Ellen Hopkins
WHAT ABOUT WILL
Twelve-year-old Trace Reynolds has always looked up to his brother, mostly because Will, who's five years older, has never looked down on him. It was Will who taught Trace to ride a bike, would watch sports on TV with him, and cheer him on at Little League. But when Will was knocked out cold during a football game, resulting in a brain injury—everything changed.
Now, seventeen months later, their family is still living under the weight of "the incident," that left Will with a facial tic, depression, and an anger he cannot always control, culminating in their parents' divorce. Afraid of further fracturing his family, Trace begins to cover for Will who, struggling with addiction to pain medication, becomes someone Trace doesn’t recognize.
But when the brother he loves so much becomes more and more withdrawn, and escalates to stealing money and ditching school, Trace realizes some secrets cannot be kept if we ever hope to heal.
ON SALE 9/14/21
Welcome to my home (page, that is). If you’re here, it probably means you want to know more about me, so where do we start? To go all the way back to my beginning requires rewinding—eek!—over six decades. If you’re up for a little time travel, check out my bio page. If you just want to know more about my books, you’ll find information on those here. (Did you know I published twenty nonfiction books for children before moving into young adult fiction?) You can also learn where I might be appearing, and discover the answers to frequently asked questions. Oh, and if you’re a writer, there’s a whole section with tips on writing and publishing on the Reference page.
Many of you may be researching for school projects. Please visit my For Students section, also on the Reference page. If you don’t find the information you need here, feel free to contact me via email. But please understand I get many, many requests for interviews every day. Use other resources first, then target your email with five specific questions not answered anywhere else.
To you wonderful teachers out there, you will find links to some really great reading guides for all my young adult novels. If you are asking your students to write to their favorite author, please know that I vastly prefer email to snail mail! The post office is twenty miles away and I don’t get there every day.
If you’re a teacher, librarian or assorted “other” hoping to schedule an author appearance, my personal life has slowed down a little and I’m happy to consider invitations. Please check in with Roberta at author.appearances@simonandschuster.com
So go on. Take a good, long look around and come back often. I’m happy you’ve chosen to visit me here. The front door’s open, water’s on for tea, and there are cookies in the oven. Only problem is, it’s likely my husband is baking them. Since my life turned crazy busy, he has moved into the role of family chef. And he’s still learning. (And burning stuff.)
SEP 1, 2018
Washington, DC
National Book Festival
Time: TBD
Boulder, CO
Boulder Bookstore
Time: TBD
SEP 4, 2018
Salt Lake City, UT
King’s English Bookshop
Time: TBD