Robbie is convinced his life is over. He is sent to Great Oaks, a school for troubled youth that is run like a prison. To get home, he must follow the rules, face the past, and tell the truth. Otherwise, Great Oaks School will really be the end of the line.

Beth Ann Bauman

This week, we’re celebrating Beth Ann Bauman’s debut! Beth Ann Bauman is the author of a short story collection for adults, Beautiful Girls, and a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. Beth teaches fiction writing at NYU, The West Side YMCA’s Writer’s Voice, and online at UCLA. Growing up, she spent summers on the Jersey shore, and she now lives in New York City.

Here’s a little bit about ROSIE AND SKATE (Wendy Lamb Books, Random House).

It’s off-season at the Jersey shore, when the boardwalk belongs to the locals. Rosie is 15 and her sister Skate is 16. Their dad, an amiable drunk, is spending a few weeks in jail while their cousin Angie looks after them in their falling-down Victorian on the beach. Skate and her boyfriend Perry are madly in love, inseparable—until now, when Perry goes off to Rutgers. Rosie is shyer than Skate, but she’s drawn to Nick, a boy in their Alateen group. What happens to Rosie and Skate in a few tumultuous weeks is deftly shaded, complex, and true. Readers will be caught up in each girl’s shifting feelings as the story plays out within the embrace of their warmhearted community.

ROSIE AND SKATE by Beth Ann Bauman

If you had to give your book a movie rating: G through Rated R, which one would you give and why?

PG. There’s some sex and underage drinking.

What topics, issues, or themes does your book address? What drove you to write about them?

I’m interested in the topic of addiction and how it affects everyone in a family. The drunk dad in the story is goodhearted but mostly useless as a parent, and the mom died when the girls were little so they’re basically raising themselves. I’m interested in how the sisters cope, how others help them along the way, and how they handle friendship, boys, love and sex.

I also wanted to set the story on the Jersey shore, a place I love. I wanted to include a boardwalk, arcade, Ferris wheel, walks on the beach in winter, surfing in a wet suit in November. And some dogs! What good is a story without some dogs, though I might be biased…

Name three examples of readers who would identify or like your book.

• Girls 12 and up interested in boy/girl relationships
• Anyone who likes sister stories
• Anyone with a loved one with an addiction
• Anyone who likes stories about unlikely families

List a few statistically improbable phrases or sentences one might find in your book. These are phrases or sentences you might never find anywhere else.

• He went to Walgreen’s in his raincoat and slippers, and shuffled down the aisles, loading the lining of his coat with crazy stuff: a can opener, coconut tanning oil, nail clippers, panty hose, potpourri.
• Free rides tonight. We scramble into [the Ferris wheel], facing each other, and we’re lifted oh-so-gently into the night. On the next go-round we stop at the top of the ride while snow blows around us and into the car. Rosie catches some flakes in her glove.

How can your book be used in the classroom?

While the audience is for tween and teen girls, I can imagine boys liking the book too. It could provide an opportunity to talk about coping with a parent’s addiction, community resources, and patching together a family of people who care.

Now tell us about other already-published books that readers of your book might enjoy.

• Sarah Dessen books (Someone Like You, Lullaby)
• The Rules of Survival, Nancy Werlin
• Dairy Queen, Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Now whet our appetites with a teaser.

My dad’s a nice drunk. There is such a thing. I know how that sounds, but honestly he’s a good person. My sister, Skate, is going to give you a different story, but I want you to hear my side too.

Before our dad went to jail three weeks ago, one of his favorite places was the old faded couch on the sunporch, where he’d lie with sandy feet, clutching his bottle of Old Crow whiskey, gurgling to himself with a dreamy smile. If he saw me standing above him, staring down at him, he’d give me a little finger wave. “Lovely to see ya, Rosie girl.” Or sometimes he’d look at me and not see me at all, but he’d smile all the same. You see what I mean? Screwed-up, but nice.

Are you offering authors visits to schools, libraries, or other organizations?

Yes, depending on where and when.

Are you willing to speak nationally?

Yes, depending on where and when.

List a few example titles of presentations, talks, or workshops you might give for an author visit.

• How to tell a story.
• Creating characters the reader wants to spend time with.

This concludes our interview with our latest author, BETH ANN BAUMAN. We wish her much success with her debut novel ROSIE AND SKATE.

*GIVEAWAY ALERT* Beth is giving away a signed copy of ROSIE AND SKATE to two winners. Tell your friends and leave a comment for the author! Enter by November 3rd, 2009 11:59 PM CST.

Your email address will not be displayed publicly and will only be used to contact you if you win! And don’t forget to participate in our other AuthorsNow! giveaways.

