|
The Short of It
Patrick Flores-Scott was a long-time public school teacher in Seattle, Washington. He’s now a stay-at-home dad and early morning writer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Patrick’s first novel, Jumped In, was named to the 2014 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults list, a Walden Award finalist, a Washington Book Award winner, an NCSS/CBC Notable Book for the Social Studies, and a Bank Street College Best Books of 2014. His second novel, American Road Trip, received multiple starred reviews and is a 2019 Best Fiction for Young Adults pick, and was nominated for state lists and awards in Texas, Arizona, Washington, Connecticut and Georgia. No Going Back (Christy Ottaviano Books, Little Brown) will be released in February of 2024. It tells the story of Tony, a 17 year-old parolee headed back to his old life in Des Moines, Washington. He can't break his terms of parole or he'll be sent back to Zephyr Woods Youth Detention Center. Toxic old relationships and unforeseen challenges make staying on the straight-and-narrow impossible....but surviving them will pave a path toward redemption. |
The Long of It
I was born and raised in the Snoqualmie Valley (just east of Seattle), in the dark, wet foothills of Washington's Cascade Mountains. My dad is a life-long Valley-ite, and my mom is from Uruguay. This meant my two sisters and I were comfortable being scolded in either Spanish or English.
I was born and raised in the Snoqualmie Valley (just east of Seattle), in the dark, wet foothills of Washington's Cascade Mountains. My dad is a life-long Valley-ite, and my mom is from Uruguay. This meant my two sisters and I were comfortable being scolded in either Spanish or English.
Back in the day, I never dreamed I'd spend my future writing books. I wanted to be a basketball player. However, my lack of height, strength, speed and leaping ability proved too much to overcome.
So I worked to master the clarinet.
I loved band and drama and being a creative person, especially when it meant getting up in front of a crowd. I studied theatre at the University of Washington and ended up getting my teaching certificate as well. I spent years working as a reading specialist by day while writing and acting in plays in my free time.
So I worked to master the clarinet.
I loved band and drama and being a creative person, especially when it meant getting up in front of a crowd. I studied theatre at the University of Washington and ended up getting my teaching certificate as well. I spent years working as a reading specialist by day while writing and acting in plays in my free time.
While teaching at a middle school in Des Moines, Washington, I was inspired to try writing a novel that I thought my students would like. I wanted to write a book that reflected their lives and I wanted it to be something that my struggling readers would be able to enjoy.
The truth is, I had my own struggles as a reader.
For years—all the way through college, in fact—I was able to hide the fact that I didn't really read. I could read. It was just so hard to concentrate that I struggled to get through a book.
Now that I was trying to write, I'd write a book with short paragraphs and chapters. I'd try to write something that would've kept me engaged back when I was really struggling. I'd write about characters with big hearts who were searching to find their place in the world.
Jumped In was the book that resulted from that effort. And it turned me into a novelist. I'm grateful for the opportunity to write books and to be creative and to interact with students, teachers and librarians all over the country.
I live with my beautiful family in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The truth is, I had my own struggles as a reader.
For years—all the way through college, in fact—I was able to hide the fact that I didn't really read. I could read. It was just so hard to concentrate that I struggled to get through a book.
Now that I was trying to write, I'd write a book with short paragraphs and chapters. I'd try to write something that would've kept me engaged back when I was really struggling. I'd write about characters with big hearts who were searching to find their place in the world.
Jumped In was the book that resulted from that effort. And it turned me into a novelist. I'm grateful for the opportunity to write books and to be creative and to interact with students, teachers and librarians all over the country.
I live with my beautiful family in Ann Arbor, Michigan.