Authors
Swati Avasthi
Swati Avasthi completed Split at the University of Minnesota, where she is studying for her MFA and teaching creative writing. Her short fiction has been nominated for inclusion in Best American New Voices and a Pushcart Prize.
He tries to move on, going for new friends, a new school, and a new job, but all his changes can’t make him forget what he left behind—his mother, who is still trapped with his dad, and his ex-girlfriend who is keeping his secret. At least so far.
Split is about what happens after. After you’ve said enough, after you’ve run, after you’ve made the split. How do you begin to live again? READ MORE
Michele Corriel
Michele Corriel lives in Montana, where she writes and herds cats on a daily basis. She is also the author of Weird Rocks, a non-fiction picture picture book about the strange and wonderful world of rocks.
Thomas Weston has newspaper ink in his veins. He also has funny headlines running through his head 24/7. If he can convince the principal at Fairview Middle School he has what it takes, maybe, just maybe, he’ll be able to make his dream of school newspaper come true. But first he has to figure out why all the cats in Fairview are disappearing! READ MORE
Leah Cypess
Leah Cypess used to be a practicing attorney in New York and is now a full-time writer in Boston. She much prefers her current situation. She wrote her first story when she was six years old (the main character was an ice cream cone), and went on to publish several short fantasy stories in several professional magazines and anthologies, including Sword & Sorceress 23 and Strange Horizons.
Everyone tells Isabel that she is the Shifter – the ancient shape-shifting creature who has protected the kings of Samorna for centuries. They need her to be the Shifter. Prince Rokan risked everything when he rode into her forest to summon her to his side; Ven, the magician's apprentice, has devoted his life to studying her legend; and even Princess Clarisse, who fears and hates her, depends on Isabel's powers to further her own plans.
But Isabel doesn't feel like the Shifter. She feels like a lonely human girl, beset by flashes of memory that do more to confuse than to help her. If she is the Shifter, why can't she change her shape? Why doesn't she remember what made her flee the castle so many years ago? As she is drawn deeper into a web of magic and assassination, Isabel will have no choice but to look for answers. But her search will lead her to the one question the Shifter hasn't faced in a thousand years: where does she come from, and what does she really want? READ MORE
Shannon Delany
Shannon Delany has written stories since she was a child. She began writing in earnest when her grandmother fell unexpectedly ill during a family vacation. In 2008 her greatly abbreviated version of 13 to Life (written in just five weeks) won the grand prize in the first-ever cell phone novel contest in the western world through Textnovel.com.
Something strange is stalking the small town of Junction…
When junior Jess Gillmansen gets called out of class by Guidance, she can only presume it’s for one of two reasons. Either they’ve finally figured out who wrote the scathing anti-jock editorial in the school newspaper or they’re hosting yet another intervention for her about her mom. Although far from expecting it, she’s relieved to discover Guidance just wants her to show a new student around—but he comes with issues of his own including a police escort.
The newest member of Junction High, Pietr Rusakova has secrets to hide--secrets that will bring big trouble to the small town of Junction—secrets including dramatic changes he’s undergoing that will surely end his life early. READ MORE
Alexandra Diaz
Alexandra Diaz is a Cuban-American spending her time between Santa Fe and the rest of the world. As a result of being homeschooled for most of high school, she’s fascinated by teenage school life and the drama that occurs in those quarters. One of the reasons she writes is to experience life in someone else’s shoes. She is a “jenny of all trade” having worked as a nanny, teacher, film extra, tour guide, and dairy goat judge (seriously) among several other jobs. In addition to traversing the world, she enjoys hiking, swing dancing, and the prospect of flying.
Tara literally runs from the problems in her life: an absent father and a cheating boyfriend. Until finally there is someone to run to: the alluring new girl, Riley.
To Whitney Blaire, Riley is an evil munchkin tramp: she's after Tara's boyfriend, she's brainwashing Tara, she's changing everything. It shouldn't be too hard to prove it; after all, no one messes with Whitney Blaire.
