Books and Descriptions

"I need to find hope in the world. I need to laugh. That's why I write."   Joan Bauer

Pool -- I love the game.  And I layered my love for it onto Mickey Vernon, age 10.  He is desperate to win the pool tournament at his family's pool hall, determined to beat the vile Buck Bender -- Cranston, New Jerseys king bully who has been after him for years.  Mickey needs a coach, but his pool champ dad died young.  Hes got Arlen, his best friend, to help with the geometry of the game.  His grandmother, Poppy, owns the hall and is a good shot herself.  Hes got videos of his dad playing, but what would it be like to learn at his side?
Sticks is about a young man who faces loss and injury and doesn't quit.  Its about winning, losing, and the people from our past who can show up at just the right time to help.  And it shows the power in things that we don't always expect can make a difference -- like math, forgiveness, and pot-bellied pigs.




Alcoholism in a family -- its a life of pain, and often, denial.  Jenna Boller, ace shoe salesperson, knows this too well.  Her dad cant stay sober.  But shes learned the secret to living with his dysfunction -- speak the truth, keep loving him.  And for one summer, she gets out of town -- hired by her aging rich boss, Madeline Gladstone, to drive her to Texas. 
Rules of the Road is a story about how life's toughest tests can make us stronger.  Its about single parenting, shoes, honor, corporate responsibility, and how a new haircut makes all kinds of things better.  Its about the difference remarkable people can make in our lives in a very short time.  Its the book that changed me as a writer.  My dad was an alcoholic -- Id never written about such personal issues before. 

There is so much coming at ace reporter Hildy Biddle that she's not sure what's true anymore.  The big story in town is that a ghost is on the loose and plenty of people are scared.  It doesn't help that the local newspaper is running frightening headlines.
Hildy is the kind of reporter who is determined to stick to the facts.  That is the only way she can find out who or what is really threatening her town.  But what are the rules of good journalism, anyway?  Does the truth have a chance of being heard over all the buzz?

A Recipe for Hope
Combine:

• One tough-talking waitress
• One equally tough perfectionist comfort food chef
• One heart-wrenching move from their beloved Brooklyn to a dinky dairy town

Fold in:

• One great Quaker battling leukemia
• One nasty mayoral race
• Romance; serious food
• A courageous sheriff's deputy, a cute short order cook, a team of teenagers fighting for truth

Let rise:

• Because when hope gets released in a place, all kinds of things are possible.

When you've been chased out of Memphis by a scary Elvis impersonator and end up in the tiny town of Culpepper, where nothing much seems to happen, it's hard to hold onto a big dream. And Foster has a really big dream: one day she hopes to have her own TV cooking show like her idol, Sonny Kroll. Meanwhile, she'll keep on doing what she does best — baking.
Soon Foster discovers she's not the only one in Culpepper with with a dream of fame. Macon desperately wants to make documentary films. Miss Charleena longs to return in triumph to Hollywood, and Foster's mother hopes to be a headliner instead of a backup singer. Meanwhile, Culpepper seems to provide a safe haven. But Foster and her mother can't hide forever.

How does a boy named Tree cope?  He's too tall, his Vietnam vet grandpa is in the hospital, his parents' divorce is all too new.  How does divorce affect a family -- from siblings to parents, grandparents, and the dog?  What can we learn about our personal wars from old soldiers who have seen battle?  How can hope be found in the midst of tragedy?  Is it possible to love an iguana almost as much as a dog? 
These are some of the questions I asked myself when I was writing Stand Tall.  It's an exploration of the worst year in a family's life and how they slog through it.  It's about old memories, too, and the shadows they leave behind.  But mostly it's about the hard, necessary work of restoration and rebuilding, and how to find purpose in tough times.

My first novel.  Ellie Morgans voice burst from me full-toned.  This is a story about a teenager and her vegetable, about having a gigantic dream and trying to fulfill it, about people we love not always understanding our passions, about being ourselves when most of the world says to conform.  Its about the power of grandmothers, the magic of seeds, the triumph of agriculture, and a towering dad who learns who his daughter really is. 
I wrote this story after a serious car accident.  The laughter in Squashed, I assure you, helped me heal.  The metaphor about growing a big dream is with me always.

Be careful what you wish for.  Any self-respecting cupid will tell you this.  But A.J. McCreary learns things the hard way.  Even when eyeball to eyeball with an official winged being, she refuses mythological truth, and follows her heart which leads straight to Peter Terris, drop-dead gorgeous all-out popular guy, who doesn't know shes alive.  At least, not yet.
Thwonk is a story about romantic desperation, artistic integrity, and how to look at people through the eyes of the heart.  Theres a great deal of me in A.J.s mother, the Emotional Gourmet; like A.J.s father, I worked in advertising.  I swear, I have never once been approached by a cupid, but I wonder how I would have reacted back in high school if Jonathon had flitted into my life.

Have you ever known someone who was so unusual they had trouble living around other people?  Maybe you're a bit like that.  Ivy Breedlove is a little (at least around her family), but her Aunt Jo wins the prize.  Is Jo still alive?  That's what Ivy wants to know.  And if she is, what can she tell her about the Breedloves?
Backwater is a wilderness adventure about pursuing historical truth, about learning where the roots of our families -- normal and otherwise -- can take us, and its about the times in life when we struggle to survive against the odds.

(All book descriptions were taken from Joan Bauer's personal website www.http://joanbauer.com/jbbooks.html)