years ago, she read a wonderful article about a scientist who studies climate change by camping in the arctic and watching birds every summer. Very shortly thereafter, her four-year-old son accidentally pushed her laptop off the dining-room table and the short stories she had worked on for years were gone. It felt impossible to try to recreate what she had lost, so she asked herself how she could take immediate joy from writing. She began to write First Light.
Rebecca plunged into her story, stopping now and then to research. She decided that her story took place on (and inside) the Greenland icecap, and suddenly she had a cast of sled dogs. She discovered that a glacier can conceal a freshwater lake. A glaciologist told her how to scare a polar bear with a flare gun, and why he loved his bread maker.
First Light also hints at other things she’s learned, such as the fact that children don’t need to be shielded from truth. They are often braver - and more understanding — than the rest of us.