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Today we're thrilled to welcome Todd Strasser to the blog. Todd Strasser is the author of more than 130 novels for children and young adults, and his latest offering The Beast of Cretacea hit shelves last week. Todd is revisiting the concept of writing what you know, offering some new gems of advice.

Write What You Know, Revisited by Todd Strasser

My first novel (written in the early 1970s) was a roman à clef about a teenager who falls in love with a “nice” young woman from another town, then gets arrested for selling drugs, and tries to hide it from her. Not aware at the time that a new genre of literature called Young Adult was in its infancy, I was worried that my story lacked the adult appeal necessary to catapult it onto the best seller lists.

Seeking to correct this deficiency, I purchased a copy of Writer’s Digest for advice on how to turn my book into something with sales that would rival those of Stephen King’s, and as a result learned that at that particular moment on the literary timeline, the two ingredients every book needed to insure vast commercial success were Nazism and cocaine.


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Middle school and high school students can connect a wide range of popular middle-grade and YA authors at the Second Annual Teen Reader Con on Saturday, October 17th, in Albany.

It will be a day-long celebration of teens and literacy designed to inspire and share a love of reading and writing — and it’s all free, sponsored by Capital Region BOCES. The event will run from 9:00 to 4:00 at the University at Albany Downtown Campus.

Featured authors:

* Jennifer Armstrong

* SA Bodeen

* Eric Devine

* Helen Frost

* David Levithan

* Jackie Morse Kessler

* James Preller

* Eliot Schrefer

* Todd Strasser

              

It’s a pretty spectacular list, filled with accomplished, popular writers (and me). I’m bummed out that I will be giving three presentations, because what I really want to do is sit in the audience to listen to and learn from some of my friends (SA Bodeen, Todd Strasser), while making new discoveries.

Each author will sign books in addition to giving several presentations throughout the day. They work us like dogs at this thing. This is a very cool, inspiring event for readers 11 and up, and a really worthwhile way for teenagers to spend the day or just a few hours.

I’m honored to be invited.

Advanced registration is encouraged, but not required. Go here for that.

 

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If any of Todd Strasser’s teachers at the I.U. Willets Elementary School in Roslyn Heights, NY had taken bets on his future career, it’s unlikely they’d have predicted a career as an author.Back then his best subject was science, and, although he liked to read, he had trouble with spelling and grammar, and did poorly in English. “I was a poor writer, a terrible speller, and, except for one

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Sometimes we readers come across books that are a bit gritty, somewhat disturbing, and definitely unsettling, but wonderful at the same time. I had this experience with my latest read, If I Grow Up by Todd Strasser, of Boot Camp fame. Such a realistic journey within a fiction novel, that really, is begging to be read by teens and adults. You probably won't like anything that you read, you'll hate it even, probably because most of it is true and completely real and going on in our country...and we like to forget about the bad stuff. Well this is the bad stuff front and center, and I think it's brilliantly done.

Publisher's description:

"WHEN YOU GREW UP IN THE PROJECTS, THERE WERE NO CHOICES. NO GOOD ONES, AT LEAST.

In the Frederick Douglass Project where DeShawn lives, daily life is ruled by drugs and gang violence. Many teenagers drop out of school and join gangs, and every kid knows someone who died. Gunshots ring out on a regular basis.

DeShawn is smart enough to know he should stay in school and keep away from the gangs. But while his friends have drug money to buy fancy sneakers and big-screen TVs, DeShawn's family can barely afford food for the month. How can he stick to his principles when his family is hungry?

In this gritty novel about growing up in the inner city, award-winning author Todd Strasser opens a window into the life of a teenager struggling with right and wrong under the ever-present shadow of gangs."

DeShawn is just a regular kid, in a world that he sees as completely normal. He knows that the entire world doesn't live in the projects, that most families don't have multiple gang members and drug deals in their midst, and that a lot of people have plenty to eat, rather than being so hungry they'll do anything for food. All of that is DeShawn's reality and though it's nice to dream about getting out of the projects, he knows it won't happen.