Then there's Pinkie the worrier. She can't stand her friends arguing; it's not right for Whitney Blaire to dislike Riley, but it's also not right for Tara to like Riley the way she does.
Written in three distinctive voices, Of All the Stupid Things goes through the lives, loves, and lies of three teenage friends. READ MORE
Bonnie J. Doerr
Bonnie J. Doerr has always played with words, ideas, and nature. To be separated from nature—to be containerized—would slowly suck the breath from her. For years this therapeutic pursuit manifested itself in poetry. In recent years her play resulted in stories and novels for young adults. A lifetime educator, she has taught students from kindergarten to college in eight states. Degrees in reading education, combined with a brief post as a science teacher, led her to write ecological mysteries. Years of teaching and living in the Florida Keys provided irresistible material. Her novels celebrate caring, involved, “green” teens who take action with attitude and a touch of romance. Her work has been honored by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) with a grant for its use in environmental education and been included in Milkweed Editions literary field guides. When not at home with her heart in the Florida Keys, she lives in a log cabin in North Carolina.
Kenzie Ryan's New York know-how and private girls' academy education prove useless in the middle of an island wildlife refuge.
Upon arrival in the exotic Florida Keys, she is thrown into the midst of an ecological mystery involving the endangered Florida Key deer. How can she navigate this upside down world? A world deftly maneuvered by Angelo--island native and nerve-wracking hunk. The two team up to accomplish what perplexes law enforcement, but Angelo exposes Kenzie's insecurities, as well as her inexperience with nature and the opposite sex.
Danger and disagreement follow the pair wherever they go. Enamored with Angelo and his local savvy, Kenzie hopes to secure his loyal friendship. But how can she win Angelo's trust when what she must tell him will crush his ego?
Island Sting includes notes on the endangered Florida Key Deer and the National Key Deer Refuge. READ MORE
Janet Fox
Janet Fox lives in College Station, Texas, with her husband and high-school age son. But her heart is in Montana, where the family has a cabin in the mountains not far from Yellowstone. Her work has appeared in Highlights for Children and Spider magazines; her non-fiction middle grade book, Get Organized Without Losing It (Free Spirit Publishing, 2006), continues to be a top seller. She is currently an MFA student at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and an ARA for BV-SCBWI. She is working on a sequel to Faithful, in addition to several other projects.
In 1904 Margaret Bennet has it all – money, position, and an elegant family home in Newport, Rhode Island. But just as she is to enter society, her mother ruins everything, first with public displays, and finally by disappearing. Maggie’s confusion and loss are compounded when her father drags her to Yellowstone National Park, where he informs her that they will remain. At first Maggie’s only desire is to return to Newport. But the mystical beauty of the Yellowstone landscape, and the presence of young Tom Rowland, a boy unlike the others she has known, conspire to change Maggie from a spoiled girl willing to be constrained by society to a free-thinking and brave young woman living in a romantic landscape at the threshold of a new century. READ MORE
Judith Graves
Judith Graves loves tragic romance, werewolves, vampires, magick, and all things a bit creepy.. She lives in a small northern Alberta town with her husband, one cat, and two crazy Labrador retrievers. Working in an elementary school library, Judith is often seen amidst stacks of books, reading, when she should be cataloguing. But don’t tell the boss! A singer/songwriter for more than ten years, Judith often writes songs from the viewpoints of her characters, and—since they are creatures of the night—this makes for interesting listening.
All her parents wanted was for Eryn to live a normal life…
Redgrave had its share of monsters before Eryn moved to town—mauled pets, missing children. The Delacroix family is taking the blame, but Eryn knows the truth. Something stalks the night. Wade, the police chief's son and Redgrave High's resident hottie, warns her that the Delacroix are dangerous. But then so is Eryn—in fact, she's lethal. But she can't help falling for one of the Delacroix boys, dark, brooding—human—Alec. Forcing Eryn to face her biggest fear...herself.
