high school

An Interview With Corey Ann Haydu!

Debut Authors Bash at yareads.com

Last month, I shared with you everything I loved about Haydu’s debut novel, OCD Love Story, in a blogpost you can read here. Since first reading it, Bea is a character that has stuck with me, and I’ve actually used her as a topic and example in my classroom already this year. OCD Love Story is a unique book full of characters that demand to be remembered.

Today, it’s my honor to get to share with you some Q&A about the story, the characters, and Corey Ann’s writing journey through OCD Love Story. And make sure you read all the way through… I love what she’s done with her old middle and high school journals, and I think you will too. :)

Enjoy!

1. What made you decide to get into young adult fiction writing?

In 2009 I made a major career change, and left acting to pursue writing. I’d been writing a long time, mostly short stories and plays, but never had considered novel writing or YA fiction. In order to get some experience and commit to my big life change, I took an internship with an agency. The internship I landed happened to specialize in young adult literature. I had to get familiar with the YA and middle-grade scene pretty quickly, and I truly fell in love. My boss at the time handed me The Hunger Games, Savvy, and Little Brother.  I was blown away.
I still sort of can’t believe how lucky it was that I happened into young adult literature, which I know I was meant to write. Funny how small things, like saying yes to an internship, can really change the shape of your life. I was also applying to graduate schools at the time, and I applied to both classic Fiction MFA programs, as well as MFA programs that had specializations in Writing for Children. I surprised myself when I chose to forgo the more traditional MFA in Fiction that I’d always wanted to accept a spot in The New School’s Writing for Children program. Best decision I ever made. I wrote OCD LOVE STORY during my second semester at school!

2. OCD Love Story is your first novel published. What about Bea made her story the first one you wanted to tell?

I really wanted to write an unconventional love story. I felt there was space for a book about how complicated falling in love is when you’re deeply struggling with your own issues.
I’ve been pretty open about the fact that I’ve struggled a lot with anxiety, and when I started learning about OCD I really felt a kinship with the disorder, which is an anxiety disorder. I felt I could get into Bea’s skin and write from a very raw and honest place. I also know, from experience, that dealing with an anxiety disorder and new, exciting, overwhelming feelings of love at the same time is a tense, joyful, terrifying, exciting, confusing combination. Everything I personally want in a love story!

3. What message are you hoping your teenage readers take from it?

I hope teenagers gain a greater understanding of OCD, of anxiety disorders, and from mental illness in general. I hope they gain compassion if they are unfamiliar with anxiety disorders, or feel less alone if anxiety is something they themselves are dealing with. I couldn’t ask for much more than that. I don’t write with a message in mind, but compassion is a place I write from and I think is a great quality in a reader, too.

4. Did you set out with the intent to write a story with an unreliable narrator, or did it just happen because of who Bea is? 

I think all narrators are unreliable, if they’re three-dimensional. Or at least I think mine will always be. I mean, we’re all unreliable narrators! A first person narrator is always only telling their side of the story, and as far as I know no one has a totally clear, perfect perspective on life. I’m not sure Bea’s any more unreliable than any other first person narrator, her perspective is just a little less familiar to some readers. But she’s quite honest about her feelings, and even honest about the fact that some of her feelings are probably unfounded. She’s self aware, and that’s as reliable as any of us get, I think!

5. Do you think the cover of the book represents Bea’s story well?

I really do. I’m deeply in love with my cover. I know that for some readers the difficult subject matter doesn’t quite match with the bright happy color. But Bea herself isn’t a “dark” character in my opinion. She has a lightness and a sense of humor. Her heart is big and open and hopeful.
I think Bea is quirky (do people totally hate that word these days?) and the cover gives a sense of that.
I also like that the cover may bring in readers who don’t usually read about things like anxiety or therapy or rocky romances. I’m glad I’m getting readers who are uncomfortable with the subject matter. I like surprising readers.

6.  I’ve read the blurb for your next book, Life By Committee, and I can’t wait to read it. The premise sounds fascinating. Are there any hints or teasers you’d like to share with readers?

Oh I’m so excited about this book (and really nervous about it too!). My narrator for LIFE BY COMMITTEE, Tabitha, is a teen who is struggling with a very particular brand of loneliness. That loneliness and deep desire for connection leads her to enter into a very seductive online community. She makes a lot of mistakes, of course, and the community turns a little dangerous. It’s a book about secrets, loneliness, the meaning of community, and the desire to have an exciting, meaningful life.
It’s set in Vermont, where I spent a lot of time when I was growing up, and Tabitha and I have a lot in common, so I’m particularly close to this book. It’s similar to OCD LOVE STORY in some ways, I hope—honest, complicated, messy—but it’s also a little faster-paced, and has a lot of twists and turns and shocks, I hope.


