It's that time of year.
High schools and middle schools will be back in session soon. So of course this means the procrastinators (you know who you are) are scrambling to purchase their required summer reading books.
And then read them in a week or less...
What's different about this year's summer reading rack at the bookstore where I work?
Two words: Jordan Sonnenblick.
You know an author has really succeeded when one of his books is now required reading, cozying up to the likes of Jerry Spinelli, J.D. Salinger, John Steinbeck, Erich Maria Remarque, and Upton Sinclair. Let's take a closer look at that, eh?
So congrats to Jordan for making it big. It's well-deserved. Notes From the Midnight Driver is funny and touching, with a depth rarely found in contemporary YA fiction. Nobody else (with the exception of Jerry Spinelli) writes teen boy voices as authentically as Jordan Sonnenblick. I've read all of his books (and reviewed Zen and the Art of Faking it for Booksense in 2007). I laughed and cried through them all.
What's YOUR favorite Jordan Sonnenblick novel? (What?!? What do you mean you haven't read any? Get busy!)
And what contemporary author do YOU think deserves to be required summer reading?
Notes from the Midnight Driver was an incredible read...inspiring for authors to see another author so beautifully spin words and plot into a moving book.
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