Kirkus Best Young Adult Books of 2008

So it was dark here, raining (following a tease of morning sun), and after a day of reading Brideshead Revisited, of cleaning the house, of missing my boy, I was feeling rather unmoored. I'd gone off to the grocery store, come back, slipped the chicken in the oven, and was actually thinking the words, What next?, when the phone rang and I could see that it was HarperCollins. Jill Santopolo, my editor, I thought, beautiful Jill, with her bright blond curls, because that's who it almost always is when caller ID says HarperCollins.

"So," she began, in her bright-light voice, "I have some good news for you. House of Dance has been named one of the best young adult books of the year by Kirkus." I squealed. She laughed. She read from the PDF that sat before her.

So there it is, with a nod of thanks to Karen Calabria, who so graciously wrote the words that are included in the citation, including these: "The simple elegance of Kephart's prose effortlessly captures the helplessness and confusion of adolescence..." Thank you, Karen, for understanding what it is that I try to do—imperfectly, always, but oh, I try—and thank you, Kirkus, for your faith.