The Greater Rochester

Teen Book Festival

"To foster a community effort to celebrate and promote reading by connecting teens and authors."

Opening Ceremony Speaker

Terry Trueman will be back again this year to lead all of our guest authors in a fun question and answer session to kick off the Festival.  Terry will also be presenting at the breakout sessions with his good friend and fellow Washington State author, Edward Averett.

Terry Trueman

Terry Trueman was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but grew up in Seattle. He   attended the University of Washington, where he received his B.A. in creative writing. He also has an M.S. in applied psychology and an M.F.A. in creative writing, both from Eastern Washington University. The father of two sons, Henry and Jesse, Terry Trueman makes his home in Spokane, Washington, where he has lived since 1974.

His first novel, Stuck In Neutral was a Printz Honor recipient. Inside Out, his second novel was released in August 2003. In October of 2004, his third novel Cruise Control was released -- a companion to Stuck In Neutral that tells brother Paul McDaniel's intimate side of the story. Hodder Books released Swallowing the Sun, which follows a teen’s heroic efforts to save friends and family after his Honduran village is destroyed by a devastating mudslide, in October of 2003 (only in the UK). And No Right Turn, Trueman's fourth US and fifth all-around novel was published in 2006.  Seven Days at the Hot Corner will be released March 2007.

Books by Terry Trueman
 

                                                               

                                                                    Stuck in Neutral

                Fourteen-year-old Shawn McDaniel, who suffers from severe cerebral palsy and cannot function, relates his perceptions of his life, his family, and his condition, especially as he believes his father is planning to kill him.


 

 Inside Out

A sixteen-year-old with schizophrenia is caught up in the events surrounding an attempted robbery by two other teens
who eventually hold him hostage.

 

    Cruise Control
A talented basketball player struggles to deal with the helplessness and anger that come with having a brother rendered completely dysfunctional by severe cerebral palsy and a father who deserted the family.  This is a companion book to Stuck in Neutral.


 

 
No Right Turn
I heard the gunshot and I knew what had happened. How do you live your life after catastrophe hits your family? Three years later Jordan is a self-described zombie. No real friends, no interests, nothing. But then salvation comes, in the most unlikely form. It's gorgeous, it's beautiful, it's sexy. It's a 1976 Corvette! Terry Trueman's new book is a powerful exploration of the spirit, both fragile and resilient, of a boy desperate for a lifeline to hold on to.

 

                    

              7 Days at the Hot Corner
Varsity baseball player Scott Latimer struggles with his own prejudices and those of others when his best friend reveals that he is gay.