BEE BOOK BUZZ: TRY NOT TO BREATHE by JENN HUBBARD

Buzzing today about TRY NOT TO BREATHE (Viking, February 2012), a new book by Jenn Hubbard. Jenn is a fellow member of the KidLit Authors Club. Her first book, THE SECRET YEAR, is a must read and I'm sure this new book will be, too. 


And guess what? Jenn's launch party for TRY NOT TO BREATHE is tomorrow, February 4th at 1:00 p.m. at the always wonderful Children's Book World in Haverford, PA. 


Now, here's the buzz on Jenn and TRY NOT TO BREATHE:

In the summer after his suicide attempt, sixteen-year-old Ryan struggles with guilty secrets and befriends a girl who’s visiting psychics to try to reach her dead father.

If you were a bee, which would you be and why?

a) the queen (hive revolves around her.She lays around 1500 eggs a day for two to three years)

b) a drone (impregnates queen and dies), 

c) or a worker bee (Works non-stop building hive, pollinating, gathering nectar, making honey, feeding baby bees)

I would be a worker. I work two jobs, and I don't have the glamour or power of the queen!

Did you eat your vegetables when you were a kid?

I ate them then as a duty; now I enjoy them. 

What's your favorite fruit or vegetable?

Fruit: cherries. Vegetable: broccoli. 

Bees pollinate plants and flowers, too. What's your favorite flower?

Are flowers mentioned in your latest book?

The lilac is one of my favorites, and there is a scene involving lilacs in my book. The main character is recalling some time spent with a girl on whom he has a tremendous crush, and they were near a fragrant, blooming lilac at the time, so the scent is woven in with his memory.

Beeswax is used for so many things, including candles. On your most recent birthday, were you able to blow out all of your candles on the first try?

I think once you pass twenty, you no longer try to have a candle for every year!

How old is your MC?

He is sixteen.

Did you ever compete in a spelling bee?

I won my dictionary (the one I still use) in a junior-high spelling bee. I think the winning word was "domestically." In elementary school, I won so many of our class spelling bees that the teacher resorted to trying to find unusual words just for me. I remember when she threw "camouflage" at me. As luck would have it, I had seen the word in a book only a few days earlier, and it stuck in my head! I remembered thinking that even though everyone around me pronounced it cam-a-flouge, the spelling made it look like it should be pronounced cam-oo-floj. So I got that one right, too!

My causes are bees, trees, seas, and all things affecting our environment.What's important to you besides writing for children and or young adults?

Hiking and nature are big parts of my life. My latest book deals with recovery from a suicide attempt, and this concept of people putting their lives back together is  important to me. The book is about difficulties, but it's also about hope, and moving forward.