Carter Finally Gets It

Meet Will Carter, but feel free to call him Carter. (Yes, he knows it's a lazy nickname, but he didn't have much say in the matter.) Here are five things you should know about him:

1. He has a stuttering problem, particularly around boobs and belly buttons.
2. He battles Attention Deficit Disorder every minute of every day...unless he gets distracted.
3. He's a virgin, mostly because he's no good at talking to girls (see number 1).
4. He's about to start high school.
5. He's totally not ready.

Join Carter for his freshman year, where he'll search for sex, love, and acceptance anywhere he can find it. In the process, he'll almost kill a trombone player, face off with his greatest nemesis, suffer a lot of blood loss, narrowly escape death, run from the cops (not once, but twice), get caught up in a messy love triangle, meet his match in the form of a curvy drill teamer, and surprise the hell out of everyone, including himself.

Publishers Weekly

"All I think about is girls, and I don't do anything about it," laments Carter at the beginning of this true-to-life, edgy and often hilarious debut novel. The first-person narrative nails the voice of an earnest-and hyper-active-teen starting freshman year with big aspirations and considerable anxiety. Carter's priority is finding a girlfriend, a mission he comically bungles at numerous junctures-"This isn't Queer Eye. Back off, you stalker!" he chastises himself after drowning a girl in compliments. In one telling scene, Carter attends his first high school party, confident that this will be the night he'll have sex, yet scales back his expectations dramatically as he tries to fight back tears when a senior steals his bike ("No, no, no crying! There's kissing to be done"). Carter's trials and triumphs in sports also come into play, as does his rapport with his caustic older sister and oafish friends. Crawford, an actor, stages an unexpected, affecting finale in which Carter finds confidence and fulfillment in an unlikely role: the lead in the spring musical. Teenage guys will totally get this. Ages 13-up. (Apr.)

Brent Crawford was born in Kansas, moved to L.A. and N.Y.C. to pursue an acting career. He worked in theatre, film, TV and commercials (check it out on IMDB.com). He's written numerous plays and scripts, as well as, waited tables, bartended, sold hardware and clothing, worked construction and even dumped airplane toilets (where do you think it goes?). He's now a pro writer, back in Kansas (yeah!). This is his first YA novel.