RUNNING FOR MY LIFE by Ann Gonzalez

• Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2009
• Publisher: WestSide Books
• Release Date: March 25, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-934813-00-3
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

RUNNING FOR MY LIFE is the powerful story of Andrea McKane, a fourteen-year-old who struggles to cope with her mother’s schizophrenia. The book accurately portrays the difficulties a teen faces when dealing with the illness, the abuse and the absence of a psychotic parent. RUNNING FOR MY LIFE shows the effects of mental illness on a family, and a teenager’s attempts to manage the changes that have shaken her life. With courage, strength, and the loving support of her friends, her father, and her therapist, Andrea finds salvation through running. RUNNING FOR MY LIFE represents a breakthrough effort in portraying the challenges children deal with when they have to protect themselves from a guardian.

ROSIE AND SKATE by Beth Ann Bauman

• Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
• Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books, Random House
• Release Date: August 11,  2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-385-73735-7
• ISBN (paperback): TBD                         

ROSIE AND SKATE is about two sisters, ages 15 and 16, in a New Jersey shore town.  When their dad, a “nice drunk,” lands himself in jail, they cope in different ways.  Skate and her boyfriend Perry are inseparable, until he goes off to Rutgers leaving her behind.  Rosie is drawn to a boy in her support group.  Within the embrace of their warmhearted community, the girls find hope for the future.

TELL ME A SECRET by Holly Cupala

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
• Publisher: HarperTeen
• Release Date: June 22, 2010
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0061766664
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

It’s tough, living in the shadow of a dead girl…

In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda’s death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister’s world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own.

Then two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst fears. Stripped of her former life, Miranda must make a choice with tremendous consequences and finally face her sister’s demons and her own.

In this powerful debut novel, stunning new talent Holly Cupala illuminates the dark struggle of a girl who must let go of her past to find a way into her own future.

FREAKED by J. T. Dutton

• Publication Season/Year: Winter 2009
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release Date: March 17, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover):  ISBN-13: 978-0061370793
• ISBN (paperback): TBD                         

FREAKED is about 15 year old prep school student Scotty Loveletter, ardent fan of the Grateful Dead. Facing a difficult meeting with his mother who is America’s best known sex self-help expert, Scotty road trips to a Dead show.

WATERSMEET by Ellen Jensen Abbott

• Publication Season/Year: April 1, 2009
• Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books
• Release Date: April 1, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-7614-5536-3
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

From her birth, Abisina has been an outcast-for the color of her eyes and skin, and for her lack of a father. Only her mother’s status as the village healer has kept her safe. But when a mythic leader arrives, Abisina’s life is ripped apart. She escapes alone to try to find the father and the home she has never known. In a world of extremes, from the deepest prejudice to the greatest bonds of duty and loyalty, Abisina must find her own way and decide where her true hope lies.

THE HOLLOW by Jessica Verday

• Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
• Publisher: Simon Pulse
• Release Date: October 6, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-4169-7893-0
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

When Abbey’s best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead…and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey has never felt so desperately alone. Then she meets Caspian, a gorgeous and mysterious stranger who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen’s funeral and keeps reappearing in Abbey’s life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he’s the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again…but also special.

Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen’s betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her – one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian as well as her own sanity.

THE MONSTER VARIATIONS

• Publication Season/Year: Summer, 2009
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Release Date: August 11, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 9780385737333
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

Someone is killing boys in a small town. The murder weapon is a truck, and the only protection is a curfew enacted to keep kids off the streets. But it’s summer-and that alone is worth the risk of staying out late for James, Willie, and Reggie.

Willie, who lost his arm in the first hit-and-run attack, finds it hard to keep up with his two best friends as they leave childhood behind. All of them are changing, hounded by their parents, hunted by the killer, and haunted by the “monster,” a dead thing that guards the dangerous gateway between youth and manhood. But that’s not all: shadowing the boys everywhere is Mel Herman, the mysterious and brilliant bully whose dark secrets may hold the key to their survival. As the summer burns away, these forces collide, and it will take compassion, brains, and guts for the boys to overcome their demons-and not become monsters themselves.

In this chilling and poignant debut novel, Daniel Kraus deftly explores the choices boys grapple with and the revelations that occur as they become men.

ADVANCE PRAISE:

“Beneath the terror and the thrills, there is *truth* in this haunting tale. It pierced my heart straight through.” –Lauren Myracle, ttyl and Bliss

“Has shades of A Separate Peace, Lord of the Flies, and To Kill a Mockingbird, but is utterly unique from the very first line.” –Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to the End

BULL RIDER (Cover design by Krista Vossen)

• Publication Season/Year: Winter 2009
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
• Release Date: February 24, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-4169-6130-7
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

Fourteen year old Cam O’Mara is a ranch kid from the sage brush country of central Nevada. He is a skateboarder, not a champion bull rider like his brother Ben, but when Ben joins the Marines and is seriously injured in Iraq, Cam turns to his family traditions and in particular bull riding to overcome his grief and to give his brother hope for a new life.

