Whip out the Silly Putty

Hurry!

Go grab today’s edition of The New York Times! Go! Now!!! Do it before they issue a recall after realizing how much ink they gave Thirteen Reasons Why.

All weekend long, I had the mega-jitters. I knew a reporter from The NYT was putting together a story on 13RW. I knew she was interviewing booksellers, teens, and the bigwigs at Penguin. But what were they saying? What were they all saying? Wait! Now she wants to talk to me?

The fun part was the photo-shoot. I asked the photographer, Marissa Roth, if we could take the photos at Eisenhower Park in Arcadia. That’s the park from my childhood which inspired the park in 13RW, cryptically referred to in the book as...well...Eisenhower Park.

Here’s what the afternoon looked like from my perspective:


Then it was time for the phone-interview. I did it while sitting in my car, getting embarrassed whenever a car alarm went off or when a couple began arguing right outside my passenger door. What were they arguing about? Cheese! I have no idea why they were upset over cheese, but I specifically heard him shout “Mozzarella!” and her fire back with “Cheddar!”

Anyway...

The interview lasted an hour and I tried to enjoy every minute because how often do you get interviewed by The NYT? The thing I’m most pleased with is that the reporter, Motoko Rich, went and sought an opinion from the only group I had in mind while writing the book...teenagers. While it’s great to speak with adults in the biz, you can’t write a good article about Thirteen Reasons Why if you don’t interview teens.

Plus, as you’ll see, teens give the best quotes!


P.S. You can also read the article here. But you should really buy the paper because there’s a whole lotta newsworthy stuff in there!

P.P.S. In the gap between the photos and the interview, I attended a book launch party to celebrate my buddy Lisa Yee’s first novel for teens, Absolutely Maybe. I’ve got two words for you: Lisa. Rocks! Oh, and two more words: Lisa. Funny!

P.P.P.S. Today I opened two very nice Thank You letters from a couple of schools who recently used 13RW for their book club discussions. Because of their inspiring words, I plan to start blogging more about the benefits of reading/discussing books which deal with sensitive issues...and why it makes me more than a little mad and sad when people try to limit access to those books. So stay tuned!