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.

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.

Other

Seventeen-year-old Gwen hides a dangerous secret: she’s Other. Half-pooka, to be exact, thanks to the father she never met. Most Americans don’t exactly roll out the welcome mat for Others, especially not the small-town folks of Klikamuks, Washington. As if this isn’t bad enough, Gwen’s on the brink of revealing her true identity to her long-time boyfriend, Zack, but she’s scared he’ll lump her with the likes of bloodthirsty vampires and feral werewolves.

When a pack of werewolves chooses the national forest behind Gwen’s home as their new territory, the tensions in Klikamuks escalate–into murder. It soon becomes clear a serial killer is methodically slaying Others. The police turn a blind eye, leaving Gwen to find the killer before the killer finds her. As she hunts for clues, she uncovers more Others living nearby than she ever expected. Like Tavian, a sexy Japanese fox-spirit who rivals Zack and challenges her to embrace her Otherness. Gwen must struggle with her own conflicted identity, learn who she can trust, and–most importantly–stay alive.

STUPID CUPID by Rhonda Stapleton

• Publication Season/Year: Fall 2009
• Publisher: Simon Pulse
• Release Date: December, 22, 2009
• ISBN (paperback): 978-1-4169-7464-2

Felicity’s no ordinary matchmaker…she’s a cupid!

Felicity Walker believes in true love. That’s why she applies for a gig at the matchmaking company Cupid’s Hollow. But when Felicity gets the job, she learns that she isn’t just a matchmaker…she’s a cupid! (There’s more than one of them, you know.)

Armed with a hot pink, tricked-out PDA infused with the latest in cupid magic (love arrows shot through email), Felicity works to meet her quota of successful matches. But when she bends the rules of cupidity by matching her best friend Maya with three different boys at once, disaster strikes. Felicity needs to come up with a plan to set it all right, pronto, before she gets fired…and before Maya ends up with her heart split in three.

Stupid Cupid is book one of a trilogy.

Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
• Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books
• Release Date: April 28, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0061554742
• ISBN (paperback): 978-0061554749

Youngest and boldest of all the faeries of the Oak, Knife fearlessly battles the savage crows and other predators who threaten her dying people. But when she strikes up a forbidden friendship with a human named Paul, she arouses the wrath of the powerful Faery Queen herself. With the help of some unexpected allies, Knife sets out to solve the mystery of the Oakenfolk’s missing magic – but she soon discovers that the truth may cost her everything…

Also available in the UK as KNIFE in January 2009.

THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Release Date: March 10, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 0385736819
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness.

When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future-between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

ONE WISH

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
• Publisher: Westside Books
• Release Date: April 23, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-934813-05-8
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

Overweight Wrenn Scott desperately wants to be popular and snag a hot boyfriend. Living with her single mom and younger sister, Karly, she lands a lead role in the high school musical, her voice for once overshadowing her weight. Pushing to get thinner by opening night, Wrenn’s waistline shrinks as she learns all the wrong ways to lose weight from a new “it-girl” friend in the show. Meanwhile, her mom is falling for Phil, “a balding Channel 8 News-nerd”; her sister is wrapped up in her own share of middle school drama, and Wrenn’s best friend has fallen for a guy she met online-but hasn’t even seen yet! Topping it off, geeky stage manager Steven has a crush on her. But Wrenn doesn’t want to be seen with him-she’s holding out for a trophy boyfriend whom everyone will envy. By opening night, the old Wrenn has almost disappeared. After a crisis reveals her weight-loss tricks, Wrenn realizes there are much more important things than being thin, popular, or even dating a hunk.

Praise!

Moving and heartfelt, ONE WISH is an engaging story of one girl’s bittersweet journey from ‘nobody’ to ‘noticed.’ Leigh Brescia perfectly captures what it’s like to long for something that’s just out of reach—and the sometimes surprising reality that comes from actually attaining it.

-Alyson Noel-

New York Times Bestselling author of Evermore and Saving Zoe

Leigh Brescia’s One Wish is a poignant story of a girl’s struggle to find herself in the midst of family turmoil and new temptations. Wrenn captures the reader’s heart with her quirky habits and shy dreams. Throughout the book, readers will wish Wrenn success as she tries to make her dreams come true, but Brescia proves that even when wishes don’t come true, life can be better than we ever thought.

-Mary Beth Miller-

Author of Aimee and On the Head of a Pin

“I loved One Wish and defy anyone to read it without a box of tissues handy . . .”

-Amanda Ashby-

author of Zombie Queen of Newbury High and You Had Me at Halo

“Brescia tackles important issues in her first novel, and Wrenn’s thoughts and the characters’ dialogue feel honest. . . . Wrenn’s shallowness makes her less sympathetic . . . but no less believable. Wrenn does finally show some growth and depth in the final chapters when she . . . begins to reflect on the choices she’s made.”

-Publisher’s Weekly-

“This is perhaps a less-stark view of eating disorders . . . but it is still realistic enough, and there is no happily-ever-after ending. The characters are well developed and three-dimensional, even the adults. This engrossing novel lets readers see this issue up close without being completely pessimistic.”