7. I think the Former Self Project is great – it even kind of makes me want to dig up any old diaries I can find. Why did you decide to share your teenage journal entries online? What do you hope your audience will take from that? How has it helped you as a writer?

Thank you! I started my blog, Former Self Project (www.formerselfproject.blogspot.com) around the same time as I started working in YA literature, funny enough. Although the impetus was unrelated. I was experiencing a “quarter-life crisis” in my mid-twenties, and I was sort of interested to see how far I’d come… and maybe how far I HADN’T come as a person. I’m lucky to have dozens and dozens of journals, starting at age 9. It’s truly a gift, and also humiliating and hilarious. I thought maybe I could learn something from posting and commenting on these old entries. It’s been such a joy to have people reading my old diaries and laughing with me (or at me). Plus it’s cathartic to share something so embarrassing and to let it go in that way. I hope more people check it out! 


I really hope you guys all check out OCD Love Story. It’s available from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and your favorite local bookstores as well. And thanks, Corey Ann, for being with us here at Pimples, Popularity, and Protagonists today! 
 

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I’ve been meaning to read this for a very long time. For some reason, this cover has fascinated me, but it took me forever to actually get it. Maybe it was because I had a feeling it would be an emotional one, and it definitely was.

In If I Stay, Mia and her family get into a terrible car accident. Mia finds herself on the verge of life and death and feels like she’s making a choice whether to stay on earth and live or to go ahead and move on. Throughout the book, we see flashbacks of Mia’s life before the accident through which we get to know her character and see all that she has to live for… and all that was lost in the accident. We also see snapshots of what’s happening in the hospital as Mia decides whether or not to fight for her life – the people that come to see her, the care of the nurses, the helplessness she feels.

It’s kind of hard to explain what I didn’t like about this, but I think it boils down to the fact that it was overwhelmingly sad throughout the whole thing. I mean, no matter what, Mia’s life is radically changed. She’s either dead or will be dealing with the death of family while she struggles to recover from the accident.

What I do like, though, is that there’s a prevailing hope that infiltrates the sadness. We see a beautiful and loving family full of rich characters. We see a best friendship that any teenage girl would be thrilled to have. We see a high school romance that just makes you smile with its sweetness and realistic, honest portrayal.

Overall, the emotional roller coaster that is If I Stay was definitely worth the read. It would be a great book to cuddle up with on a rainy weekend and have a good cry over, as we women sometimes need.

So Long, Insecurity – Teen Edition.

I LOVE THIS.

As a teacher, one thing that breaks my heart is seeing every single teenage girl I’ve ever worked with struggle deeply with insecurity. For some, it’s their physical attributes that make them insecure. For others, it’s a lack of popularity, or crap going on at home, or too little money to buy all the trendiest stuff, or peers that are mean for no reason, or any number of other things.

For me, it was physical. It was my weight. As a preteen, teen, college student, and beyond… there was always a thought that if I could just lose a certain number of pounds, people would like me better. Boys would ask me out, girls would invite me to hang out with them, and the entire world would fall at my feet.

Of course, it was never really all that bad – I just couldn’t see through to the other side when everything would be ok. I couldn’t see my adult self, still overweight but happy and well-loved, while I was in the midst of feeling like a repulsive, far from lovable teenager. My focus was on what was wrong with me and how I didn’t fit in, not on what was good about me and what I had to offer the world.

Something like this book would have helped me A LOT. It’s real. It’s honest. It covers a whole multitude of issues – how to dress to cover problem areas, how to deal with boys, how to manage feelings of depression and jealousy – and it’s all handled in a positive, uplifting, Bible-based way. And while the fact that it’s Bible based may seem to some like a reason to slap a “for Christian girls only” sticker on this, I wholeheartedly disagree.

In fact, I have a student in mind that struggles deeply with feeling like she doesn’t fit in. She feels like nobody likes her, she’s not cool or popular, boys will never like her, and she’s just miserable. Of course, there are a number of students (current and former) who could identify with that description and might possibly wonder if I’m talking about them. This particular girl is not a Christian, but I think she would absolutely eat up the advice and encouragement found in this book. And, at the same time, I immediately e-mailed a friend after finishing my preview copy and told her about it for her church small group of high school girls. I think this is versatile and completely relevant for all girls, from those who don’t already identify themselves as Christian to those who are secure in their faith and involved in church.

The format of this teen edition is perfect, too. It’s full of pictures of real (not perfect) teenagers wearing fashionable (not all designer) clothes and honest testimonies from girls who’ve been there. There are quizzes for each topic, pages full of encouraging verses, and so much more. It’s not an overwhelming, boring nonfiction kind of book that would make girls reject it – it’s more like a pretty, glossy magazine full of greatness.

