Zeroboxer is on the Young Adult Library Services Association’s 2016 list of Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers.
I’m particularly pleased by this because I’d never heard the term “reluctant reader” before this year, when I started seeing it used a lot in trade reviews of Zeroboxer. The Quick Picks list suggests books that, according to the American Library Association, “teens, ages 12-18, will pick up on their own and read for pleasure; it is geared to the teenager who, for whatever reason, does not like to read.”
I became an author wanting in particular to write fast-paced, action-packed, thought-provoking books that inspire teens to read when they could be doing any number of things including watching YouTube videos or playing video games. Reading was so important to me when I was young. Authors are doing vital work when we make young people realize that reading is fun and turn them into readers for life.
So yeah, this one’s important to me.