This was a heartwrenching book to read, but such an eye-opener. And if it opened my eyes, it might just open the eyes of our teens that take so very much for granted much of the time. The "projects" written about in this book are a frightening reality for many teens and to view that through DeShawn's eyes was a brilliant gift.

Read this. Definitely read it BEFORE your kiddos to make sure you're alright with the content. Again, it's scary. Guns, violence, drugs, etc., but I feel it has a very important message to give. I can see this being required reading for an English class.

The only downside of the book, was the slightly stereotypical portions of the plot (like the pair of lovebirds from rival gang territories) and the amount of devastation in one small period of time has the ability to seem contrived. However, these things DO happen. And they may not happen to one boy over the course of a couple years, but they do happen on a daily basis to people all over the country. So for that reason, I looked past the bit of excess and continued to love the story.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for a review copy :)

To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.

If I Grow Up
Todd Strasser
240 pages
Young Adult
Simon & Schuster
9781416925231
February 2009

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Hours read 14.25
Books read 6.5
Pages read 1550

Well, I am now in Wisconsin! I made my connecting flight (which was a miracle) and even cooler, ran into someone from high school!

I had to board shortly after my last post, but got 4 more hours of reading in while in the air. Things are now even more confusing because I've switched timezones. So, I have to add an hour to what all the clocks tell me to keep my hour count correct for how many hours into the challenge I am. Ai yai yai. After I landed, I hung out with my parents for the rest of the night, because dude, they're my parents! And I don't get to see them all that often. But now it's bedtime, so they've headed off to bed and I'm doing a post before I'm off to bed as well (although I'll read a bit before actually sleeping!)

Anyway, I read two more books.

You Are So Undead To Me Stacey Jay

Megan thought that after the zombie attack 5 years ago, her Settler powers had left her. No such luck. On the night of her date with the hottest guy in school, right before he's supposed to pick her up, someone else shows up at her door. An undead someone.

In the world Jay creates, there are things we left undone or unsaid when we die that can follow us, even after we are buried. If such things are pressing enough to the dead person, they will leave their grave and find a Settler. The Settler takes their inoformation and promises to pass on the message, fix the wrong, and then sends the dead to a peaceful afterlife. Being a Settler has an uncanny knack to completely mess up Megan's social life. Then, there are the Reanimated Corpses, or actual Zombies-- people brought back to "life" to kill other people at the behest of those who practice the dark arts.

It's bad enough the undead are seeking Megan out, but there are a lot more Zombies trying to kill her. Someone is after her, and it's time to face up to her awesome powers and get beyond what happened. After all, how else is she going to get to Homecoming? Unless that's the evil plan, to keep her from homecoming so no one can stop the massive zombie attack.

Part mystery, part zombie novel, part romance, this is more action packed than some of the lighter zombie novels we've seen lately, but still heavy on the "does he like me, does he not, is the head cheerleader evil as in try to kill me? or just evil as in a total head cheerleader B----?" sort of thing. It's a fun read.

Mob Princess: For Money and Love Todd Strasser

Kate's life has fallen apart on Christmas Eve. After her boyfriend dumps her for not putting out, Kate thought the night would suck, but then she walked into her house and found a whole host of worse problems waiting for her. Her mother was moving out. Her father's girlfriend was pregnant (although it seems to the reader that there's much more going on than just that) and her dad needs her to be the brains of his business with her mother gone. His mob business.

There's mean girls, a possible turf war with a rival family, and two guys to choose from. Lots of fun and I want to read more, although just when the plot really got good, the book ended. In a frustrating way, not "well, that was a stasifying conclusion with enough open ends to keep me waiting for more adventures" way, but in a "WAIT? WHERE IS THE REST OF THIS BOOK?!" sort of way. So, you know, you might want to check out multiple volumes at once. I know I'll be hunting down the rest!

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