Susan Juby – författare

The hilarious diary of Alice and her attempts to survive the embarrassments that are her parents, the small-minded nature of her hometown, and her own struggle to fit in. Highly observant, satirical and wise.Fifteen years old and nursing a "serious case of outcastitis," Alice MacLeod is having a hard time finding anything much to like in small town Smithers, British Columbia. Her mum's a folk-festival hippie chick with a hair-trigger temper, her dad's a mild and reasonable sort of loser who hides out in the basement trying to write soft-core romance novels, and her last school counsellor threw a teary fit in the middle of a session and left the profession entirely. She'd love to "get past what my father calls my 'knee-jerk dislike of just about anything,'" but she's not sure that there's anything out there that's worth it.Alice's journal is filled with eye-rolling protests at the embarrassments and stupidities she finds herself surrounded with: her mother's drumming-circle friends, the therapeutic jargon thrown her way by counsellors and the outstanding inefficacity of her current counsellor, Death Lord Bob. But Alice's sharp bark doesn't do much to conceal her lack of a bite. It's her mum, after all, not Alice, who gets into a fistfight with Linda, the town's teen thug, while Alice sits cringing in the family car. In fact, Alice has a sweet side, which she makes all the more endearing by getting all squirmy and ashamed whenever she reveals it. Alice's fierce ungainliness, and her unwillingness to surrender it to make her life any easier, make her struggles highly appealing.

From the author of the hilarious I’m Alice (I think), comes the irresistibly funny sequel, with further adventures of Alice’s adolescent angst.Sixteen-year old Alice suspects that this is the year she’s going to bloom, graduating from the ranks of the marginal into the realm of the practically normal. That’s immediately confirmed when, lured by the $400 clothing allowance, she becomes the official Rod & Gun Club candidate in the town’s Miss Smithers, BC, Beauty Pageant.Now that she’s practically normal, Alice is anxious to try new things. But she can’t decide whether to push her sort-of boyfriend, Goose, into having sex with her, or to take a vow of chastity with the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) movement.Alice, fresh from her hit debut in I’m Alice, I Think – and complete with satirical wit and unique thrift-shop style – is back in this uniquely funny take on surviving the tough teen years.

"I laughed out loud more times reading this book than any book I''ve read in years….I never wanted to leave Woefield, and you won''t, either."—Meg Cabot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Princess Diaries and InsatiableSusan Juby, already a reader-favorite YA author, makes her triumphant first foray into adult contemporary fiction with Home to Woefield, a hilarious, wildly original, and wonderfully insightful tale of no-so-ordinary life down on the farm. Told in four delightfully distinct narrative voices—a crusty 70-something farmer, a hair band-loving teen, a precocious 11-year old, and an earnest New Yorker in her 20s—Home to Woefield will enchant readers of all ages, as its motley cast struggles to avoid foreclosure with outlandish schemes and prize-winning chickens.

A Book Riot Best Book of 2015 So Far   Four starred reviews!   “Susan Juby’s The Truth Commission knocked my socks off. You should read it!”—Gayle Forman, best-selling author of If I Stay   “Susan Juby is a marvel. Wise, witty, and full of heart, her writing draws you in and won’t let go. And just when you think it can’t get any better, it does.”—Meg Cabot   This was going to be the year Normandy Pale came into her own. The year she emerged from her older sister’s shadow—and Kiera, who became a best-selling graphic novelist before she even graduated from high school, casts a long one. But it hasn’t worked out that way, not quite. So Normandy turns to her art and writing, and the “truth commission” she and her friends have started to find out the secrets at their school. It’s a great idea, as far as it goes—until it leads straight back to Kiera, who has been hiding some pretty serious truths of her own. Susan Juby’s The Truth Commission: A story about easy truths, hard truths, and those things best left unsaid.   * “With a deft hand and an open mind, Juby presents many layers of truth. This is a sharp-edged portrait of a dysfunctional family with some thought-provoking ideas about what is real.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review * “A surprising, witty, and compulsive read.” —School Library Journal, starred review   * “Hilarious, deliciously provocative and slyly thought-provoking.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review * “Juby’s bright dialogue and vivid, appealing characters draw readers along as the three young artists navigate truths both light and dark, discovering themselves in the process.”—The Horn Book, starred review   * “A smart, savvy YA novel about what constitutes the truth; its ideas will linger long after the last page.”—Shelf Awareness, starred review   “I absolutely loved The Truth Commission. Every page made me laugh aloud, while all the time the tears were creeping up on me. The characters are so real that I wouldn’t be surprised if they knocked on my door right now. I hope they do, I want to spend more time with them.”—Jaclyn Moriarty, author of The Year of Secret Assignments and A Corner of WhiteFrom the Hardcover edition.

"The Fashion Committee is another winner by one of my all time favorite authors."--Meg Cabot, New York Times bestselling author of the The Princess Diaries and Mediator series Charlie Dean is a style-obsessed girl who eats, sleeps, and breathes fashion. John Thomas-Smith is a boy who forges metal sculptures in his garage and couldn’t care less about clothes. Both are gunning for a scholarship to the private art high school that could make all their dreams come true. Whoever wins the fashion competition will win the scholarship—and only one can win. Told in the alternating voices of Charlie’s and John’s journals, this hilarious and poignant YA novel perfectly captures what it’s like to have an artistic drive so fierce that nothing—not your dad’s girlfriend’s drug-addicted ex-boyfriend, a soul-crushing job at Salad Stop, or being charged with a teensy bit of kidnapping—can stand in your way. With black and white art custom-created by fashion and beauty illustrator Soleil Ignacio, the book is a collector’s item, perfect for anyone with a passion for fashion.