Synopses & Reviews
“The shrinkadinks think I have a screw loose. Aint playing with a full deck. Whacked-out wiring. Missing marbles.” Irreverent, foulmouthed seventeen-year-old Cricket is the oldest ward in a Catholic boys home in Maine—and his life sucks. With prospects for the future that range from professional fighter to professional drug dealer, he seems doomed to a life of “criminal rapscallinity.” In fact, things look so bleak that Cricket cant help but wonder if his best option is one final cliff dive into the great unknown. But then Wynona Bidaban steps into his world, and Cricket slowly realizes that maybe, just maybe, life doesnt totally suck.
Review
"A profane, profound debut. . . . One of the most wrenching and engaging young-adult books to come along in ages."
—The Wall Street Journal "This is a truly original work, and fans of Sherman Alexie may find a new favorite in Blagden."
—School Library Journal, starred review
"Dear story, you rock. . . . All readers will appreciate Cricket's complex, lovable character and the strong adults who nourish it."
—Kirkus
"Through Cricket, Blagden offers a fine masculine viewpoint that expresses the intensity of grief."
—Booklist
"Readers who like male protagonists and gritty, contemporary settings will enjoy this carefully crafted novel."
—VOYA, 3Q 3P J S
"Cricket conveys his damage through a wildly inventive voice; his often profound philosophies and speculations about life, parents, art, sex, and God are couched in energetic (and sometimes shockingly profane) imagery that turn ordinary language into the verbal equivalent of a Chihuly glass sculpture--colorful, twisted, brittle, and arresting."
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Holden Caulfield, meet 2013. With his irreverent, hilarious, and heartbreaking first novel, one thing is clear: Scott Blagden is the real thing."
—Deb Caletti
"Dear Life, You Suck will certainly offend a few and delight thousands. Profane, sacrilegious, and defiant, this debut novels crackles with energy. It has depth and human significance, by which I mean the real stuff of real life."
—Ron Koertge
"Cricket Cherpin is profane, funny, hard, vulnerable, kind, angry. In other words, he's as complex and as unique as you or me. His unusual and realistic voice will grab you from the first page and stay with you long after the last one."
—Francisco X. Stork
"Dear Cricket, you rock!"
—Tim Wynne-Jones
Synopsis
In this emotionally powerful, funny debut, Cricket Cherpin needs to figure out what to do with his life before he turns eighteen. But life sucks--so why not just give up?
Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old Austin is always messing up and then joking his way out of tough spots. The sudden appearance of his allegedly dead father, who happens to be the very-much-alive rock star Shane Tyler, stops him cold. Austin--a talented musician himself--is sucked into his newfound father's alluring music-biz orbit, pulling his true love, Josephine, along with him. None of Austin's previous bad decisions, resulting in broken instruments, broken hearts, and broken dreams, can top this one. Witty, audacious, and taking adolescence to the max, Austin is dragged kicking and screaming toward adulthood in this hilarious, heart-wrenching YA novel.
Synopsis
Austin, 16, a self-described screwup, finds out that his father isn’t dead. He’s alive, and moreover he’s Shane Tyler, a famous singer/guitarist/song writer—Austin’s dream for himself. But Shane is battling his own demons, and Austin must figure out how to grow up on his own terms.
About the Author
Michael Rubens was a producer for several years for the award-winning Daily Show with Jon Stewart, writing and directing field pieces with Stephen Colbert, among others. Michael has also been a host, writer, and producer of several programs on the Travel Channel, and has written and produced for CNN, Oxygen, and other networks. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.