Sophomore Undercover by Ben Esch

SOPHOMORE UNDERCOVER

by Ben Esch

Contemporary Young Adult
Hyperion/Disney
www.BenjaminEsch.com

4 Signed Copies will be given away on February 27, 2009






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About the Book:

For fifteen-year-old, adopted Vietnamese orphan Dixie Nguyen, high school is one long string of hard-to-swallow humiliations. He shares a locker with a nudist linebacker, his teachers are incompetent, and he's stuck doing fluff pieces for the school newspaper. But Dixie's luck takes a turn when he stumbles across one of the jocks using drugs in the locker room; not only does he finally have something newsworthy to write, but the chance to strike a blow against his tormentors at the school as well.

However, when his editor insists he drop the story and cover homecoming events instead, Dixie sets off on his own unconventional--and often misguided--investigation. He soon discovers that the scandal extends beyond the football team to something far bigger and more sinister than he ever thought possible. Once he follows the guidelines of his hero, Mel Nichols (journalism professor at Fresno State University and author of the textbook Elementary Journalism) this high school reporter just might save the world. That is, of course, if Dixie can stay out of juvenile hall, the hospital, and new age therapy long enough to piece it all together.

Part social satire, part teen-mystery parody, and wholly hilarious, Sophomore Undercover is a dazzling debut that will make headlines with teens everywhere.

1) Tell us, what really spawned a book about a socially outcast high school sophomore? Do I sense a personal story coming on here?

I think this might hurt my street cred as a YA writer a bit, but I actually had a pretty good time in high school. Don’t get me wrong, there was the usual constant rejection by girls/getting wedgies from large, angry jocks/general teenage discontent and malaise, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I was a social outcast. Actually, my high school years were decidedly “incast.” And if “incast” isn’t a word, it totally should be.

2) Your website has a Youtube video of you telling cat jokes (see video below). What gives?

The cat joke video started pretty organically…or, as “organic” as a video of me reading cat jokes in a Cosby sweater could possibly be.

For some reason the comments on my blog kept coming back to cat jokes, so I figured I would give the people what they obviously wanted and posted a cat joke contest-extravaganza with me reading the winning entries on video. It’s not exactly what I thought I’d be doing when I started the website, but you gotta give the customers what they want.

And in my humble opinion, I think I look pretty fetching in that sweater. So, that’s a bonus for everybody.

3) What’s your worst high school memory?

Junior year. Yep…that whole year pretty much sucked.

4) What about your best high school memory?

I was voted homecoming king. You know, that loses its coolness factor pretty much the second after you graduate from high school, but at the time I thought that was pretty neat.

5) Does Dixie Nguyen have any good advice for teenagers out there?

Dixie’s advice: try to avoid any direct eye contact with football players.

Ben’s advice: Uhh…join a club or something? Man, I am terrible at advice.

Ben's Cat Jokes Video:
(See interview above for an explanation)




About the Author:

While writing Sophomore Undercover, Ben Esch slept on a fold-out sofa in his parents' basement, gained thirty pounds, and developed a crippling fear of raccoons. The author did not date much during this period. Ben now lives in Los Angeles and sleeps in an actual bed. Chase your dreams, kids. Visit his hilarious website at: www.BenjaminEsch.com