Book Tour Virgin is Will Clarke.com

Angry Parents in Cumberland, Rhode Island Meet Angry Parents In Conroe, Texas

It's Like Something Out of a Tom Perrotta Novel

The controversy in Rhode Island continues over my autobiographical essay, HOW TO KILL A BOY THAT NOBODY LIKES. It's really like something in a Tom Perrotta novel: This probably intrepid—definitely underpaid—high school teacher assigns my essay to his or her class. You know, in a sincere effort to connect with the kids, to give them a funny perspective on life in high school, and hopefully to inspire a love of reading and language. So this teacher assigns an offbeat story, my story.
    That is until one of the student's parents didn't think my little autobiographical piece was so funny. Instead these parents decried it as pornographic. These decrying parents  take this up with the principal, and then when they don't get the satisfaction that they want, they take it up withe the local TV news, and on to the school board. And thus, it continues..
    Today, a reporter from the Providence Journal called to ask me my take on the uproar over my essay. (I have been traveling and I have laryngitis.) I did the best that I could to stand up for this teacher and for my essay. We'll see how it turns out tomorrow when the story hits the stands. In the meantime, buy Tom Perrotta's new book, THE ABSTINENCE TEACHER. It's one of the best books I have read all year. And it hits so remarkably close to home for me that it's scary. 

My Two Favorite Things On The Sunset Strip: The Coffee Bean and BookSoup

Signing At Hudson Books At DFW Airport Today

Miss American Pie Reads In Big D

June 4, 7PM, at the Lincoln Park Barnes & Noble (across from Northpark on NW Hwy), Margaret Sartor reads from her heart-swelling memoir, MISS AMERICAN PIE.

One of the best memoirs that I have ever read and definitely on my ever-growing required reading list that I give to friends and loved ones.

If you haven't read this book yet, do your soul a big favor and come see Margraret read it live. 

Here's the publisher's description:

Set against the backdrop of the deep South in the 1970s, Miss American Pie is the unforgettable account of Margaret Sartor’s life from age twelve to eighteen. A raw document crafted from diaries, notebooks, and letters, this deeply personal yet universally appealing story astonishes with its candor. Young Margaret moves with ease between the seemingly trivial concerns of hairstyles and boys to more profound questions of faith and meaning. By turns funny and poignant, heartbreaking and profound, she tackles all of the decade’s issues—desegregation, drugs, the sexual revolution, the rise of feminism, and the spread of charismatic evangelical Christianity—with humor, frankness, and unexpected insight.

Miss American Pie reminds us what it feels like to grow up, offering a true and honest look at a teenager grappling with the timeless questions of sex, friendship, God, love, loss, and the meaning of family. The introduction and epilogue, written by Sartor from an older perspective, reflect on those turbulent and life-shaping years, revealing how the girl in the diary turned out after all, and demonstrating that childhood—both its joys and traumas—reverberate deeply in our adult lives.

A Book Sense notable for August

THE WORTHY: A GHOST'S STORY Book Trailer

I'm A Little Late to The Book/Daddy Party, But...

I thought I should still post about this great new site. It's book critic, Jerome Weeks' new blog. Enjoy

Keith Donohue Reads From THE STOLEN CHILD, Friday, May 18th At the Dallas Museum of Art

Keith Donohue's debut, THE STOLEN CHILD was one of my favorite books of 2007. It was one of the most heartfelt and poignant books I have read in ages. I have the honor of introducing Keith at the Dallas Museum of Art this Friday. So if you're in Dallas this Friday night (May 18th), I highly recommend that you go. Here's the publisher's description of the book:

“I am a changeling–a word that describes within its own name what we are bound and intended to do. We kidnap a human child and replace him or her with one of our own. . . .”

The double story of Henry Day begins in 1949, when he is kidnapped at age seven by a band of wild childlike beings who live in an ancient, secret community in the forest. The changelings rename their captive Aniday and he becomes, like them, unaging and stuck in time. They leave one of their own to take his place, an imposter who must try–with varying success–to hide his true identity from the Day family. As the changeling Henry grows up, he is haunted by glimpses of his lost double and by vague memories of his own childhood a century earlier. Narrated in turns by Henry and Aniday, The Stolen Child follows them as their lives converge, driven by their obsessive search for who they were before they changed places in the world.

Moving from a realistic setting in small-town America deep into the forest of humankind’s most basic desires and fears, this remarkable novel is a haunting fable about identity and the illusory innocence of childhood.

SEE KEITH READ AT THE DMA THIS FRIDAY. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS.

This Lady Puts My Book, THE WORTHY, In Her Freezer Because It Scares Her So Bad.

This Lady Loved THE WORTHY & Just So Happens To Sit Across From The Lady Who Keeps THE WORTHY In Her Freezer. Even Though Both Of These Ladies Have Differing Literary Opinions Concerning My Work, They Are Still Nice To Each Other.