The description I saw somewhere for this book said it’s for girls ages 12-16. I disagree. I’d like to see this in the hands of 4th and 5th grade girls who look up to older girls and can’t wait to be teenagers. I’d also like to see this in the hands of high school juniors and seniors, and packed into the bags of college students heading out on their own for the first time. There’s a great basis here for being comfortable with who you are, who you were created to be, and how to maintain your focus on your purpose and your Creator. I think that’s so important for girls ranging from upper elementary to college.

So buy a copy for yourself if you’re a young woman. If you’re a parent, buy one for your daughters and nieces and every young woman you know. Please, as a teacher in the trenches who sees this stuff in action, invest in this and use it as a springboard for discussion in your house. Encourage the young women you love and fill them with confidence!

Click HERE to buy on Amazon.
Click HERE to buy on Barnes and Noble.
Or check with your favorite book store. :)

The Silent Swan by Lex Keating

In The Silent Swan, Lex Keating follows Gabriel, the protagonist of this story, through his school and home life where he reigns supreme in all things. He gets the girl, he’s captain of the baseball team, he coaches a junior baseball team, he’s king of his brothers… until a new rule imposed by his parents throws him into the path of one girl, Tam Swann, who changes him forever.

I don’t think I was quite prepared for what an emotional journey The Silent Swan turned out to be. And it was a good emotional journey. It wasn’t one of those depressing stories with no hope. It was one of those stories with some depressing parts that ends up full of hope.

The Silent Swan is very long (I read the electronic version from NetGalley, but the Amazon listing puts it over 500 physical pages). If I could change one thing about it, I’d make Gabe a first person narrator rather than telling the whole story in third person. I was able to connect with all of the characters in third person, but I really would have liked that first person connection with Gabe. Or even alternating first person points of view between Gabe and Tam.

Regardless of my POV preferences, The Silent Swan is a heart-warming story that will stick with its readers. One huge plus to this good YA novel is also that it’s pretty much completely clean, and the length and vocabulary should make the lexile level pretty high up there. I’d be totally comfortable having this in my middle school ELA classroom as a challenge novel to advanced readers.

The Silent Swan releases on September 10th. Click here to find it on Amazon!

Reasons I Fell For the Fat Funny Friend by Cassie Mae (writing under the pen name of Becca Ann)

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the New Adult genre – what it is, what I love about it, what I wish was different about it – and introduced you all to Cassie Mae, author of Friday Night Alibi.

Well, I enjoyed Friday Night Alibi so much that I looked up Cassie Mae’s other titles and was intrigued by this story. Now I’ll say that I usually shy away from stories featuring protagonists that stress about their weight and obsess over it and try to go on diets and are generally annoying and cause me stress as the reader. This isn’t like that. At all.

In this, Hayley (dubbed the funny fat friend because she sets her friends up on dates but doesn’t go on any for herself) holds tight to a crush on her sign language partner, Brody. She knows, though, that Brody has a huge crush on his brother’s ex… so she offers to help him get a date with her even though it will amount to torture for Hayley.

What I really like about this book is that we get to hear Brody’s point of view, which is a breath of fresh air. I don’t want to say too much more for fear of ruining any surprises, because really I liked this that much. It wasn’t your stereotypical kind of overweight girl story, and it had a true and really satisfying depth to it.

I really, really, really recommend this for high school girls and especially any young (or not so young) woman who struggles with confidence in their physical appearance, even if it’s not weight. There was just something really special about watching Hayley come through the story better in the end than she was when it began. It’s available on Amazon here, both in kindle and print editions.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

A few months ago, I read and reviewed This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith. I really loved it a lot.

So of course, if you’re a total book nerd like me, finding one book you love by an author that’s new to you prompts you to look into the rest of that author’s books. When I looked into Smith’s books, I discovered this one… which I’d heard about but not read, and had to pick it up.

This story is one of Hadley, who misses her flight from New York to London for her father’s wedding by mere minutes. Consumed with angst over the fact that her father is marrying a woman she’s never met, and the fact that she even has to go to the wedding, Hadley finds a welcome distraction in Oliver, a cute British boy who turns out to be on her flight, sitting in her row.

I loved the whole story. Finding out more about Hadley and Oliver both as they talk and fall in love on an airplane (which is about the most unromantic place ever, honestly… props to Smith and her imagination for being about to make an airplane come alive as a viable setting for love). And then, seeing what happens when they finally get to London and they’re removed from the “romance” of the airplane was sweet. I won’t say more because, really, you should just read it.

But I will say that I found myself rooting for Hadley and Oliver. I liked them. A lot. Smith has a great ability to create a romance you want to see last beyond the pages of the book.

