What's Fresh with Hannah Friedman's Everything Sucks

Today we chat with Hannah Friedman on her book Everything Sucks: Losing My Mind and Finding Myself in a High School Quest for Cool

The debut memoir every teen will be Twittering about.

"No matter how fabulous Delia's wardrobe is, the most perfect person in my high school is Scarlet Karr, hands down. Rich and blonde, she has the best of every popular-girl requisite accessory: the newest designer purses, the straightest whitest pearly veneers, even a gorgeous college boyfriend who sends roses to her dorm room and croons romantic original songs on her cell phone voice mail, which she eagerly plays on speaker phone for every girl in earshot to go crazy with jealousy over. Although she is a new Junior, a transfer student from California, it takes her only a month to rise from anonymity to the heights of social royalty, winning the lead in the school musical, a place at the head of the most popular lunch table, the lust of every straight guy, and the cultish adoration of the girls and the gays. She is the Madonna of Dansforth and with each $300 haircut and weekend in St. Lucia, her status as our very own tabloid queen swells."

Welcome inside the head of boarding school survivor Hannah Friedman-a fresh new author whose biting wit and captivating writing style is a cross between best-selling YA author Anne Brashares (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) and the hysterically honest Amy Sedaris (I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence).

Everything Sucks details the teenage years in all of their cringe-worthy absurdity-from getting homeschooled in a tour bus with hippie musicians to attending one of New York's most prestigious private schools on full scholarship to developing a drug habit and eating disorder to nearly getting kicked out of Yale University before she evengets to attend. Did we mention Hannah also grew up with a rescue monkey as a sister? In the end, it's Friedman's spirit and Everything Sucks attitude that keeps her afloat, as it will for all who share in her story.

Hello Hannah, it's great to have you with us on YA Fresh! Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your first sale?

Hannah: With the help of my favorite highschool English teacher, I published my first article in Newsweek at the age of seventeen. It was about the hectic and sometimes insane results of the college admissions process, and it provided me with a wonderful entrée into the literary realm. I made my first sale straight out of college. Everything Sucks is everything I wish I had known as a teenager, and I hope it will resonate with everybody who's ever felt a little crazy, or like they would never fit in.

Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.

Hannah: Firstly, please do check out some of my writing tip Vlogs at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh1lpi_HLaI in which I discuss all of my favorite writing tips and tricks! I try to write for four hours a day when I have a big deadline coming up, and I never set a page goal for myself because sometimes the best ideas emerge in only a few short sentences that take a whole lot of time to squeeze out of your brain. When I was in highschool and college I used to sit at the computer and sort through thesaurus entries for a half hour to find the perfect word, then move on and never look back. With this book, I began to learn the value of bad first drafts. Bad second drafts. When you give yourself the freedom to push forward even when things aren't perfect, you get a whole lot more done and you don't drive yourself nuts in the process. Then you can go back with your more literal/editor left brain writing style and polish. Makes everything much easier!

Please tell us about Everything Sucks: Losing My Mind and Finding Myself in a High School Quest for Cool and what we can expect from this book.

Hannah: Everything Sucks is published by HCI books, and it comes out Aug. 03. '09. The story is about me growing up, from having a real live monkey as an older sister, to getting homeschooled on a bus with hippie musicians, to winding up at an elite private school where the mantra was "sex, drugs, and SATs." I talk about all the things I thought nobody else thought about so that people will know they're not alone in wondering where they fit in.

What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.

Hannah: I have several projects in the works actually. A few television pilots in development, a children's book, and hopefully a followup to Everything Sucks which discusses my surprising research about the Ivy League and the history of modern education. Also many new songs and videos for youtube!!

Great! Thanks for sharing, Hannah. Would you like to close with a writing tip?

Hannah: Don't start the book. Start the sentence! :)

Hannah Friedman (Peekskill, NY) is a recent Yale University graduate. She is the daughter of gold-record singer/songwriter Dean Friedman. An article titled "When Your Friends Become the Enemy" about her experiences applying to an Ivy League University was published in Newsweek in 2004. Ms. Friedman is the winner of the Yale 2007 Playwright's Festival, as well as the New York Television Festival's 2008 "Flying Solo" Pilot Contest. Her pilot about transitioning from college student to author will debut at the Festival in September 2008. Visit Hannah's website, http://hannahfriedman.com.

MC Spotlight #11: Good Enough by Paula Yoo

YA Fresh MC Spotlight #11!