Ellen Fockler, library coordinator for Washoe County School District says: Suzanne Morgan Williams’ novel, BULL RIDER, vividly captures life on a modern Nevada ranch, in the bull riding arena, and within an extended family that rallies to heal an injured son. Ultimately, it is the story of many kinds of courage, love, and determination, and the coming of age of two brothers, each in his own way. . . .BULL RIDER is the story of real people, in real situations, that will ring true even if readers have never seen a salt lick, a chute, or the open range.

FAIREST OF THEM ALL

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
• Publisher: MTV Books
• Release Date: April 21, 2009
• ISBN (paperback): 978-1-4165-7993-9

Fifteen-year-old Oribella Bettencourt has a perfect life. She’s a dancer, a model, and star of the beauty queen circuit. With her mother guiding her career, she’s on the fast track to stardom when a Hollywood producer comes to Des Moines looking for a beautiful girl with lustrous golden hair to play a major role in his new movie. And Oribella fits that description perfectly. So what if she doesn’t have any friends or anyone to talk to except her mother? She’s on the brink of having all her dreams come true.

With Oribella’s dazzling future at her fingertips, her gorgeous blond hair begins to fall out, and her perfect life is in danger of falling apart.

INITIATION

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
• Publisher: Flux
• Release Date: May 1, 2009
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

What comes from stuffing eight hundred blue-blazered boys into one school, where fifteen floors filled with classrooms and libraries and lunchrooms and science labs stack and bury desperate boys right on top of each other? That’s what freshman Mauricio Londoño discovers, along with a few things about Macbeth and geometry, during his first long year at the St. Stephen’s School for Boys in New York City.

HAVEN By Beverly Patt

• Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
• Publisher: Blooming Tree Press
• Release Date:  November 3, 2009
• ISBN (paperback): 978-1-933831-24-4

With his Christmas wish for an ATV dashed, Rudy Morris isn’t sure how he fits into his family anymore. Latonya Dennis just wants a family to fit into. Their paths cross on Christmas Day, when Latonya ends up as the annual orphan at the Morris household. But Latonya doesn’t disappear from their lives the day after Christmas like the other orphans have. She pulls Rudy and his best friend, Stark, into a scheme to fix up a rusty, old ATV and use it to help her run away from her group home, The Haven. Rudy reluctantly agrees but as the day draws near, his own feelings for her get in the way. What’s a getaway driver to do?

YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME

• Publication Season/Year: Winter 2009
• Publisher: Razorbill
• Release Date: January 22nd, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): N/A
• ISBN (paperback): 978-1595142252                               

Q: HOW MANY ZOMBIES DOES IT TAKE TO RUIN A SOCIAL LIFE?

A: NOT MANY.

Megan Berry is a Zombie Settler by birth, which means she’s part-time shrink to a whole bunch of semi-dead people with killer issues. All Megan really wants is to go to homecoming, but when you’re trailed by a bunch of slobbering corpses whenever you leave the house, it’s kinda hard to score a date. Let’s just say Megan’s love life could use some major resuscitation.

Megan’s convinced her life can’t get any worse – until someone in school starts using black magic to turn average, angsty Undead into scary, hardcore flesh-eating Zombies. Now it’s up to Megan to stop the Zombie apocalypse. Her life – and more importantly, the homecoming dance – depends on it

PRADA & PREJUDICE

• Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
• Publisher: Razorbill
• Release Date: June 11, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 1595142606
• ISBN (paperback): 978-1595142603

Fifteen-year-old Callie buys a pair of real Prada pumps to impress the cool crowd on a school trip to London. Goodbye, Callie the clumsy geek-girl, hello popularity! But before she knows what’s hit her, Callie wobbles, trips, conks her head… and wakes up in the year 1815!

She stumbles about until she meets the kind-hearted Emily, who takes Callie in, mistaking her for a long-lost friend. Sparks soon fly between Callie and Emily’s cousin, Alex, the maddeningly handsome-though totally arrogant-Duke of Harksbury. Too bad he seems to have something sinister up his ruffled sleeve…

From face-planting off velvet piano benches and hiding behind claw-foot couches to streaking through the estate halls wearing nothing but an itchy blanket, Callie’s curiosity about Alex creates all kinds of trouble. But the grandfather clock is ticking on her 19th Century shenanigans. Can Callie save Emily from a dire engagement, win a kiss from Alex, and prove to herself that she’s more than just a loud-mouth klutz before her time there is up?