Teen Book Fest

Paul Griffin

After graduating Dartmouth College with a BA in Film Studies, I was well-prepared to find work as a butler and bartender, a cook and an EMT, a dog trainer, a driver. I washed dishes with Vin Diesel. I made movies and wrote short stories and plays, scripts and, yes, novels that more often than not featured the street mutts that had a habit of wiggling their way into whatever apartment I was living in at the time. I worked construction, loaded trucks, tutored and taught. The hardest and best work was the teaching. I started out with the Creative Arts Team, specializing in HIV/AIDS prevention and conflict resolution workshops. These days I work with organizations like Literacy for Incarcerated Teens and Behind the Book. Seeing young people learn how to tell their life stories in ways that might bring them a step closer to realizing their dreams----that's like finding treasure. I live with my family, human and canine, in New York City, which is chock-full of stories, not to mention characters.

TBF is a mind-dazzling experience. Stephanie and the TBF team pour heart and soul into making every event memorable, every moment a joyride. The attendees—some 2000+!--are not just inspired but inspiring. They read with gusto and engage their favorite writers with challenging questions. They write too—many are authors, and their work is remarkable. TBF is a celebration of art and artists. Librarians, teachers, book-loving (and wildly selfless) volunteers and established writers reaching out to teens looking to publish their work and/or to share their love of reading: This is what YA book festivals are all about. Seeing the next generation of writers for young adults find a place where they can so safely and with so much plain old FUN celebrate themselves and their passions was absolutely unforgettable. To quote one of my favorite YA authors, Shawn Goodman, it filled me with “something like hope.” Paul Griffin

Book List
Additional Resources
Fun Facts

Not sure which books to read? Let our TBF authors tell you which ones they recommend! Visit our Resources page, then scroll down to "TBF One Book Recommendations". You will also find a more complete list of books by each author under TBF Book List.

	Adrift Realistic Fiction, 9780545709392 Recommended for teens Matt and Mike are best friends, just two working-class guys trying to earn some money in Montauk for the summer. When they meet Driana, JoJo, and Stef, three friends who live a much different life of privilege, Matt and Mike find themselves in a sticky situation where temptation rivals sensibility. Worlds collide when the group ventures out to sea aboard a small boat that Stef sneaks out from her dad's dock. As the waves rise and the fragile vessel weakens, things go horribly wrong. Adrift at sea for days, who will have what it takes to survive?
	Burning Blue Realistic Fiction, 9780142425145 Recommended for teens When beautiful, smart Nicole, disfigured by acid thrown in her face, and computer hacker Jay meet in the school psychologist's office, they become friends and Jay resolves to find her attacker.
	Saving Marty Middle School, Realistic Fiction, 9780399539077 Recommended for teens When Lorenzo adopts a runt piglet destined for auction, an unexpected, life-changing friendship forms.
	Stay with Me (Available in Spanish through Hipocampo Booksellers) Realistic Fiction, 9780142421727 Recommended for teens Fifteen-year-olds Mack, a high school drop-out but a genius with dogs, and Céce, who hopes to use her intelligence to avoid a life like her mother's, meet and fall in love at the restaurant where they both work, but when Mack lands in prison he pushes Céce away and only a one-eared pit-bull can keep them together.
	When Friendship Followed Me Home (Available in Spanish through Hipocampo Booksellers) Middle School, Realistic Fiction, 9780803738164 Recommended for teens Recommended to read before TBF Seventh-grader Ben, always an outsider, is led into a deep friendship with Halley, who is being treated for cancer, by the special dog he and his adoptive mother take in.
	Ten Mile River Realistic Fiction, 9780803732841 Recommended for teens Recommended to read before TBF A stunning debut novel about survival and friendship on the streets of New York City. Best friends Ray and Jose are not your typical thirteen-year-olds. They've escaped foster care and juvenile detention centers to live on their own together in an abandoned building located near Manhattan Park called Ten-Mile River. With no use for school or families, street-smart Jose and bookish, introspective Ray have everything they need in each other. They are closer than brothers until they meet Trini. She?s smart, beautiful, and confident, and they both fall for her immediately. As tension creeps into their relationship, Ray must struggle to find an identity separate from Jose and try to envision a future for himself beyond Jose and Ten-Mile River.

Interviews

7 questions for Adrift author Paul Griffin

Videos

When we asked our authors what they were or might have been voted in HS, Paul answered most Likely Not To Want To Be Voted a Most Likely.

Other Fun Facts

I love dogs more than people. Way way more.
I sleep in the vampire pose, so my wife tells me.
I consider dog hair an accessory.
I have size 13 feet.
My feet smell not as bad you would think size 13 feet would smell.
If I were a superhero, I would be Pizza Man and I would be able to eat four pizzas a day and gain no weight.
If you can only read one of my books before TBF you should read When Friendship Followed Me Home, because the dog in it is based on one of my real life dogs, and everybody loves him in real life, so I figure maybe you'll love him too, even in the pages of a book. Plus, he looks like an Ewok. There's a picture of him in the book on page 47. His name is Nice Guy Eddie, from the movie Reservoir Dogs.