Published: January 10th, 2012
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers
Salvador Resendez--Salva to his friends--appears to have it all. His Mexican immigrant family has high expectations, and Salva intends to fulfill them. He's student body president, quarterback of the football team, and has a near-perfect GPA. Everyone loves him.
Especially Beth Courant, AKA the walking disaster area. Dreamy and shy, Beth is used to blending into the background. But she's also smart, and she has serious plans for her future.
Popular guy and bookish girl--the two have almost nothing in common. Until fate throws them together and the attraction is irresistible. Soon Beth is pushing Salva to set his sights higher than ever--because she knows he has more to offer, more than even he realizes.
Then tragedy strikes--and threatens to destroy everything that Salva has worked for. Will Beth's love be enough to save him?
When I discovered Anne Osterlund a couple of years ago I had so much fun reading her books. I now wait anxiously for the publication of each new book and I am thrilled to see Salvation hit the shelves. One of the things I particularly love about her books is her strong characters, who are always easy to relate to.
As part of the Salvation blog tour, I had the chance to ask Anne exactly why she writes for the young adult audience, and how she chooses her subject matter. I'm sure you'll have as much fun reading her answer as I did:
Losing at Poker by Anne Osterlund (with help from Salva and Beth, the main characters in Salvation)
I look at Salva.
He ignores me, pretending to focus on his hand of poker cards. I’m getting the distinct impression he thinks someone else should answer this question, but Aurelia, the heroine of my earlier books Aurelia and Exile, is busy dealing. And Robert as well as Aerin and Dane, from Academy 7, wisely declined to join the game. Besides, this is Salva’s blog tour, and he should really take the lead in answering the guest posts.
“Why do I write YA?” I say to him.
He switches around the cards in his hand, then stretches out on the carpet, rolls over on his back, and pretends to be concentrating. “Not sure. You love teenagers?” he pretends to answer.
“That is such BS and you know it,” I say.
He rolls back over on his stomach, trades in a card, and feigns nonchalance. “You find us more of a challenge than adults?” he asks.
I squelch a smile. There may be something to that. Salva, Beth, and I do have a hard time taking the easiest path.
“You read YA,” Beth says calmly. She exchanges a card, then refills her snack bowl with M&M’s.
Salva reaches for the bowl, but she tugs it away.
“Yes, I read YA,” I say. “I like young adult books because they’re fast and get right to the action and the writing is often stronger than adult fiction; but really, you know, it’s because of—”
“The characters,” Aurelia blurts out.
I glare at her. We had an agreement that she wouldn’t take over this tour.
She claps her hand over her mouth, rolls her eyes at Salva, then ditches her cards and heads for the kitchen. Clearly poker isn’t her game.
“True,” I admit. “I read YA for the teenage characters. Because, I think, by their very nature . . . the fact that they have their own minds, their own opinions, their own view of the world—”
“And they aren’t trapped in that viewpoint,” Beth adds.
I nod, folding my cards. It’s pretty obvious this game is going to be won by either Salva or Beth.
“And because they haven’t lived their entire lives yet,” I continue, “there’s always . . .”
Salva calls.
“Hope,” Beth says, laying down her cards.
He grins, pushing his chips in her direction.
She passes him the M&M’s.
He empties most of the bowl into his hand, then looks at me and finally contributes to the conversation. “And you choose your subject matter based on the stories we tell you. You really don’t have any say in it.”
“Maybe not,” I admit. “But I do provide the M&M’s.”
Thank you so much to Anne for joining us here on The Paperback Princesses.
