Presenting our Fourth Quarter Graduates
As always, we have a variety of texts for our readers—middle grade and young adult, fantasy and drama, tears and laughter, life and death. The Class of 2k7 would like to share our last batch of new releases:
October 1: Big Slick, by Eric Luper
October 9: Brendan Buckley’s Universe & Everything In It, by Sundee T. Frazier
October 9: Lessons from a Dead Girl, by Jo Knowles
October 13: Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
October 23: No Castles Here, by A.C.E. Bauer
October 31: The Penguins of Doom, by Greg R. Fishbone
November 1: Chess Rumble, by G. Neri
November: Don’t Get It Twisted, by Paula Chase Hyman
Big Slick, by Eric Luper
Farrar, Straus & Giroux—October 1—YA
All in all, sixteen-year-old Andrew Lang has been dealt a pretty good hand in life. Sure, he has to spend his afternoons slaving away in the hellhole that is his dad’s dry-cleaning business, but even that’s not so bad with Jasmine, the seriously hot Goth-chick senior, working right beside him. So what if she’s got a boyfriend? Plus, Andrew’s got an ace up his sleeve—he’s good at poker. Very good. Unfortunately, all it takes is one bad beat at Shushie’s illegal poker club to turn Andrew’s bankroll from huge to nonexistent. And Andrew’s pretty sure that sooner or later his dad’s going to notice that $600 he “borrowed” from the register. Andrew thinks he may know how to get the money back, but it’s a little bit crazy, and a little bit dangerous …
In this breakneck-paced novel about gambling and growing up, the stakes are high, and Andrew must ask himself: What does going all in really mean?
Eric Luper is an avid poker player who, among other things, once managed a dry-cleaning store. He lives in Albany, New York. Big Slick is his first novel.
Visit Eric Luper’s Class of 2k7 page and his website.
Brendan Buckley’s Universe & Everything In It, by Sundee T. Frazier
Delacorte Press/Random House—October 9—MG
Ten-year-old biracial Brendan Buckley is a scientist, budding rock hound, and Tae Kwon Do blue belt who keeps a notebook to record all of his big questions about “life, the universe, and everything in it.” For Brendan, no question is unimportant and nothing is too small to ask about. The one thing he knows not to ask about is the white grandfather he’s never met and doesn’t know why. Then Brendan makes a shocking discovery and all his summer plans take a back seat to one, singular mission: to find out where Grandpa DeBose has been—without letting his parents know what he’s up to.
This multigenerational story is about uncovering secrets, family division, and ultimately family reconciliation made possible by the initiative and persistence of one young boy.
Sundee T. Frazier was the kind of kid who went searching for clues to mysteries that didn’t exist, shaved her hairless doll’s legs with a real razor, and stuffed olives up her nose just to see what would happen. As a kid, she wanted to be a magician, a detective, a singer, a radio broadcaster, and when she was ten like Brendan, a geologist. At age nine, she decided she would be an author and set about trying to figure out how to get a book published. It only took her twenty-five years to figure it out. She is also the author of Check All That Apply: Finding Wholeness as a Multiracial Person. You can read more about her work at www.sundeefrazier.com.
Visit Sundee T. Frazier’s Class of 2k7 page.
Lessons from a Dead Girl, by Jo Knowles
Candlewick Press—October 9—YA
FF=Friends Forever. That’s what Leah tells Laine when she writes the letters on her hand in the fifth grade. But theirs is a complex and abusive friendship, and it’s only after Leah is killed in a tragic accident that Laine begins to make sense of their complicated past.
How long does a childhood promise written on the palm of a hand last? Is there really such a thing as friends forever? Only Laine can answer. To do so, she must explore a troubled friendship, find its core, and decide whether she can forgive Leah—and ultimately, forgive herself.
Jo Knowles lives in Vermont with her husband, son, two cats, and various woodland creatures who prefer her basement to the great outdoors. She’s a freelance writer and teaches writing for children at the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons college in Boston. Jo was the 2002 recipient of the SCBWI Work-in-Progress Grant for a Young Adult Novel, and the 2005 winner of the PEN New England Children’s Book Discovery Award. She recently sold her second YA novel, Jumping Off Swings, to Candlewick Press. You can learn more about Jo and her books by visiting her website: www.joknowles.com.
Visit Jo Knowles’s Class of 2k7 page.
Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
Razorbill/Penguin—October 13—YA
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.