Good Enough

How to make your Korean parents happy:

1. Get a perfect score on the SATs.
2. Get into HarvardYalePrinceton.
3. Don't talk to boys.*

Patti's parents expect nothing less than the best from their Korean-American daughter. Everything she does affects her chances of getting into an Ivy League school. So winning assistant concertmaster in her All-State violin competition and earning less than 2300 on her SATs is simply not good enough.

But Patti's discovering that there's more to life than the Ivy League. To start with, there's Cute Trumpet Guy. He's funny, he's talented, and he looks exactly like the lead singer of Patti's favorite band. Then, of course, there's her love of the violin. Not to mention cool rock concerts. And anyway, what if Patti doesn't want to go to HarvardYalePrinceton after all?

Paula Yoo scores big in her hilarious debut novel about an overachiever who longs to fit in and strives to stand out. The pressure is on!

*Boys will distract you from your studies.

Read an excerpt here!

From Paula Yoo: Okay, I admit it. Like Patti Yoon, I play the violin. Yes, I was concertmaster of my Connecticut All-State High School Orchestra. And I snuck out occasionally to see a couple of cool bands (sorry, Mom & Dad). But this novel is a work of fiction. Although I too was forced to undergo a really bad home perm, it burned my left ear, not my right. And there was a cute guy in my homeroom who played rock guitar and asked me to work on a few songs with him, but his name was not Ben Wheeler. When I'm not writing novels that allegedly have nothing to do with my personal life, I also write TV scripts. I was born in Virginia and grew up in Connecticut. I've also lived in Seoul, Korea; New York; Seattle; and Detroit. I now live in Los Angeles with my husband, who plays guitar—and yes, we jam occasionally, just like Patti and Ben. Visit the author's website, www.PaulaYoo.com.

MC Spotlight #10: Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith

And now for YA Fresh MC Spotlight #10!

Flygirl

Ida Mae Jones dreams of fl ight. Her daddy was a pilot and being black didn't stop him from fulfilling his dreams. But her daddy's gone now, and being a woman, and being black, are two strikes against her.

When America enters the war with Germany and Japan, the Army creates the WASP, the Women's Airforce Service Pilots—and Ida suddenly sees a way to fl y as well as do something signifi cant to help her brother stationed in the Pacific. But even the WASP won't accept her as a black woman, forcing Ida Mae to make a difficult choice of "passing," of pretending to be white to be accepted into the program. Hiding one's racial heritage, denying one's family, denying one's self is a heavy burden. And while Ida Mae chases her dream, she must also decide who it is she really wants to be.

Read Sherri L. Smith's posts on the Penguin blog.

Sherri L. Smith's life can best be summed up geographically. Born in Chicago, IL, she spent her childhood in Staten Island, NY, Washington D.C., and Upstate New York. Her parents divorced when she was twelve. A year later, she moved back to Chicago with her mother and big brother. After high school, it was off to New York City for college, San Francisco for graduate school, and then Los Angeles, to make movies.

Sherri has worked in film, animation, comic books and construction. Film highlights include Tim Burton's MARS ATTACKS!, where she worked in stop-motion animation -a truly cool art form. Sherri also worked for three years at Disney TV Animation, helping to create stories for animated home video projects.

After leaving Disney, Sherri found an unlikely home with a construction company, working in a triple-wide trailer on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport. Currently, Sherri spends her nights writing novels, and her days working at Bongo, the comic book company that brings you THE SIMPSONS in print.

She lives in Los Angeles with the love of her life, and is currently working on her next book. Visit the author's website, http://www.sherrilsmith.com.

Fade To Blue Winner!

Thank you kindly for the entries for a chance to win Sean Beaudoin's latest release FADE TO BLUE!

And the fresh winner is...

JENNA!

Jenna please email me through my website with your mailing info and I will forward it on for your prize.

Thanks again, Everyone!!

MC Spotlight #9: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

YA Fresh MC Spotlight #9 is actual a graphic novel, but I thought it would be great to add to the spotlight...

