Published by: Feiwel & Friends
Publication date: January 12th, 2021
Synopsis:
In Girl on the Ferris Wheel, Julie Halpern and Len Vlahos expertly tackle this quirky and poignant romance that explores what first love really means--and how it sometimes hurts like hell.
Tenth graders Eliana and Dmitri could not be more different. He's an outgoing, self-confident drummer in a punk band called Unexpected Turbulence. Eliana is introspective and thoughtful, and a movie buff who is living with depression.
Dmitri quite literally falls for Eliana when he sees her in gym class and slams into a classmate. The pair then navigate the ins and outs of first love. Exciting, scary, unexpected, and so much more difficult than they ever imagined. They say opposites attract, but they soon realize that there is so much they just don't understand about each other. It begs the question: How long can first love possible last when you're so different?
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Guest Post
Writing and Collaboration
Looking back on writing The Girl on the Ferris Wheel with Len Vlahos, I am kind of amazed that we were able to pull it off. Not that we weren't qualified, with a combined thirteen books published between us, but we had never actually met each other before we started writing. In fact, we still haven't met in person! If not for Covid, perhaps we would have travelled to be together for a grand book release. For now, we are together online, and that's where our characters were born.
Before Len and I signed the contract for the novel, we had one phone conversation. It worked. We liked the same music and movies, we both are married with two kids, and both of us grew up leaning into countercultures. He was easy to talk to. And, as it turned out, really easy to write with. It was so much fun writing a novel with Len; I would write ten more. The process was akin to writing letters: I would write a chapter, send it to him, and then a few days to a few weeks later, he'd send one back. We didn't often plan, and we didn't often know what we were going to receive. It was exciting, mysterious, and inspiring. We didn't always agree on what the characters would do next, and sometimes we edited the dialog written by the other person for our characters in the other person's chapters (does that make sense?), but it was always for the good of the story.
I will say that the first time we talked about our characters, I remember being defensive. I don't remember what about. But it was perfect for Eliana who is pretty much always looking to be disappointed. Len, thankfully, did not disappoint me at all. Eliana grew out of that, into a warmer, more open character than when she started, and I grew into a more open-hearted writer. Thanks, Len.
Julie Halpern is the award-winning author of seven young adult novels, one novel for adults, and one picture book for young readers. In her imaginary spare time she enjoys traveling, making cosplay for her kids, and eating baked goods. Julie lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Caldecott-winning author and illustrator Matthew Cordell, and their two children.
Len Vlahos dropped out of NYU film school in the mid '80s to play guitar and write songs for Woofing Cookies, a punk-pop four piece that toured up and down the East Coast, and had two singles and one full-length LP on Midnight Records. After the band broke up, he followed his other passion, books. He is the author of The Scar Boys, a William C. Morris Award finalist and a #1 Indie Next pick, and Scar Girl, the book's sequel. Len lives in Denver with his wife and two young sons, where he owns the Tattered Cover Book Store.
