Panel: Ask Me Anything: YA Authors Spill the Tea

Alex Flinn loves fairy tales and is also the author of the New York Times bestselling BEASTLY, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast that is a feature film starring Vanessa Hudgens. Her other fairy tale retellings are A KISS IN TIME, an edgy twist on Sleeping Beauty; CLOAKED, a modern mash-up of The Frog Prince, The Shoemaker and the Elves, and more; BEWITCHING, which sheds a whole new light on the classic Cinderella story, TOWERING, a modern take on Rapunzel; and MIRRORED, a fresh spin on Snow White. Her other books include BREATHING UNDERWATER, An American Library Association Top 10 Best Book for Young Adults, BREAKING POINT, NOTHING TO LOSE, FADE TO BLACK, DIVA, and GIRLS OF JULY. She lives in Miami with her husband, two kids, a cat and dog.

Ben Philippe is a writer and screenwriter. He is the author of the novel The Field Guide to the North American Teenager.  Born in Haiti and raised in Montreal, Canada, he teaches film studies and screenwriting at Barnard College. Charming as a Verb (Balzer + Bray) introduces us to Henri “Halti” Haltiwanger. He can charm just about anyone. A star debater and popular student at the prestigious FATE academy, he is the dutiful first-generation Haitian son, and the trusted dog walker for his wealthy New York City neighbors. But his easy smiles mask a burning ambition to attend his dream college, Columbia University. There is only one person who seems immune to Henri’s charms: his classmate and neighbor Corinne Troy. When she uncovers Henri’s less-than-honest dog-walking scheme, she blackmails him into helping her change her image at school. Henri agrees, seeing a potential upside for himself. Soon, what started as a mutual hustle turns becomes something surprising. Charming as a Verb is a novel about the countless hustles we have to keep from doing the hardest thing: being ourselves. Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, in a starred review, called “Henri’s narrative swagger effortlessly charms the reader, but it’s his growing self-awareness that gives this delightful novel its depth… An intelligently narrated romance with plenty of witty banter and a diverse cast.”

Mike Curato is the award-winning author and illustrator of the Little Elliot series, which debuted in 2014, and the graphic novel Flamer, and has illustrated a number of other books for children, including What If… (by Samantha Berger), Worm Loves Worm, and All the Way to Havana. It’s the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. As we follow him on Flamer (Henry Holt and Co.) everyone’s going through changes—but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can’t stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance. Kirkus, in a starred review, said “This is a story that will be read and reread, and for some, it will be the defining book of their adolescence.”

Kacen Callender is originally from Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. They are the author of the young adult novel This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story and the middle grade novel Hurricane Child. Felix Love, the title character in Kacen Callender’s Felix Ever After (Balzer + Bray) has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a revenge plan. But he didn’t expect it would land him in a quasi–love triangle and a journey of questioning and self-discovery that would help redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself. In a starred review Publishers Weekly praised it as a “top-notch depiction of a messy, complicated, romantic young artist navigating the bumpy road to self-love and self-determination …”

David Yoon is the author of the New York Times bestseller Frankly in Love. and now lives in Los Angeles with, and their daughter. He also drew the illustrations for his wife, novelist Nicola Yoon’s New York Times bestseller Everything, Everything. In Super Fake Love Song (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers) we meet self-proclaimed total nerd Sunny Dae as he meets Cirrus Soh. He can’t believe how cool and confident she is. So when Cirrus mistakes Sunny’s older brother Gray’s bedroom–with its electric guitars and rock posters–for Sunny’s own, he sort of, kind of, accidentally winds up telling her he’s the front man of a rock band. Before he knows it, Sunny is knee-deep in the lie. She forms a fake band with him, but no way can he trick this amazing girl into thinking he’s cool, right? Just when Sunny is about to come clean, Cirrus asks to see them play sometime. Oops. Now there’s only one thing to do: Fake it till you make it. Great things happen — but it’s only a matter of time before Sunny’s house of cards come tumbling down. Was it all worth it? Kirkus Reviews, in a starred review, called it ” A clever, hilarious, and empathetic look at diverse teens exploring authenticity, identities, and code-switching.”

Justin A. Reynolds wrote Opposite of Always, his debut novel which has been translated into seventeen languages, and is being developed for film with Paramount Players. What if you could bring your best friend back to life—but only for a short time? Jamal’s best friend, Q, doesn’t know that he died, and that he’s about to die again. He doesn’t know that Jamal tried to save him. And that the reason they haven’t been friends for two years is because Jamal blames Q for the accident that killed his parents. But what if Jamal could have a second chance? A new technology allows Q to be reanimated for a few weeks before he dies permanently. Can Jamal fix everything if he can’t tell Q the truth? Justin A. Reynolds’ Early Departures (Katherine Tegen Books) weaves together loss, grief, friendship, and love in an homage to the bonds that bring people together for life—and beyond. In a starred review, Booklist called it “[…] propulsively readable. There are some big questions about choice, consequences, loyalty, and love in this novel, and Reynolds beautifully complements those heavy concerns with the sweet, funny, and genuine voice of his protagonist.”