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My Favorite Teen Authors:
::David Levithan
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::Robin Benway
::Libba Bray
::Cecil Castellucci
::Holly Black
::Judy Blume (worship!)
::Jacqueline Woodson
::Wendy Mass
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::Sarah Dessen
::Carolyn Mackler
::Kristen Kemp
::Billy Merrell
::Markus Zusak
::E. Lockhart
::Julie Anne Peters
::Pete Hautman
::E.R. Frank
::Sonya Sones
::Ellen Wittlinger
::Gail Giles
::Ned Vizzini
::Sarah Mlynowski
::Kirsten Smith
::Lauren Myracle
::Daniel Ehrenhaft
::Blake Nelson
::Robert Lipsyte
::David Yoo
::Adrienne Maria Vrettos
::Coe Booth
::Jenny Han
::Robin Wasserman
::Melissa Marr
::Nico Medina
::Bennett Madison
::Justine Larbalestier
::Scott Westerfeld
::Jaclyn Moriarty
::Siobhan Vivian
::Melissa de la Cruz
Annabel has a bazillion step- and half-siblings that she could do without. What she really wants is for her father to return to her and her mother. There is that problem of his new wife and children in Australia... but Annabel is sure that during her vacation in Sydney, she can convince him to come home. When she sees how happy he actually is, though, Annabel begins to consider whether she can share her father without losing him entirely.
"The narrative is fast, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, and gradually reveals insight into families and individuals."
School Library Journal (starred)
"The author of Gingerbread once again creates a funny and feisty narrator caught in a complicated family situation."
Publishers Weekly (starred)
Starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal
(and SLJ "Book of the Week")
Borders Original Voices selection
International Reading Association (IRA) Children's Choice
CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center) Choice/ Parent's Guide to Children's Media selection
Texas Lone Star List
(Texas Library Association)
Four stepsiblings from two opposite sides of the world are sharing a summer together in one strange city: Los Angeles.
Annabel: This NYC fashionista girl is determined to hate LA, where her dad and his family have relocated. But just when Annabel thinks her summer is beyond ruined, she gets a surprise from Down Under... and let's just say he's a good kisser.
Lucy: Surfer girl Lucy misses her home country, Australia, but thinks LA isn't so bad after all. If she could only get her stepsister Annabel on board to loving LA too – and get that weird Wheaties boy to stop staring at her!
Wheaties: Genius boy doesn't mind where he's spending the summer, so long as lovable Lucy is nearby. He'll try hard not to worry about how his dad and stepmother's marriage problems will affect his living situation. And he'd really like to know the secret of that Ben dude's swoony appeal to the girls.
Ben: The Aussie athlete god would rather be spending his school break playing footy with his mates back in Melbourne. He'd also really rather not have his dad's loud girlfriend sharing their American vacation. And he'd definitely like to know how he got interested in the pretty Annabel girl all over again.
"This blended narrative offers a lighthearted glimpse into weighty matters. Cohn's four narrators are pitch perfect."
School Library Journal
"...fully developed characters, both adults and kids, who clash, compromise and make it all up with genuinely human imperfection... an amiably honest snapshot of the steps' lives, a little further on down the line."
Kirkus Reviews
Q: What inspired you to write these books?
I come from quite an extended family. My mother is one of ten children, I have a total of twenty-nine first cousins (last time I counted, and not including steps), with family members located all over the world (including Poland, Lebanon, Israel, England). I also have two wonderful half-sisters who are British. I've always been familiar with what it's like to have a complicated family situation, and so it seemed a natural fit to write a novel about a blended, cross-cultural family.
The Steps was the first kids' novel I ever tried writing. I wrote it immediately after I'd returned from living in Melbourne, Australia for two months, which is how the Australian influence got in there - I wanted to remember the place. I also wanted to remember the people - the characters Jack, Nell and Ben are named after the children of an Australian friend of mine.
Two Steps Forward was inspired by wanting to see what would happen to the characters from The Steps if they were a little older, and living in the U.S. instead of Australia. Just as the city setting of Sydney was important to The Steps, I chose Los Angeles for the setting because although I live in New York City, I tend to spend a lot of time in LA, and I was eager to write about the place. I was also intrigued to write a novel from different characters' perspectives; Two Steps Forward is my first novel told from differing points-of-view, and using boy voices, too.
Q: Will there be another sequel?
A: I'm not planning one at this time - too many other projects competing for my attention.
Q: Can you recommend some similar books?
This is a very unscientific list, but if you enjoyed The Steps or Two Steps Forward, I would suggest you check out books by authors like Sharon Creech, Joan Bauer, Lisa Yee, D. Anne Love, James Howe, Melissa Kantor, Rachel Vail, Jacqueline Wilson, Louise Rennison, Sonya Sones, and Wendelin Van Draanen. I'd also highly recommend any of the books in Simon & Schuster's Aladdin MIX line for tween girls.
