Stupid Fast is the story of Felton Reinstein, a fifteen-turning-sixteen-year-old in a rural Wisconsin town whose sudden growth spurt turns him from a small, sad, jumpy, picked-on kid (called squirrel nut) to a powerful athlete.  In Felton’s voice, speaking from his bedroom in the middle of the night, we learn of his broken home, his mother’s intensifying depression, his little brother’s pirate-clothed struggles, and the seeming root of all trouble – his father’s suicide ten years earlier, against the back-drop of his growing athletic success, his first love – a young African-American pianist named Aleah, and growing relationships with the same kids who tortured him through-out his childhood.  As his home crumbles, literally and figuratively, Felton finds triumph on the field born of real kindness from new friends, from the support he’s given by Aleah and her father, from his once estranged grandmother’s rescue mission, and, most importantly, from his new understanding of his father, his self, and his potential for both destruction and magnificence.  Stupid Fast asks us to know ourselves, to be compassionate, and to be unremittingly passionate about what we love.

THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO TELL YOU

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

The stories people tell are always about the things we left behind, and about the things we wish we could do again. The real story isn’t about what you know; it’s about what you wish you knew then. When my brother and my best friend fell in love-that was the end of everything I knew.

Fraternal twins Nadio and Noelle share a close connection-and as Noelle’s best friend since they were five, Keeley Shipley fit perfectly into their world. But everything changes after Keeley spends the summer before junior year at Oxford. When Keeley returns, Nadio falls in love with her. Noelle, ripped apart by resentment, sees her as an ungrateful rich girl. But Keeley has a painful story that she can’t tell yet. As Nadio and Keeley hide their romance, Noelle dives into something of her own-a destructive affair with an older boy.

Beautifully presented by dual narrators in a haunting stream of memories, this is the deeply moving story of how secrets can consume a friendship-and how love can heal it.

CRACKED UP TO BE by Courtney Summers

• Publication Season/Year: Winter 2009
• Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (Griffin)
• Release Date: December 23, 2008
• ISBN (paperback): 031238369X (isbn13: 9780312383695)

Perfect Parker Fadley isn’t so perfect anymore. She’s quit the cheerleading squad, she’s dumped her perfect boyfriend, and she’s failing school. Her parents are on constant suicide watch and her counselors think she’s playing games… but what they don’t know, the real reason for this whole mess, isn’t something she can say out loud. It isn’t even something she can say to herself. A horrible thing has happened and it just might be her fault. If she can just remove herself from everybody–be totally alone–then everything will be okay… The problem is, nobody will let her.