Monday, April 14, 2008

Will Weaver wins the MN Book Award!

Congratulations to Will Weaver for winning the Minnesota Book Award for Young Adult Fiction for his book "Defect".

"Defect" is the story of 15-year old David a boy born defective - with a pinched face, bug eyes and hearing aids. He also has a secret.

Will brings up an interesting issue of how we define ourselves. As we grow out of teenage-dom, eventually those things that we felt "defective" may come to define us in a positive way. What does it take for a "defect" to become an attribute?

Will wrote on his blog of "Defect"
This novel has much to do with some time I spent at the Mayo Clinic as a thirteen year old. I had a facial injury (my nose) which took some fixing, and that feeling of being disfigured (temporarily) stayed with me. Defect also has to do with the literary issue of the young adult "problem novel." Nowadays, fictional realism has hit a wall in terms of problems to explore; that is, the problem under investigation had better be really interesting!

Congratulations Will! We look forward to your "Saturday Night Dirt" series and the summer racing season!!

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