A normal life? Now that's the real fairytale. READ MORE
Rhonda Hayter
Rhonda Hayter was born in St. Jean, Quebec. She was an actress for some time, appearing in plays on tour and in New York and Los Angeles. Now, she works as a story analyst for a famous movie producer. When she and her husband found themselves with two little boys, one of whom morphed into a werewolf one day, The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams was born. Rhonda now lives in Los Angeles with her family. This is her first book.
Abbie is a regular eleven-year old girl with normal problems, like a really strict fifth-grade teacher. (Meet Miss Linegar. Rhymes with vinegar.) She’s chronically behind in homework, struggling to remember all her lines in the drama club play, and tormented by having to keep a big secret from her very best friend. And on top of all these problems, she’s also a witch and has to deal with outsized crises, like her little brother morphing into a werewolf and trying to eat his first-grade teacher. Not to mention helping a young genius, magically transported to the 21st Century, find a way to return to his own time. READ MORE
Jacqueline Houtman
Jacqueline spent way too many years learning to be a scientist (27, if you count kindergarten). The best part of all that school is that some people, especially her parents, now call her Dr. Houtman. In the rare moments she did not spend in the lab, she did theater to feed the rest of her brain. Then she came to her senses and started over as a freelance science writer and editor. She has written for physicians, scientists, and the guy down the street. She is equally comfortable writing for students in Medical School and Middle School, because the writing isn’t really that different. Med students just use bigger words. The writing she enjoys most is “sciency fiction” for kids, where science is integral to the theme and plot but, unlike science fiction, it’s all real. Jacqueline lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her engineer husband and two sciency kids.
Eddy Thomas can read a college physics book, but he can’t read the emotions on the faces of his classmates at Drayton Middle School. He can spend hours tinkering with an invention, but he can’t stand more than a few minutes in a noisy crowd, like the crowd at the science fair, which Eddy fails to win.
When the local school crossing guard is laid off, Eddy is haunted by thoughts of the potentially disastrous consequences and invents a traffic-calming device, using parts he has scavenged from discarded machines. Eddy also discovers new friends, who appreciate his abilities and respect his unique view of the world. They help Eddy realize that his “friend,” Mitch is the person behind the progressively more distressing things that happen to Eddy. By trusting his real friends and accepting their help, Eddy uses his talents to help others and rethinks his purely mechanical definition of success. READ MORE
Jennifer Hubbard
Jennifer Hubbard lives and writes in the Philadelphia area. Her short fiction for adults has appeared in Willow Review, North American Review, and other literary journals. Her non-fiction has appeared in AMC Outdoors.
Seventeen-year-old Colt has been sneaking out at night to meet Julia, a girl from an upper-class neighborhood unlike his own. They’ve never told anyone else about their relationship: not their family or friends, and especially not Julia’s boyfriend. When Julia dies suddenly, Colt tries to cope with her death while pretending that he never even knew her. He discovers a journal Julia left behind. But Colt is not prepared for the truths he discovers about their intense relationship, nor to pay the price for the secrets he’s kept. READ MORE
Denise Jaden
Denise Jaden's writing has appeared in Mississippi Crow Magazine, The Greensilk Journal (where her story received an Editor's Choice Award), and Tidepool Fiction. Her novels have received various awards through Romance Writers of America. She lives just outside Vancouver, Canada with her husband and son. She can be reached through her website at www.denisejaden.com
When Brie’s sister Faith falls tragically from a cliff, sixteen-year-old Brie is left devastated and convinced it isn’t an accident. In her grief, she becomes friends with another girl at her school, Tessa, whose sister has also passed away. Tessa and Brie join forces to seek out the truth of what happened the night of Faith’s death and discover, among other things, a religious cult in which Faith was a rebellious member. Brie falls out of the popular crowd into a band of misfit teens who help her learn the truth about Faith, the sister she hated and loved.
