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Classroom Connections is a recurring series meant to introduce teachers to new books.

Gae Polisner's THE PULL OF GRAVITY
YA contemporary fiction
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
released May 2011

“Polisner’s first novel begins with a bang and ends with another . . . . There is a great deal to enjoy throughout, and literary kids will surely enjoy a subplot involving John Steinbeck.” –Booklist

“Characters feel real . . . and the plot zips along, championing strength in adversity.” –School Library Journal

“She [Gae Polisner] is a writer young adult readers will surely want to hear more from.” –examiner.com

“Although the teens’ best laid plans go oft awry, they discover that the force of the universe is with them—or at least friendship, family and romance. Pulls the heart in all the right places.” –Kirkus Reviews

Please tell us about your book. 

The Pull of Gravity is about two teens who, armed only with the wisdom of Yoda and a rare, first-edition copy of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, set off on a secret, whirlwind journey to keep a promise to their dying friend. I wrote it as an homage to the character-driven fiction I loved as a tween and teen. I hope I’ve done those wonderful books justice.

What inspired you to write this story? 

First and foremost, my own boys. We had always read aloud nightly from the time they were babies into their early teens (they’re 15 and 13 now. I still read aloud with my 13 year old once in a while; the 15 year old, not so much).

From the time we started chapter books and then novels, they loved realistic, contemporary fiction, and weren’t really interested in most of the genre fiction (sci-fi or fantasy or magic like Harry Potter which frightened them). We enjoyed endless Kate DiCamillo, Sharon Creech, Deborah Wiles, Lynne Rae Perkins, to name a few. But the older they got, the more they wanted their books to have male MC’s – characters they could directly relate to in body and mind. And, outside of genre fiction, it got harder and harder to find those relatable male protagonists in contemporary MG and YA. So much was told from a female lead character. So, I decided to write a book for them, narrated by a teen boy. Your average teen boy, who is extraordinary only in the quiet way we are each capable of being.

Could you share with readers