BOOKS AND MOVIES

Posted By CarrieK on September 18, 2009

Michelle at GalleySmith is hosting the Literary Road Trip:

The Literary Road Trip is a project in which bloggers are volunteering to showcase local authors. This showcase can be anything you want to make of it – book reviews, author interviews, giveaways – as long as you’re working with an author local to you.

Jennifer Bradbury is an author and English teacher. She lives in Burlington, Washington, which is very close to Sedro Woolley, the town I grew up in. In fact Burlington-Edison High School, where Jennifer taught before taking time off to write full time, and Sedro Woolley High School, where I attended, were huge rivals in football and wrestling when I was there. I’m sure that hasn’t changed.

On Jennifer’s honeymoon, she and her husband biked through the southwestern United States. This trip was part of the inspiration for her YA novel, Shift.

Shift: When Chris Collins and Winston Coggans take off on a post-graduation cross-country bike trek, Chris’s hopes are high. He’s looking forward to seeing the country, dodging a dull summer at a minimum wage job, and having one final adventure with his oldest friend. The journey from Hurricane, West Virginia to the coast of Washington state delivers all those things… and more.

So much more that when Chris returns home without Win at the end of the summer, he’s certain their 10 year friendship is all but over. But when an FBI agent begins asking questions—and raising suspicions about Chris—he learns that saying goodbye to a friend like Win is never as simple as riding away. Shift offers an adventure story and a missing persons tale spinning around a single question: What happens when you outgrow your best friend?

For more information on her writing and an in-depth bio, visit Jennifer Bradbury’s web site.

I was fortunate to be able to interview Ms. Bradbury via e-mail:

What was your journey to published author like? Was it something you always wanted to do?

Jennifer: “It was kind of unexpected. I spent eight years as a high school English teacher, and loved my work and my students. But I fell in love with YA lit after reading hundreds of titles in a short time in an effort to have ready recommendations for my ninth grade students. And after I read so many, I had sort of this urge to join the party. I’d always written with my students, and encouraged them to write what interested them, so I took my own advice and started writing YA fiction. Four years later, I’d written a couple of manuscripts that will never be published but taught me a lot. Then I wrote SHIFT, and it found an agent and an editor really quickly.”

What made you decide to write for the YA genre?

Jennifer: “Teaching! I was an English major in college, but sadly had read very little YA. I made up for lost time when I was teaching, and fell in love with how roomy and inviting YA really is. And I can’t imagine writing anything else.”

As an English teacher, can you talk a bit about the reading habits of today’s American teenager – is reading still alive and well in high school?

Jennifer: “Absolutely. And it was always exciting when a student came to me gushing about a book they’d discovered. I tried to read all of those they recommended–even the ones I didn’t love as much as they did. Kids are smart, smart readers. And while its true there are all kinds of readers out there in high school classrooms–from reluctant to voracious to sophisticated–they all crave great stories and characters. And I think they’re a lot more tolerant of switching genres and styles than most people give them credit for.”

What are you working on now?

Jennifer: “Too much. Rewrites for the second book, which is another realistic YA. This one centers on a family’s struggle in the aftermath of a father’s schizophrenia diagnosis. And I’ve got a pair of books coming up right after that–historicals set in 1815 London and Egypt. There are mummies and spies and lot of fun intrigue. And I’ve got a book brewing inspired by the time I spent in India in 2005. But I can’t say any more than that about it yet!”

I just recently “discovered” YA lit in my own reading. When I was the target age group, I was reading adult novels, so I can’t even remember what was out there for the teenaged reader at the time. I’ve noticed in the book blogging community that YA lit has surged to the forefront, which as a mom I’ve found very exciting. Can you recommend some YA books by other authors?

Jennifer: “I was late to the YA party as well! But there are so many amazing books out there. I’ve loved reading Chris Crutcher, Kenneth Oppel, Sara Zarr, Mary Pearson, E. Lockhart, Markus Zusak, Nancy Farmer, M.T. Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson. Any of those authors would be great places for people to start–but there are hundreds more I could recommend!”

Which writers have had the biggest impact on your life and your writing?

Jennifer: “Hmm. . . I was definitely brought up on the biggies–like Dickens and Bronte and Austen–and those classics were also ones I loved teaching, and love rereading. There’s also a guy I read a lot of during my thesis research–Donald Graves–who focuses on teaching writing but is pretty inspiring all around.”

What is the best book you’ve read this year so far?

Jennifer: “I loved Francisco Stork’s Marcello in the Real World. Beautiful.”

If you could recommend one book that everyone should read, what would it be?

Jennifer: “It would probably make my editor happy if I said SHIFT, but I think I’d have to go with SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson.”

Thank you so much to Jennifer Bradbury for the interview. To visit other blogs participating in the Literary Road Trip, click on over to GalleySmith. Stay tuned: next Thursday I will be highlighting author Dia Calhoun.

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Categories: authors
Tags: author interviews, literary road trip