American Born Chinese

As alienated kids go, Jin Wang is fairly run-of-the-mill: he eats lunch by himself in a corner of the schoolyard, gets picked on by bullies and jocks and develops a sweat-inducing crush on a pretty classmate. And, oh, yes, his parents are from Taiwan. This much-anticipated, affecting story about growing up different is more than just the story of a Chinese-American childhood; it's a fable for every kid born into a body and a life they wished they could escape. The fable is filtered through some very specific cultural icons: the much-beloved Monkey King, a figure familiar to Chinese kids the world over, and a buck-toothed amalgamation of racist stereotypes named Chin-Kee. Jin's hopes and humiliations might be mirrored in Chin-Kee's destructive glee or the Monkey King's struggle to come to terms with himself, but each character's expressions and actions are always perfectly familiar. True to its origin as a Web comic, this story's clear, concise lines and expert coloring are deceptively simple yet expressive. Even when Yang slips in an occasional Chinese ideogram or myth, the sentiments he's depicting need no translation. Yang accomplishes the remarkable feat of practicing what he preaches with this book: accept who you are and you'll already have reached out to others. ~ Publishers Weekly

Gene Yang began drawing comic books in the fifth grade. In 1997, he received the Xeric Grant, a prestigious comics industry grant, for Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks, his first comics work as an adult. He has since written and drawn a number of titles, including Duncan’s Kingdom (with art by Derek Kirk Kim) and The Rosary Comic Book. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his lovely wife and children and teaches at a Roman Catholic high school. Visit the author's website, http://humblecomics.com.

MC Spotlight #8: Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

It's YA Fresh MC Spotlight #8!

Does My Head Look Big In This?

Sixteen-year-old Amal makes the decision to start wearing the hijab full-time and everyone has a reaction. Her parents, her teachers, her friends, people on the street. But she stands by her decision to embrace her faith and all that it is, even if it does make her a little different from everyone else.

Can she handle the taunts of "towel head," the prejudice of her classmates, and still attract the cutest boy in school? Brilliantly funny and poignant, Randa Abdel-Fattah's debut novel will strike a chord in all teenage readers, no matter what their beliefs.

Click here for a PDF excerpt.

Randa Abdel-Fattah was born in Sydney in 1979. She is a Muslim of Palestnian and Egyptian heritage. She grew up in Melbourne and attended a catholic primary school and Islamic secondary college where she obtained an International Baccaularetate. She studied Arts/Law at Melbourne University during which time she was the Media Liaison Officer at the Islamic council of Victoria, a role which afforded her the opportunity to write for newspapers and engage with media institutions about their representation of muslims and islam.

During university and her role at the ICV, Randa was a passionate human rights advocate and stood in the 1996 federal election as a member of the Unity Party-Say No To Hanson. Randa has also been deeply interested in inter-faith dialogue and was a member of various inter-faith networks. She also volunteered with different human rights and migrant resource organizations including the Australian Arabic council, the Victorian migrant resource centre, Islamic women’s welfare council, Palestine human rights council, asylum seeker resource centre, to name a few.

Randa has used her writing as a medium for expressing her views about Palestinian human rights. Her articles about Palestine, Australian muslims and the misunderstood status of women in islam have been published in the Australian, the age, the Sydney morning herald, the Canberra times, new matilda, le monde (France).

Randa is frequently sought for comment by the media on issues pertaining to Palestine, Islam or Australian Muslims. She has appeared on SBS’s Insight, ABC’s First Tuesday Book Club, ABC’s Q & A, Channel 7’s Sunrise and Channel 10’s 9am. Randa is also a regular guest at schools around Australia addressing students about her books and the social justice issues they raise. Randa has also been a guest at Sweden’s Gothenburg and Litterlund book festivals (2007 and 2008) and Kuala Lumpur’s Book festival (2008). She has also toured in Brunei and the UK.

Randa is currently living in Sydney with her husband and two children aged 3 ½ and 9 months. She works as a lawyer specialising in commercial and property litigation. Visit the author's website, www.randaabdelfattah.com.

What's Fresh with Sean Beaudoin's Fade To Blue and Giveaway!

So what is fresh about Sean's Fade to Blue...Let's find out!

Sophie Blue started wearing a black skirt and Midnight Noir lipstick on her last birthday. It was also the day her father disappeared. Or spontaneously combusted. Which is sort of bad timing, since a Popsicle truck with tinted windows has started circling the house.

Kenny Fade is a basketball god. His sneakers cost more than his Jeep. He's the guy all the ladies (and their mommas) want. Bad.

Sophie Blue and Kenny Fade don't have a thing in common. Aside from being reasonably sure they're losing their minds.

Hello Sean, it's great to have you back with us! Please tell us about your latest novel Fade to Blue.

Sean: Hi Kelly. Fade To Blue is my second novel. The release date is Aug. 1st ’09 from Little, Brown.

“Acclaimed author Sean Beaudoin’s wildly innovative novel combines uproarious humor with enough twists to fill a large tube sock. Part thriller, part darkly comic philosophical discussion, and accompanied by a comic book element, Fade To Blue is a whip-smart romp that will keep readers guessing until the last paragraph.”