Jay Asher has worked at an independent bookstore, an outlet bookstore, a chain bookstore, and two public libraries. When he is not writing, he plays guitar, goes camping, and blogs with his friends at www.DiscoMermaids.blogspot.com.
Visit Jay Asher’s Class of 2k7 page and his MySpace page.
No Castles Here, by A.C.E. Bauer
Random House Children’s Books—October 23—MG
Camden, New Jersey, is the armpit of the world, as far as eleven-and-a-half year old Augie is concerned—a home to drug dealers and bullies he must avoid. Seeking adventure, he escapes to Philadelphia only to become a thief when he steals a magical book of fairy tales. His mom signs him up with a Big Brother he doesn’t want. And for sixth grade, he gets the meanest, toughest teacher in school who ropes him into the school chorus. All Augie wants is to remain invisible, but when circumstances threaten to shut down his school, he rallies his courage and he discovers that, even in his world, there might be such a thing as a fairy godmother.
A.C.E. Bauer has been telling and writing stories since childhood. She took a short break to write dreadful poetry, and then a longer one while she worked as an attorney, writing legal briefs and telling stories about her clients. She has returned to fiction, and now writes children’s books and short stories for all ages. No Castles Here, named as “one of the strongest titles of the year” in a starred Kirkus review, is her first middle-grade novel. Born and raised in Montreal, she spends most of the year in New England, and much of the summer on a lake in Quebec.
Visit A.C.E. Bauer’s Class of 2k7 page and her website.
The Penguins of Doom, by Greg R. Fishbone
Blooming Tree Press—October 31—MG
The Penguins of Doom is a contemporary humor novel for ages 9 and up, written as a collection of letters.
Septina Nash is a 7th grade seventh child with purple hair and a knack for popping up in music videos. After her triplet-sister mysteriously disappears, Septina finds herself stalked by penguins, pursued by a mad scientist, and on the fast track to an Olympic medal in freestyle skateboarding. Along with her more reality-minded triplet-brother, Quinn, Septina hurdles from one adventure to the next: surviving for ten minutes in the world’s most dangerous truck stop, launching a polar expedition, and collecting an enormous amount of empty yogurt containers.
Is it any wonder why she can’t complete her math homework on time?
Greg R. Fishbone is the author of books for children, teens, and penguins of all ages. Since 2001 he has served as Webmaster and Assistant Regional Advisor for the New England Regions of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. In 2005, he sold his first novel to Blooming Tree Press. In 2006, he started the Class of 2k7 group for debut children’s and young adult novelists, which will continue with 2k8 and 2k9 classes in 2008 and 2009.
Visit Greg R. Fishbone’s Class of 2k7 page and his website.
Chess Rumble, G. Neri
Lee and Low Books—November 1—MG/YA
Three moves
is all it takes
to change the outcome
of the game.
In Marcus’s world, battles are fought everyday—on the street, at home, and in school. Angered by his sister’s death and his father’s absence, and pushed to the brink by a bullying classmate, Marcus fights back with his fists.
One punch away from being kicked out of school and his home, Marcus encounters CM, an unlikely chess master who challenges him to fight his battles on the chess board. Guarded and distrusting, Marcus must endure more hard lessons before he can accept CM’s help to regain control of his life.
Inspired by inner-city school chess enrichment programs, Chess Rumble explores the ways this strategic game empowers young people with the skills they need to anticipate and calculate their moves through life.
G. Neri is an award-winning filmmaker and new media producer from Los Angeles, where he also taught animation and storytelling to inner-city youth. Now living in Tampa, Florida, with his wife and their daughter, Neri writes for teens and children. This is his debut book soon to be followed by his graphic novel, Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty. His website is www.gneri.com.
Visit G. Neri’s Class of 2k7 page.
Don’t Get It Twisted, by Paula Chase Hyman
Kensington Books—November—YA
Mina Mooney’s parents are killing her social life. It’s time to fight back. Don’t Get It Twisted, the second book in the Del Rio Bay Clique series, shows what it takes to have a blast while breaking all the rules. A fast-paced novel about loyalty, love and friendship.
Paula Chase lives outside of Annapolis, MD with her husband and two daughters. She has written for Girls’ Life, Sweet 16, and Baltimore Magazine among others. In addition to her background in corporate communications and public relations, she also founded a youth mentoring program for 14-17 year old girls called Committed Black Women. Her dream is to offer young black girls a story in the vein of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in which they can recognize themselves, as well as a story with crossover appeal to a wide range of readers.
Visit Paula Chase Hyman’s Class of 2k7 page and her website.