I’m so happy to be Nerdy today!
Before I won an ARC of See You at Harry’s (Candlewick, 2012) at a writing retreat last spring, I had never read a book by Jo Knowles. Knowles is known for her fearless YA novels that deal with abuse (Lessons from a Dead Girl), teen pregnancy (Jumping Off Swings), and alcoholic mothers (Pearl), among other themes. You aren’t going to plow through one of her books without some previously unknown heartstring getting strummed—and resonating for a long time—according to reviews. But as an elementary school librarian, I mostly read middle grade material. Still, I’d heard Jo present to crowds of writers, and met her, too. In person, she struck me as someone preternaturally attuned to the hum of human nature. I wanted to know how that translated into her work.
And now I know.
See You at Harry’s squeaks into the upper…
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