Could you share a bit about the main character of your book and what makes her unique?

Sean: Sophie Blue wears black lipstick, a short leather skirt, and big black boots. It’s not doing a lot for her popularity. She’s also fairly sure she’s being followed by a possibly demonic ice cream truck. Her dad is missing, her mom is still there but pretty much missing, her best friend fell off the top of a cheerleader pyramid, and her brother recently gained about two hundred pounds for no good reason except rampant eating. Aside from that, she’s not really unique at all.

How did the idea for this novel come about?

Sean: Everyone kept asking if the character Stan from Going Nowhere Faster was really me. I kept answering, mainly since it’s the truth, that Stan is just a character I made up and is not me at all. I decided to write Fade To Blue in such a way that no one would ever ask me if I’m really Sophie Blue.

haha! What do you hope readers will gain from reading this novel?

Sean: When I was sixteen, I was really interested in the meaning of identity. Why did I wear my hair the way I did? Why did I wear certain band shirts and the knees of my jeans cut out. Who was I trying to impress and what was I trying to say? And, mainly, did any of it really matter? But I also felt like there was this sort of oppressive condescension that ideas about identity and the afterlife and metaphysics were best left for adults and adult literature. So, I guess I hope I’ve dealt with these subjects, but in such a way that doesn’t claim to have any answers, just ideas that might spur thoughts.

Thanks for sharing, Sean. Would you like to close with a novel you highly recommend and why?

Sean: Absolutely. I am of the opinion that Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle is the best YA novel ever written. Most people don’t consider him YA at all, but that book got me through any number of the number of bad months of my freshman year.

And thanks to Sean for throwing in a cool copy of Fade To Blue!!! Leave a comment for a chance to win and I'll pick a winner Monday, August 10th. See you then!

Sean Beaudoin is the author of Going Nowhere Faster, Fade To Blue, and You Killed Wesley Payne (Little, Brown-fall, 2010). His stories and articles have appeared in numerous publications, including The San Francisco Chronicle, the Onion, Glimmer Train, Narrative, Opium, Redivider, The New Orleans Review and Barrelhouse. He is currently working on a crime novel. Visit his website, http://www.seanbeaudoin.com.

MC Spotlight #7: Mexican WhiteBoy by Matt de la Pena

YA Fresh MC Spotlight #7...

Mexican WhiteBoy

DANNY’S TALL AND skinny. Even though he’s not built, his arms are long enough to give his pitch a power so fierce any college scout would sign him on the spot. A 95 mph fastball, but the boy’s not even on a team. Every time he gets up on the mound he loses it.

But at his private school, they don’t expect much else from him. Danny’s brown. Half-Mexican brown. And growing up in San Diego that close to the border means everyone else knows exactly who he is before he even opens his mouth. Before they find out he can’t speak Spanish, and before they realize his mom has blond hair and blue eyes, they’ve got him pegged. Danny’s convinced it’s his whiteness that sent his father back to Mexico. And that’s why he’s spending the summer with his dad’s family. Only, to find himself, he might just have to face the demons he refuses to see right in front of his face.

Check out an excerpt here.

Matt de la Peña's debut novel, Ball Don't Lie, was published by Delacorte in September of 2005. The book will soon be a major motion picture starring Ludacris, Nick Cannon, Emelie de Ravin, Grayson Boucher, and Rosanna Arquette (Night and Day
Pictures).

In August of 2008 de la Peña's second novel, Mexican WhiteBoy, was released by Delacorte, and his short story “Last Red Light Before We’re There” appeared in the anthology Does This Book Make Me Look Fat.

His third novel, We Were Here, will be published by Delacorte on October 13, 2009.

He has also published short fiction in various literary journals, including: Pacific Review, The Vincent Brothers Review, Chiricú, Two Girl’s Review, George Mason Review, and Allegheny Literary Review.

Matt received his MFA in creative writing from San Diego State University and his BA from the University of the Pacific, where he attended school on a full athletic scholarship for basketball.

de la Peña currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, where he teaches creative writing. Visit the author's website, http://www.mattdelapena.com.

MC Spotlight #6: Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Here we are at YA Fresh MC Spotlight #6!

Chains

If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl?

As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom.

From acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson comes this compelling, impeccably researched novel that shows the lengths we can go to cast off our chains, both physical and spiritual.

Read an excerpt here, and check out the reading guide for the novel.

