Books by Joan Bauer

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin Putnam

	Best Foot Forward	Corporate lies, dealing with an alcoholic father, managing a juvenile delinquent, and romance -- what a combination! But that's what Jenna Boller faces in this story about what it means to do your best when close to everything around you is spiraling out of control. In Rules of the Road, Jenna declared that she was a survivor. Now in this companion novel, she moves beyond surviving to prevailing. To see the special reading guide, click here. (Note that file size is 3 MB, downloading it may take a little time on a slow connection.)
	Stand Tall	How does a boy named Tree cope? He's too tall, his Vietnam vet grandpa is in the hospital, his parents' divorce is all too new. How does divorce affect a family -- from siblings to parents, grandparents, and the dog? What can we learn about our personal wars from old soldiers who have seen battle? How can hope be found in the midst of tragedy? Is it possible to love an iguana almost as much as a dog? These are some of the questions I asked myself when I was writing Stand Tall. It's an exploration of the worst year in a family's life and how they slog through it. It's about old memories, too, and the shadows they leave behind. But mostly it's about the hard, necessary work of restoration and rebuilding, and how to find purpose in tough times.
	Hope Was Here	A Recipe for Hope Combine: One tough-talking waitress One equally tough perfectionist comfort food chef One heart-wrenching move from their beloved Brooklyn to a dinky dairy town Fold in: One great Quaker battling leukemia One nasty mayoral race Romance; serious food A courageous sheriff's deputy, a cute short order cook, a team of teenagers fighting for truth Let rise: Because when hope gets released in a place, all kinds of things are possible.
	Backwater	Have you ever known someone who was so unusual they had trouble living around other people? Maybe you’re a bit like that. Ivy Breedlove is a little (at least around her family), but her Aunt Jo wins the prize. Is Jo still alive? That’s what Ivy wants to know. And if she is, what can she tell her about the Breedloves? Backwater is a wilderness adventure about pursuing historical truth, about learning where the roots of our families -- normal and otherwise -- can take us, and it’s about the times in life when we struggle to survive against the odds.
	Rules of the Road	Alcoholism in a family -- it’s a life of pain, and often, denial. Jenna Boller, ace shoe salesperson, knows this too well. Her dad can’t stay sober. But she’s learned the secret to living with his dysfunction -- speak the truth, keep loving him. And for one summer, she gets out of town -- hired by her aging rich boss, Madeline Gladstone, to drive her to Texas. Rules of the Road is a story about how life’s toughest tests can make us stronger. It’s about single parenting, shoes, honor, corporate responsibility, and how a new haircut makes all kinds of things better. It’s about the difference remarkable people can make in our lives in a very short time. It’s the book that changed me as a writer. My dad was an alcoholic -- I’d never written about such personal issues before.
	Sticks	Pool -- I love the game. And I layered my love for it onto Mickey Vernon, age 10. He is desperate to win the pool tournament at his family’s pool hall, determined to beat the vile Buck Bender -- Cranston, New Jersey’s king bully who has been after him for years. Mickey needs a coach, but his pool champ dad died young. He’s got Arlen, his best friend, to help with the geometry of the game. His grandmother, Poppy, owns the hall and is a good shot herself. He’s got videos of his dad playing, but what would it be like to learn at his side? Sticks is about a young man who faces loss and injury and doesn’t quit. It’s about winning, losing, and the people from our past who can show up at just the right time to help. And it shows the power in things that we don’t always expect can make a difference -- like math, forgiveness, and pot-bellied pigs.
	Thwonk	Be careful what you wish for. Any self-respecting cupid will tell you this. But A.J. McCreary learns things the hard way. Even when eyeball to eyeball with an official winged being, she refuses mythological truth, and follows her heart which leads straight to Peter Terris, drop-dead gorgeous all-out popular guy, who doesn’t know she’s alive. At least, not yet. Thwonk is a story about romantic desperation, artistic integrity, and how to look at people through the eyes of the heart. There’s a great deal of me in A.J.’s mother, the Emotional Gourmet; like A.J.’s father, I worked in advertising. I swear, I have never once been approached by a cupid, but I wonder how I would have reacted back in high school if Jonathon had flitted into my life.
	Squashed	My first novel. Ellie Morgan’s voice burst from me full-toned. This is a story about a teenager and her vegetable, about having a gigantic dream and trying to fulfill it, about people we love not always understanding our passions, about being ourselves when most of the world says to conform. It’s about the power of grandmothers, the magic of seeds, the triumph of agriculture, and a towering dad who learns who his daughter really is. I wrote this story after a serious car accident. The laughter in Squashed, I assure you, helped me heal. The metaphor about growing a big dream is with me always.