Losing Faith won RWA’S 2008 Launching A Star Contest for the YA category. READ MORE
Kitty Keswick
Kitty Keswick has been an Anglophile since age four when she saw Robin Hood and fell head over heels in love. As she grew up on her grandfather’s California vineyard, Kitty’s imagination was her best friend. At a very tender age, she started writing her stories and reading them to the grapes.
Every woman in the Maxwell family has the gift of sight. A talent sixteen-year-old Kasey would gladly give up. All she wants is a normal life. Shopping and talking about boys with her best friend and long-time sidekick, Gillie Godshall, consume her days. Until Kasey has a vision about Josh Johnstone, the foreign exchange student from England. The vision leads her into new realms, a lead in a play, a haunted theater ... and into the arms of Josh. Yet, both Kasey and Josh have secrets lurking in dark corners. Can Kasey’s new romance survive FREAKSVILLE? READ MORE
Irene Latham
Irene Latham is a poet and novelist who devoted four years researching and writing about Gee's Bend after she viewed The Quilts of Gee's Bend exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2003. The daughter of a seamstress, Irene stitched her first sewing card when she was four years old, and later she had the great fortune to marry into a quilting family. She currently lives in Birmingham, Alabama, and finds writing historical fiction to be the perfect excuse for travel, daily adventures and long hours spent reading. Her favorite characters in books and real life are the ones who go their own way.
Every quilt tells a story. Ludelphia Bennett may be blind in one eye, but that doesn't mean she can't put in a good stitch. In fact, Ludelphia sews all the time, especially when things are going wrong. But when Mama gets deathly ill, it doesn't seem like even quilting will help. Mama needs medicine badly - medicine that can only be found in Camden, over forty miles away. That's when Ludelphia decides to do something drastic - leave Gee's Bend.
Beyond the log cabins, orange dirt, and cotton fields of her small sharecropping community, Ludelphia discovers a world she could never have imagined. Fancy houses, cars, and even soda pop! But there's also danger lurking for a young girl on her own, and Ludelphia begins to wonder if she'll ever see Gee's Bend or her Mama again. Despite the twists and turns, Ludelphia weathers each challenge in a way that would make her mama proud, and may even save the day not just for Mama, but her entire town.
Set in 1932 and inspired by the rich quilting history of Gee's bend, Alabama, Leaving Gee’s Bend is a heart-touching tale of a young girl's unexpected adventure. READ MORE
Tom Leveen
Tom Leveen is the artistic director and a co-founder of Chyro Arts Venue, an all-ages nonprofit visual and performing venue in Scottsdale, Arizona. He has been involved in theater since 1988, directing over 30 plays. He frequently works with young adults at Chyro’s various events including theater, visual art exhibits, and especially the live music scene. Tom is an Arizona native, where he lives with is wife, Joy. Party is his first novel.
It's Saturday night in Santa Barbara and school is done for the year. Everyone is headed to the same party. Or at least it seems that way. The place is packed. The beer is flowing. Simple, right? But for 11 different people the motives are way more complicated. As each character takes a turn and tells his or her story, the eleven individuals intersect, and reconnect, collide, and combine in ways that none of them ever saw coming. READ MORE
Shari Maurer
Born the day after Valentine’s Day, Shari Maurer’s life has always been full of “heart.” Married to a cardiologist, she is the co-author of The Parent’s Guide to Children’s Congenital Heart Defects. After graduating from Duke University and NYU, she spent six years at the Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) working on International versions of Sesame Street and other kids’ programs. Shari lives in New City, NY with her husband Mat and their children, Lissie, Josh and Eric. Change of Heart is her first young adult novel. Visit her on the web at www.sharimaurer.com.
When you’re 16 years old, it never occurs to you that you might die. Emmi Miller’s got a fabulous life. She has tons of friends, does great in school and is an all-star soccer player who played in Europe last summer. It even looks like Sam Hunter, a totally cute baseball player, might be interested in her. And then she got a virus. No biggy, right? Until the virus goes to her heart and weakens it so much that, without a transplant, Emmi will die.