Laurie Halse Anderson was born October 23, 1961, in Potsdam, New York. Anderson received her A.A. from Onondaga County Community College. She then earned a B.S. in languages and linguistics from Georgetown University. After completing her education, Anderson spent time starting a family and worked as a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. She was also a freelance writer and editor for a magazine. Anderson began publishing her own books in 1996. Her first publication was a picture book for children entitled Ndito Runs.

Anderson’s most noted work is Speak, a book she wrote for teenage readers. The book tells the story of Melinda, a high school freshman. Melinda is an outcast at her school and is sexually assaulted by a senior at a party. The book documents Melinda’s reactions to the assault and her feelings of isolation and rejection from those who surround her. Anderson had the idea to write Speak after awaking from a nightmare in which she heard a young girl screaming for help. As Anderson wrote Speak she found it hard to remember that Melinda was merely a character in the book and not a real person. Anderson rewrote the ending of Speak three times before she was satisfied with the story. Anderson also wrote Fever 1793, which is the story of a teenage girl’s life during a yellow fever breakout. She has also published numerous books as part of the “Wild at Heart” series.

Anderson has received many awards for her publications. Her picture books received various awards and were placed on recommended reading lists. However, Anderson’s greatest awards were given to her for the two books, Speak and Fever 1793. She received honors such as being a finalist for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature for Speak, which also earned Anderson the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Printz Honor Medal Book Award. Anderson’s book Fever 1793 was an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults selection and also a Junior Library Guild selection. Visit the author's website at http://www.writerlady.com.

What's Fresh with Stephanie Kuehnert's Ballads of Suburbia

Let's discover what's fresh with Stephanie Kuehnert's Ballads of Suburbia!

Hello Steph! It's great to have you back with us to chat! Please tell us about your latest novel Ballads of Suburbia.

Stephanie: Ballads of Suburbia was released by MTV Books on July 21.

Here’s the lowdown on it:

There are so many ballads. Achy breaky country songs. Mournful pop songs. Then there’s the rare punk ballad, the ballad of suburbia: louder, faster, angrier . . . till it drowns out the silence.

Kara hasn’t been back to Oak Park since the end of junior year, when a heroin overdose nearly killed her and sirens heralded her exit. Four years later, she returns to face the music. Her life changed forever back in high school: her family disintegrated, she ran around with a whole new crowd of friends, she partied a little too hard, and she fell in love with gorgeous bad boy Adrian, who left her to die that day in Scoville Park. . . .

Amidst the music, the booze, the drugs, and the drama, her friends filled a notebook with heartbreakingly honest confessions of the moments that defined and shattered their young lives.

Now, finally, Kara is ready to write her own.

Awesome! Could you share a bit about the main character of your book and what makes her unique?

Stephanie: Kara starts high school as a loner. Her best friend has moved away and her family is falling apart. She copes by listening to music and going to concerts with her little brother Liam… and by cutting herself. Eventually she and Liam start hanging out at a local park where the other misfit types congregate. Kara finds some good friends, but she also finds herself running from her problems in increasingly dangerous ways. I think she is unique, but her struggles, at least with loneliness and her family are something a lot of teens can relate too.

How did the idea for this novel come about?

Stephanie: It probably started when I was a teen growing up in suburbia, seeing the way no one talked about their troubles and often let them get so out of hand and destructive. But as usual, the real idea for the novel, was inspired by music. I was taking a class and the instructor brought in a bunch of Johnny Cash songs and other ballads and talked about how ballads were one of the original, most basic forms of storytelling. I thought about how honest ballads were and that’s when I found the structure of my book. My characters write their own ballads.

What do you hope readers will gain from reading this novel?

Stephanie: For those who don’t have a history of addiction or self-injury, I hope they gain an understanding of how people end up going down those paths. For those who do have that history, I hope the gain a sense of hope or at least know they are not alone. For everyone, I hope they gain the sense that they should speak up or sing out their experiences instead of keeping them bottled up inside.

Thanks for sharing, Steph! Would you like to close with a novel you highly recommend and why?

Stephanie: I’d like to recommend Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, which has totally become a classic and rightfully so. It also shows how important speaking up is.

Stephanie Kuehnert got her start writing bad poetry about unrequited love and razor blades in eighth grade. In high school, she discovered punk rock and produced several D.I.Y. feminist ‘zines. She received her MFA in creative writing from Columbia College Chicago and lives in Forest Park, Illinois. Her first novel, I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE, was released by MTV Books in July of 2008. BALLADS OF SUBURBIA, also published by MTV Books, is her latest release. Visit her website, www.stephaniekuehnert.com, and don't forget about her awesome cyber party going on at her blog right now.