Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin

Sophie Blue started wearing a black skirt and Midnight Noir lipstick on her last birthday. It was also the day her father disappeared. Or spontaneously combusted. Which is sort of bad timing, since a Popsicle truck with tinted windows has started circling the house.

Kenny Fade is a basketball god. His sneakers cost more than his Jeep. He's the guy all the ladies (and their mommas) want. Bad.

Sophie Blue and Kenny Fade don't have a thing in common. Aside from being reasonably sure they're losing their minds.

Acclaimed author Sean Beaudoin's wildly innovative novel combines uproarious humor with enough plot twists to fill a tube sock. Part thriller, part darkly comic philosophical discussion, and accompanied by a comic book interstitial, Fade to Blue is a whip-smart romp that keeps readers guessing until the last paragraph. - From the publisher.

Mattie Rae says:

I'm just way too un-hip for this selection. But I do have the notion life in the Virtuality is very tempting and very scary. So, watch it out there. I left the book off at the library today and I'm hoping the young adults will read it and then explain it to me. :)!

Good News

Look for reviews soon from Sweet Pea and The Rock Lady.

58% of the letters in Sean Beaudoin's name are vowels.

In ASCII binary code, his name is 01010011 01100101 01100001 01101110 00100000 01000010 01100101 01100001 01110101 01100100 01101111 01101001 01101110

Backwards, it's Naes Nioduaeb. In Pig Latin, it's Eansay Eaudoinbay.

Sean Beaudoin has used his B.A. in photography as a springboard into the following jobs: construction laborer, circus roustabout, busboy, used book buyer, hotel desk clerk, camp counselor, statue repairman (really), seller of jazz vinyl, and a nine-day stint as The World's Worst Telemarketer. He now resides mostly in Seattle, but also sometimes San Francisco, with his wife and daughter.

I also tend to list my history and traits in the third person, as if someone else were writing it for me. I love hot sauce and almonds and Turkish coffee. I hate the phrase "it is what it is." When people say that, I tend to respond, in a much deeper voice than I really have, "NO, IT ISN'T." I like vinyl and French movies and books about unhappy people from the Fifties. I'm not particularly crazy about police procedurals, ketchup, rap-metal, Julia Roberts, cell phones, or Sudoku. - From the author's website.

Going Nowhere Faster by Sean Beaudoin

Five Things The Publisher Said About This Book:

1. "It's fast paced."

2. "It has feel-good moments"

3. "It's laugh-out-loud funny."

4. "You'll come to love these characters more than your own family."

5. "Some people prefer The Brothers Karamazov, but those people are stuck in the past."



Some Advice I, Stan Smith, Can Give You, The Potential Reader:

1. Ask your mom for some cash. If she says no, slip a twenty from her purse and buy this. Or, even better, have your best friend pretend to faint by the register and stuff this in your sweatpants while the clerk freaks out and checks for a pulse.

2. My therapist, Dr. Feldman, says #2 isn't very nice or funny. He says stealing is "Off the hook". He says a lot of things. Ignore him.

3. Someone keeps vandalizing my bike. What kind of person vandalizes a bike? On the other hand, what 18 year-old still rides one? My mother believes in karma. My father believes in math. I believe that some big-forehead game show host should knock on my door and give me a Ferrari. And one of those enormous cardboard checks. When someone with a cardboard check knocks on your door, answer it.

4. If you buy this and bring it into the school cafeteria and stand on a table and read parts of it out loud in a hammy Canadian accent, your popularity will increase exponentially.

5. Pick a phrase. "Love is like a rock" for instance. No matter what question anyone asks you, use this phrase as an answer. Do it for two full weeks. When every single person you know is finally, amazingly, incredibly furious, give in and blame this book." - From the author's website.

Mattie Rae says:
Stan Smith, a high school senior, has a really tall mom who is a strict vegan (everyone else sneaks out for hot dogs and ice cream), an inventive and helpful dad whose tool chest seems to be missing a plumb line and a level, a precious precocious 6 year old little sister, a stalwart yet drooling old dog, a good/bad/good again best friend, a first, probably not the last girlfriend, a lot of really weird teachers, a great job at the video store with a boss who eats a lot of candy, a very high IQ, and a terrific dream, like follow your dream, dream, and someone who is trying to kill him. Like there is a little of Stan Smith in all of us, I wish, well, not the maniac killer stalker part. Check it out! Read the book! Enjoy!

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Good news. The Traveling Library is back. And more people are reading and reviewing books. Look for some great reviews in the near future.