-School Library Journal-

MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
• Publisher: Harcourt
• Release Date: April 1, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): TBD
• ISBN (paperback): 978-0152066437

It’s the end of junior year, and summer is about to begin. The Summer of Passion, to be exact, when Jory Michaels plans to explore all the possibilities of the future–and, with any luck, score a boyfriend in the process. But Jory has a problem. A big problem. A curvy, honking, bumpy, problem in the form of her Super Schnozz, the one thing standing between Jory and happiness. And now, with the Summer of Passion stretched before her like an open road, she’s determined for Super Schnozz to disappear. Jory takes a job delivering wedding cakes to save up for a nose job at the end of the summer; she even keeps a book filled with magazine cutouts of perfect noses to show the doctor. But nothing is ever easy for accident-prone Jory–and before she knows it, her Summer of Passion falls apart faster than the delivery van she crashes. In her hilarious and heartbreaking debut novel, Sydney Salter delivers a story about broadening your horizons, accepting yourself, and finding love right under your nose.

“Complex, likeable, believable characters and a fresh, appealing fictional voice pull together this very agreeable summer romance.” –Kirkus Reviews

EVERLASTING by Angie Frazier

• Publication Season/Year: Summer 2010
• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Release Date: June 1, 2010
• ISBN: TBD

As a young lady in 1855 San Francisco, Camille’s future is set: marry a man she isn’t sure she loves, or condemn herself to poverty; forever lust after a sailor a few social classes below her; never again sail with her beloved father, Captain William Rowen; and do it all with charm and grace—even if it is a sham.

But on her last sea voyage, Camille’s future opens wide. When her father and his Sydney-bound ship are lost in a gale, Camille’s new ambition is to cross the southern highlands of Australia and take back the map her estranged mother stole when she abandoned them 16 years earlier—a map to the enchanted stone of the legendary immortals. The stone can do exactly what Camille wants most: bring someone back from the dead.

Along with the sailor she is undeniably falling in love with, and an Australian card shark acting as their guide, Camille evades a curse placed on the stone and unravels the mystery behind her mother’s disappearance. When another death shakes her conviction to resurrect her father, Camille must choose what—and who—matters most.

FAITHFUL by Janet S. Fox

• Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2010
• Publisher: Puffin
• Release Date: May 13, 2010
• ISBN: 978-0-14-241413-2

Janet S. Fox’s debut novel for young adults, FAITHFUL, is a romance, mystery and adventure set in the Gilded Age. Ms. Fox’s heroine, Maggie Bennet, loses her mother in a tragic accident, and then is forced to accept her father’s desire to leave their high society life in Newport, RI, and move to the American west. They relocate to the Greater Yellowstone, where Maggie searches for herself and for love, while her courage and determination are tested in an astonishing and dangerous environment.

The planned sequel to FAITHFUL follows Maggie as she is forced to return to Newport and an arranged marriage; now she yearns for her newly adopted western home. Her attempt to return to Yellowstone is tumultuous, and this sequel evokes the epic spirit of turn-of-the-century America.

MY INVENTED LIFE by Lauren Bjorkman

• Publication Season, Fall 2009
• Publisher: Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
• Release Date: September 29, 2009
• ISBN 13: 978-0-8050-8950-9

Roz and Eva are sisters, friends, and rivals. Roz fantasizes about snagging the lead in the school play and landing sexy skate god Bryan as her boyfriend. Sadly, a few obstacles stand between her and her dream. For one, Eva is the more talented actress. And Bryan happens to be Eva’s boyfriend. But does Eva have a secret life with her cheerleading partner? Inquiring minds need to know.

Roz, who prides herself on random acts of insanity, hatches a scheme to get Eva to open up. The plan backfires, and Eva is furious. Roz finds herself neck deep in her invented life. When Roz meets a mercurial boy with a big problem, she begins to understand the complex feelings beneath the labels. And she gets a second chance to earn Eva’s trust.

Fan trailer by Fausto Umanzor:

REVIEWS and BLURBS:

Roz’s voice is witty and genuine as she moves through the ups and downs of coming out (and eventually coming clean). Evocative of Boy Meets Boy and Dramarama, this makes for fun, thought-provoking reading. Publisher’s Weekly

This novel is particularly good at evoking teenage confusion about sexual preference and identity, and Bjorkman’s depiction of the drama-club crowd is absolutely spot-on, especially the characters’ trading of Shakespearean insults online and the practical jokes they play on one another. Narrator Roz is funny, well intentioned, and likable despite her cluelessness, and she is surrounded by a realistic cast of adult and teen characters representing a wide variety of viewpoints and sexual preferences. School Library Journal

Interspersing Shakespearian references and themes, Roz’s narrative is humorous and heartfelt as it intimately explores issues from sibling relationships to sexual identity. Booklist

I knew I was going to like this book the second the main character asked a Ouija Board if her sister was a lesbian. My Invented Life does a great job capturing the confusing alternate reality of teenage sexuality, and does it in a refreshingly authentic and honest teen voice. Brent Hartinger, author of Geography Club

Shakespeare would be proud to be included in this smart, funny, cheeky book. Ellen Wittlinger, author of Hard Love

Lauren Bjorkman’s My Invented Life is a hilarious, thoughtful, and engaging novel about the power of perception. My Invented Life … is ultimately an uplifting story that offers insight and hope with a nice dash of humor. Highly recommended. Heather Aimee O’Neill, AfterEllen.com

My Invented Life is a fantastic look at sisterhood, drama geeks, and the far-from-simple subject of sexual identity. Funny with depth = my idea of pure reading delight. Shelf Elf

My Invented Life is a smart, honest novel that is not only refreshing in it’s depiction of teens coming to terms with their true selves, but it’s also really fun! The Book Butterfly