Author: James Patterson, Lisa Papademetriou, Keino (Illustrator)
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 272 Pages (July 21st, 2014)
Add to: Goodreads
Order here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Book Depository, Amazon UK, Kobo, IndieBound, iTunes
Synopsis: James Patterson introduces the best selling "illustrated fiction" format to teens! It's "Middle School" for high schoolers!
In James Patterson's first highly illustrated "diary fiction" story for teens, the mega-bestselling author's most endearing and original teen heroine ever proves that everyone can use a helping hand once in a while.
Margaret "Cuckoo" Clarke recently had a brief stay in a mental institution following an emotional breakdown, but she's turning over a new leaf with her "Operation Happiness". She's determined to beat down the bad vibes of the Haters, the Terror Teachers, and all of the trials and tribulations of high school by writing and drawing in her diary. And when life gets really tough, she works through her own moments of uncertainty through imaginary conversations with her favorite literary characters.
Cuckoo's also got a nearly impossible mission: she, along with her misfit band of self-deprecating friends (who call themselves "the Freakshow") decide to bridge the gap between warring cliques and "bring the Nations together". Not everyone is so willing to join hands and get along, but Cuckoo never stops smiling... until one of her closest friends, pushed to desperation by a Hater prank, decides that enough is enough.
A Mission to Save the World – Guest Post from James Patterson
Anyone can change the world. It just takes a little patience and creativity.
That’s one thing I have in common with Cuckoo Clarke, main character of my new book Homeroom Diaries – we’re both trying to change the world. Her mission starts at her high school, where she and her friends are on a mission to spread happiness to their classmates. My mission?Trying to save books and reading in America.
One thing I’m especially concerned about is local bookstores. This year I made a pledge to give a million dollars to bookstores, but I’m also tackling the issue in my books.
Here’s one section of Homeroom Diaries that I hope help makes my point:
There’s a great indie bookstore about five blocks from my house called Pagemakers, where I like to spend some of my time and most of my money. It always has a great selection of books, and sometimes it hosts readings by awesome authors. Usually only, like, three people show up to the readings, so I always get to ask lots of questions and get my book signed, and it’s really great. But this evening, the store’s hosting one of my favorite authors, Nancy Werlin, and her fans are hogging up some serious floor space. It’s also mid-December, so the place is buzzing with holiday shoppers.
I take a seat near the back of the room. There’s a guy in a baseball hat sitting in front of me, and its flipped-up brim is blocking my view, so I lean forward and tap him on the shoulder.
“Excuse me,” I say politely. “Would you mind taking off your hat? I can’t see the podium.”
The guy turns and looks at me. He’s handsome, about my age, with pink cheeks and eyes like a crisp sky. “Sure, Cuckoo,” he says with a smile.
Have you ever seen one of those pictures that look like a candlestick until you look at it a different way and realize it’s, like, two friends talking to each other? Sometimes the new picture comes to you suddenly. Like, you didn’t see it and didn’t see it, and then—suddenly—it’s there.
That’s what happens to this guy’s face as he takes off his baseball cap. Suddenly, this super-cute dude in front of me morphs into Winnie Quinn, my biology teacher.
“Oh!” I say. “Hi, Mr. Quinn.”
He looks vaguely horrified by the use of his Teacher name.
“I mean, um, Winnie,” I add awkwardly. I hurry to change the subject. “Are you a fan?”
Winnie holds up three books. “I get this one autographed every time she comes to town.” He opens the cover of Rules of Survival and shows me the title page. Nancy Werlin is signed in five places.
I pull open my copy of Double Helix.
“Wow,” Winnie breathes when he sees my seventeen Nancy Werlin signatures.
Your local bookstore probably has some author events going on too. Maybe worth a peek next time you’re in that part of town? Because if young people don’t get involved with local bookstores, then fifty years from now, no one will be. To me, that’s a scarier future than The Hunger Games.
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| Photo By: David Burnett |
About the Author:
In January, 2010, The New York Times Magazine featured James Patterson on its cover and hailed him as having "transformed book publishing." Time magazine named him "The Man Who Can't Miss," and he is a two-time Children's Choice Book Award "Author of the Year" nominee, a designation decided on by more than 15,000 children and teen readers.
In the past three years, James Patterson has sold more books than any other author (according to Bookscan), and in total, James's books have sold an estimated 260 million copies worldwide. Since 2006, one out of every seventeen hardcover fiction books sold was a Patterson title. He is the first author to have #1 new titles simultaneously on The New York Times adult and children's bestsellers lists and is the only author to have five new hardcover novels debut at #1 on the list in one year—a record-breaking feat he's accomplished every year since 2005. To date, James Patterson has had nineteen consecutive #1 New York Times bestselling novels, and holds the New York Times record for most Hardcover Fiction bestselling titles by a single author (76 total), which is also a Guinness World Record.
From his James Patterson Pageturner Awards (which rewarded groups and individuals for creative and effective ways of spreading the joy of reading) to his website ReadKiddoRead.com (which helps adults find books that kids are sure to love) to his regular donations of thousands of books to troops overseas, Patterson is a lifelong champion of books and reading. His critically acclaimed Maximum Ride series debuted on the New York Times bestsellers list at #1 and remained there for twelve straight weeks. The series has so far made ninety-four cumulative appearances on The New York Times bestsellers lists, proving that kids of all ages love page turners. He captured the attention of boy readers with Daniel X series, and his third series for readers of all ages debuted in December 2009 with Witch & Wizard, which spent five consecutive weeks atop the New York Times bestsellers list.
Patterson is the creator of the top-selling new detective series of the past dozen years, featuring Alex Cross and including the Hollywood-adapted "Along Came a Spider" and "Kiss the Girls," starring Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman. He is also the creator of the #1 new detective series of the past five years, featuring Lindsay Boxer and the Women's Murder Club, from which the ABC television drama series was adapted. He has authored books behind six films on the Hollywood fast-track, including the upcoming Maximum Ride movie forthcoming from Avi Arad, the producer of X-Men and Spiderman.
He is the author of novels — from The Thomas Berryman Number (1976) to Honeymoon (2005) — that have won awards including the Edgar, the BCA Mystery Guild's Thriller of the Year, the International Thriller of the Year award, and the Reader's Digest Reader's Choice Award. And, he has won a Children's Choice Book Council's Children's Choice Awards "Author of the Year" award (2010).
One of Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100, James made a guest appearance on the popular FOX TV show "The Simpsons" in March, 2007.
Find Mr. Patterson Online:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Homeroom-Diaries Instagram
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