Patrick Jones
Patrick Jones is the author of five realistic teen novels, most recently Stolen Car((Walker / Bloomsbury, 2008). His first young adult novel Things Change (Walker & Company, 2004) was named by the Young Adult Library Services Association as a best book for reluctant readers, and was runner-up in the Teen Buckeye Book Award selected by Ohio teens. His second novel Nailed was published by Walker / Bloomsbury in spring 2006 and was a runner-up for the Great Lake Book Award. His 2007 novel, Chasing Tail Lights, is nominated for the Minnesota Books Awards. His most recent (and last) professional publication is Connecting with Reluctant Readers (Neal-Schuman, 2006). In 2006, he won lifetime achievement awards from both the Catholic Library Association, and the American Library Association. Jones is a frequent speaker at library conferences, having visited all fifty states, as well as in Canada, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. Jones grew up in Flint, Michigan, but now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Read more at his web page www.connectingya.com, including FAQs about Things Change and Nailed (perfect for book reports!). NOTE: After a bruising experience with another author, he's limited his reviews on Good Reads to only raves as not to disturb the "fellowship" of YA writers.
“That's life you know? It is all one big waiting room. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. And then, like you, sometimes it's great.”
“An angel once found a demon broken and nearly dead. The angel held out his arm to help the demond. The demond looked at the angel and asked 'Why would you save an evil demond like me?' The angel answered, 'Because without you there is no me.”
“Anything that makes you happy can make you sad.”
“I've learned to listen not to what peolpe have to say 4but how they say it. I watch them closly how they speak, in particular their eyes.Lips lie, but the eyes never do.”
“What do you think it is to be normal?'Why in the world would you want to be?' she says.I don't know. I guess that's the problem.'I don't think normal is that great.'But so many people choose it,' I reply.I don't think that's it at all. I think most everyone is normal and some of us, for whatever reason, choose to reject that and wear ruby red slippers or old black hats.'Well, why do we choose the hard road?”
“Everybody's got their secrets; I carry mine like a jagged stone in my shoe.”
“Pass on the priveleged, piss on the rest.”
“The nail that sticks out the farthest is hit the hardest.”
“Kara do you love Brad?'All my heart.'Then how can you let him leave next year?'I guess love isn’t enough sometimes.”
“It’s easy to watch someone else’s life crash and burn, harder to watch your own accident up close.”
“If you want to be saved, you’ve got to reach out your arms.”
“The nail that sticks out farthest gets hammered the hardest.”
“There is eloquence in screaming.”