This title is reportedly in the works for a movie, though I haven’t heard any recent details. There’s an article here if you’re interested; I think it would make a really fun, quirky romantic movie that even my husband could stand to see in the theater.

Click here to see it on Amazon. Enjoy it!

Taste Test by Kelly Fiore

For those of us that enjoy reality TV competitions like Master Chef and The Next Food Network Star, Kelly Fiore’s Taste Test has everything we could ever want.

Nora Henderson is a high school senior about to spend her final semester of high school as a contestant on a reality cooking competition. She’s grown up helping her dad in the kitchen of their North Carolina mountain BBQ restaurant, so she has plenty of skill in the kitchen… but can she handle the stress of school, the drama of the competition, and the possibility of a new romance (or two)? It’s really fun to experience everything along with Nora – I enjoyed this the whole way through.

There’s more to this than just your standard romance (as the cover would suggest). I like the way Fiore throws in elements of family drama, romantic comedy, coming of age, and even a pretty solid mystery that keeps you guessing until the end. Don’t worry, though, there’s quite a bit of the swoony romance all of us girls love.

Taste Test will be available in stores on August 27, but you can go ahead and preorder it now – Click here to find it on Amazon. Also, spend some time on Fiore’s website, which is completely adorable and creative, and she’s also doing giveaways leading up to the release of Taste Test.

OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu

Ok seriously. If I were to judge this book by its cover, I’d think it was a fun, quirky romance with some harmless stalking thrown in. It just looks fun.

However, we all know you can’t judge a book by its cover. And that’s so true in this case.

Yes, there is romance.

Yes, there is fun and quirk.

Yes, there is stalking.

But my goodness, nothing about this book is harmless.

I am absolutely fascinated by this, and I have no idea how Haydu was able to write this without going completely insane. Fortunately, I’ll be interviewing her on the blog in September so I can ask her about it.

Bea, the protagonist, struggles with a diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and its many manifestations in her life. She also struggles to balance those compulsive behaviors with a budding romance, a best friend, her parents, school, and driving. This story is engrossing and enthralling and intense and disturbing. Bea is unreliable and loveable – you don’t always think she’s telling you the truth (if she even realizes the truth for herself) but you always want her to be ok. You want to see her get better.

OCD Love Story may not be your average light-hearted romantic comedy, but it’s rich and sweet and well worth the time you’ll invest in reading it. I definitely recommend this for high school and up. Grab a copy and enjoy!

Great Retelling of an Austen Classic

So it’s sort of impossible to be a fan of romance in stories and not appreciate Jane Austen. Even if you wouldn’t choose to sit down and spend the day reading one of her classic stories, you still have to recognize them for what they are – iconic romances that inspire story after story even today.

Claire LaZebnik’s latest, The Trouble With Flirting, is a clever take on Austen’s Mansfield Park. In it, Franny is a student working a prestigious summer theater program in a humbling role: assistant to the costume designer (who just happens to be her very serious and tediously boring aunt). To say the least, Franny’s not thinking it’ll be a really exciting summer… until the theater participants arrive. One of the students there is a guy Franny’s had a crush on for years, and she starts spending as much time as she can with him and a new group of friends. Of course, she tries to get his attention by flirting with a guy who’s showing some interest in her, and that’s where the trouble with flirting really begins.
I’m a fan of Franny in this. She’s spunky and smart and she stands her ground in most situations. And, even though she’s stuck being the costume designer’s assistant, she’s not sulking around and being miserable… she’s out there having fun, making the best of it, getting the guys. She’s someone I would have waned to hang out with in high school.
Check out The Trouble With Flirting! Hope you enjoy. :)

Ender’s Game

I know, it’s sad that I hadn’t read Ender’s Game before now. And honestly, I don’t even know why it took so long… I thought it would be more of a younger middle school and upper elementary story, but I was very wrong. 

Ender’s Game has everything in it that made me love The Giver. First of all, there’s a futuristic, thoroughly screwed up society. It needs fixing and saving. And Ender, like The Giver’s Jonas, is the one who is called upon to save it. 
The action and language are more intense than The Giver, but never in an inappropriate way. It’s tense, and the resolution is unexpected – though I figured out most of what was happening before it was officially revealed to Ender and the reader. It was a fun bit of speculation and dramatic irony for a little while. 
Having really enjoyed this book, I have to say that I’m very much looking forward to the movie coming out soon. From the descriptions of everything in the book, I’m thinking it’ll definitely be one to go see in the theater. I’m not sure that I’ll read any of the sequels to Ender’s Game, though. I’m kind of happy with where it ended. 
I definitely recommend this book to middle school and up – and there’s a lot here for adults, too. As always, read the book before you see the movie!