Will Emmi get a heart in time? Is Sam too good to be true? What about her new friend Abe, who has also had a transplant and guides her through these scary times? Is he just being supportive or is there more going on between them? And will Emmi realize it before it's too late? READ MORE
Kristina McBride
Kristina McBride has dreamed of being a published author since she was a child and lived across the street from a library. After graduating with a bachelor’s in English Education, Kristina taught high school English for eight years. In 2005, just after having her first child and completing her Master’s in Education, Kristina decided to quit teaching and take a crack at her dream. Kristina lives in Centerville, Ohio with her husband and two young children, stealing as many moments as she can to write, write, write.
Two years ago, when Tessa’s best friend, Noelle, was kidnapped, survivor’s guilt kept her from living her life. But that all changes the day she learns Noelle has been found . . . Alive. Tessa becomes determined to help her friend acclimate to the life she should have been living all along. But Max, the new kid in Tessa’s photography class, pulls her attention in a different direction. And Noelle, who insists on being called Elle, returns as a distant and self-destructive girl who Tessa has trouble connecting with. Will Tessa regain the friend she thought she’d lost forever? Or will Elle slip away and leave Tessa feeling more lost and confused than ever?
ISBN (Library Binding): 978-1-60684-090-0 (1-60684-090-8)
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Mara Purnhagen
Mara Purnhagen cannot live without a tall caramel latte, her iPod, or a stack of books on her night stand. She has lived in Aurora, Illinois; Kalamazoo, Michigan; Dayton, Ohio and Duncan, South Carolina. She presently lives outside Cleveland, Ohio with her family and two cats.
HOW DO YOU TAKE A STAND WITHOUT STANDING OUT?
Kate Morgan is just as confused as the rest of her classmates when she arrives at Cleary High to find six life-size gorillas spray painted on the side of a building. Could the culprit be one of her friends or classmates? And is the kind-of-amazing creation really vandalism, or a work of art? She's tempted to stay out of it, mostly because, as the police chief’s daughter, she's always accused of being a snitch. But when gorillas start appearing throughout the state, her investigative instincts kick in.
Now Eli, Kate’s favorite co-worker at the local coffee shop, is MIA. With her best friend, Lan, preoccupied with her own boy troubles, Kate needs to figure out some things on her own. Like why she can’t stop thinking about Eli. And what she will do when all clues about the graffiti point to someone she knows... READ MORE
Laura Quimby
With the wind whipping through her Dorothy Hamill haircut, Laura raced through childhood and adolescence with minimal plans for the future. Her motto in youth was carpe diem. As a child, her literary influences included Judy Blume, Nancy Drew, Madeleine L’Engle, and Stephen King. Though she enjoyed reading, she had no idea she would one day become a writer. After a checkered career in marketing, advertising, and book production, doing everything from graphic design, copy writing, coordinating, coffee fetching (okay the coffee was for her) and paper pushing, Laura gave it all up to pursue her dream of writing novels for children. The fact that she has an identical twin made it very easy to pretend that she was someone else, and so making up stories was a good fit.
In The Carnival of Lost Souls, Jack, a quick-witted orphan, is sold to an evil magician in the underworld, where he must perform with other children in a vaudeville act to entertain the dead. Jack uses the tricks of Harry Houdini to escape and save them all. The Carnival of Lost Souls will be published by Amulet in the fall of 2010. READ MORE
Jame Richards
Jame Richards’ interest in history began in childhood, when every school vacation involved a family trip in the paneled station wagon to museums, presidential tombs, and historical monuments, where she bided her time until reaching the gift shop by wondering why they couldn’t go to an amusement park or the beach like everyone else.
