Books with author Andrew Simonet

I met Melissa in the rubber room, a.k.a. in-school suspension. And that’s not her real name.She had secrets, I had enemies.“People are either useful or dangerous,” she said. “One or the other.”“Which one am I?” I said.“You’re both.”Meili was right. (That’s her real name.)You can solve a lot of problems if you don’t mind getting hurt.Jason Wilder is in permanent in-school suspension for fighting. Meili Wen gets there by breaking a girl’s finger. Jason and Meili don’t just connect; they collide. Two people who would never cross paths―outsiders from radically different backgrounds―they form an exhiliarating, unpredictable bond. When circumstances push, they push back. There’s no plan. And there’s no stopping."I am so crap. How can you stand being with me? Don’t answer that or I will crash this thing with both of us on it, swear to god, are you ready?”Yes. No. Didn’t matter.I reached both arms around Meili’s waist as we zoomed down the hill.

I met Melissa in the rubber room, a.k.a. in-school suspension. And that’s not her real name.She had secrets, I had enemies.“People are either useful or dangerous,” she said. “One or the other.”“Which one am I?” I said.“You’re both.”Meili was right. (That’s her real name.)You can solve a lot of problems if you don’t mind getting hurt.Jason Wilder is in permanent in-school suspension for fighting. Meili Wen gets there by breaking a girl’s finger. Jason and Meili don’t just connect; they collide. Two people who would never cross paths—outsiders from radically different backgrounds—they form an exhiliarating, unpredictable bond. When circumstances push, they push back. There’s no plan. And there’s no stopping."I am so crap. How can you stand being with me? Don’t answer that or I will crash this thing with both of us on it, swear to god, are you ready?”Yes. No. Didn’t matter.I reached both arms around Meili’s waist as we zoomed down the hill.

“Her keen observations are those of a Jewish teen coming of age.... This novel too has its dark edges, as Simon explores complexities of friendship and family.” —The New York Jewish Week“A thought-provoking and beautifully written book that will challenge how its readers think about how an individual weaves the tapestry of her family’s collective memory.” —Rabbi Deborah Miller, Books and BlintzesIn the summer of 1955, nine-year-old Amanda Gerber tearfully leaves her best friend, Francine, and their adventurous life on her block in Brooklyn’s Flatbush. She joins her cantankerous family on the long, hot drive to her grandmother’s home in the Catskill Mountains among the city’s Jews who flock to countless hotels and bungalow colonies in the heyday of the Borscht Belt. In the idyllic mountains, Amanda becomes ensconced in the tumult of her extended family and their friends, often seeking solace in the woods with her beloved cousin Laura.Through the following summers, interspersed with the heightened drama of her emotionally charged city life, Mandy faces severe tests to her survival mechanisms, including the pain of loss, abuse, and betrayal, while family secrets threaten to disrupt her life even further. A novel-in-stories, Floating in the Neversink is a testament to the power of survival, friendship, and love.

“Her keen observations are those of a Jewish teen coming of age.... This novel too has its dark edges, as Simon explores complexities of friendship and family.” —The New York Jewish Week“A thought-provoking and beautifully written book that will challenge how its readers think about how an individual weaves the tapestry of her family’s collective memory.” —Rabbi Deborah Miller, Books and BlintzesIn the summer of 1955, nine-year-old Amanda Gerber tearfully leaves her best friend, Francine, and their adventurous life on her block in Brooklyn’s Flatbush. She joins her cantankerous family on the long, hot drive to her grandmother’s home in the Catskill Mountains among the city’s Jews who flock to countless hotels and bungalow colonies in the heyday of the Borscht Belt. In the idyllic mountains, Amanda becomes ensconced in the tumult of her extended family and their friends, often seeking solace in the woods with her beloved cousin Laura.Through the following summers, interspersed with the heightened drama of her emotionally charged city life, Mandy faces severe tests to her survival mechanisms, including the pain of loss, abuse, and betrayal, while family secrets threaten to disrupt her life even further. A novel-in-stories, Floating in the Neversink is a testament to the power of survival, friendship, and love.

Esfir Manevich is a young Jewish girl who lives in the Polish town of Kobrin in 1936. Facing anti-Semitism in public school, Esfir moves in with her charming aunt who runs a boardinghouse in the bustling city of Brest. Being younger than the other boarders, Esfir struggles to find a place in her new life, all the while worrying about her diminishing role in the family she left behind. As the years pass, Esfir experiences the bombing of her hometown during the German invasion of 1939. When the Russians overtake the area, Esfir sees many of her socialist relatives and friends become disillusioned by the harsh restrictions. During the German occupation, Esfir and her family are enclosed in a ghetto where they develop heartbreaking methods of survival. In the summer of 1942, shortly before Esfir's thirteenth birthday, the ghetto is liquidated and the inhabitants are forced onto cattle cars destined for the killing fields and Esfir must face unimaginable horror.

Esfir Manevich is a young Jewish girl who lives in the Polish town of Kobrin in 1936. Facing anti-Semitism in public school, Esfir moves in with her charming aunt who runs a boardinghouse in the bustling city of Brest. Being younger than the other boarders, Esfir struggles to find a place in her new life, all the while worrying about her diminishing role in the family she left behind. As the years pass, Esfir experiences the bombing of her hometown during the German invasion of 1939. When the Russians overtake the area, Esfir sees many of her socialist relatives and friends become disillusioned by the harsh restrictions. During the German occupation, Esfir and her family are enclosed in a ghetto where they develop heartbreaking methods of survival. In the summer of 1942, shortly before Esfir's thirteenth birthday, the ghetto is liquidated and the inhabitants are forced onto cattle cars destined for the killing fields -- and Esfir must face unimaginable horror.

Andrew Simonet's Wilder is a debut YA novel about passion, anger, secrets, and what happens when two teens from different worlds meet in in-school suspension. I met Melissa in the rubber room, a.k.a. in-school suspension. And that’s not her real name.She had secrets, I had enemies.“People are either useful or dangerous,” she said. “One or the other.”“Which one am I?” I said.“You’re both.”Meili was right. (That’s her real name.)You can solve a lot of problems if you don’t mind getting hurt.Jason Wilder is in permanent in-school suspension for fighting. Meili Wen gets there by breaking a girl’s finger. Jason and Meili don’t just connect; they collide. Two people who would never cross paths―outsiders from radically different backgrounds―form an exhiliarating, unpredictable bond. When circumstances push, they push back. There’s no plan. And there’s no stopping."I am so crap. How can you stand being with me? Don’t answer that or I will crash this thing with both of us on it, swear to god, are you ready?”Yes. No. Didn’t matter.I reached both arms around Meili’s waist as we zoomed down the hill.