Sixteen-year-old Celestia spends every summer with her family at the elite resort at Lake Conemaugh, a shimmering Allegheny Mountain reservoir held in place by an earthen dam. Tired of the society crowd, Celestia prefers to swim and fish with Peter, the hotel’s hired boy. It’s a friendship she must keep secret, and when companionship turns to romance, it’s a love that could get Celestia disowned. These affairs of the heart become all the more wrenching on a single, tragic day in May, 1889. After days of heavy rain, the dam fails, unleashing 20 million tons of water onto Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in the valley below. The town where Peter lives with his father. The town where Celestia has just arrived to join him. This searing novel in poems explores a cross-class romance—and a tragic event in U.S. history. READ MORE
N.H. Senzai
Naheed grew up speaking two languages, balancing life lived on the edge of two cultures, and, happily, two cuisines—tandoori chicken and hot dogs, grilled side by side on the 4th of July. She got on a plane for the first time at two months, in Chicago, IL, where she was born, and has been travelling ever since. She grew up in San Francisco, Jubail, Saudi Arabia, and attended boarding school in London, England where she was voted “most likely to lead a literary revolution” due to her ability to get away with reading comic books in class. She’s hiked across the Alps, road-tripped through Mexico, swum with barracudas in the Red Sea, taken a train across the Soviet Union, floated down the Nile, eaten gumbo in New Orleans and sat in contemplation at the Taj Mahal. Somewhere along the way she attended UC Berkeley and Columbia University, picked up a couple degrees while pursuing her passion for writing. She’s landed back home in San Francisco where she lives with her husband, a professor of political science, son, and a cat who owns them. During the day she can be found working for a consulting firm that helps companies with their inventions and patents.
Fadi never imagined he’d start middle school in a Fremont, California, thousands of miles away from home in Kabul. But, here he was, half a world apart from his missing six year old sister who’d been lost because of him, as they fled Afghanistan. Adjusting to life in the United States isn’t easy for Fadi’s family and as the events of September 11th unfold, the prospects of locating Mariam in a war torn Afghanistan seem slim -- impossible. Desperately, Fadi tries every hare-brained scheme he can think of to find her. When a photography competition with a grand prize trip to India is announced, Fadi sees his chance to return to Afghanistan and find his sister. But can one photo really bring Mariam home?
Based in part on the Ms. Senzai’s husband’s experience fleeing Soviet controlled Afghanistan in the 1970s, Shooting Kabul is a powerful story of hope, love, and perseverance. READ MORE
Jeri Smith-Ready
Award-winning author Jeri Smith-Ready lives in Maryland with her husband, two cats, and the world’s goofiest greyhound. Her plans to save the earth ended when she realized she was more of a problem maker than a problem solver. To stay out of trouble, she keeps her drama drive strictly fictional. Her friends and family appreciate that.
Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan’s band playing a critical gig and Aura’s plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend’s life. She never thought it would be his last.
Logan’s sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He’s gone.
Well, sort of.
Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and hear ghosts. This mysterious ability has always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan’s violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.
It doesn’t help that Aura’s new friend Zachary is so understanding—and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.
As Aura’s relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura’s heart…and clues to the secret of the Shift.
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Laura L. Sullivan
Laura L. Sullivan was born and lived most of her life in Florida. She moved to Kentucky a couple of years ago so she could raise her son in the mountains. She has a BA in English from Cornell University. She once assumed she would be an English professor, but soon realized she can’t stand to deconstruct and analyze books she loves.
Rowan, Meg, Silly and James Morgan are sent to the home of a distant relative in rural England. They are joined by their brilliant, bashful friend Dickie Rhys, and the despised Finn Fachan.
First they scoff at the country traditions – never give your real name to strangers, don’t step on the ants – but soon realize those silly superstitions are deadly serious. They help protect people from fairy influence. Their great-great aunt Phyllida Ash is the Guardian of the Green Hill, the last bastion of fairies in England.
Rowan, the eldest, is chosen to be one of the champions in the Midsummer War. His options are grim: kill his opponent, a beloved friend, or die himself as sacrifice. His sister Meg thinks she sees a way out, but will she risk her life and the fate of the earth itself to change a ritual that has gone on for thousands of years? READ MORE
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