NOWHERE SPECIAL Out Today
Oct. 24th–Today Matt’s new middle grade novel NOWHERE SPECIAL is available everywhere you buy your books! Our thanks to editor Ben Rosenthal, the entire team at Katherine Tegen Books and Harper Kids, as well at Matt’s wonderful agent Becky LeJeune of Bond Literary Agency for all her hard work leading up to this release.
From the Official Summary:
“Author Matt Wallace delivers a deeply moving story exploring that first formative friendship, navigating challenging family circumstances, and finding hope and strength in a forgotten desert town. Perfect for fans of Ernesto Cisneros and Julie Murphy.
The isolation and bullying Stan suffers at school are nothing compared to the war at home. After he tries and fails to defend his mom by standing up to his abusive father, Stan decides there is only one solution to finding a new self-confidence: he must learn how to fight.
Tragic events have split the two sides of Elpidia’s family into fighting factions. Every day she finds herself outnumbered by her cousins on the schoolyard. After the latest beatdown, her grandmother decides Elpidia must learn how to defend herself.
Stan and Elpidia seem like total opposites, but when they both wind up with the same reclusive trainer, they find an unexpected friendship as they work together to overcome their bullies. But when Stan gains the attention of a powerful gang leader, it threatens to pull him away from his new best friend. Will their dreams for the future be enough to get them out of this small town?”
Matt would love it if those of you who didn’t already preorder the book picked it up today and shared it with the kids in your life. It’s heavier content aimed at more of the pre-teen age range in middle grade, but there’s a detailed content warning in the book, and as it states Matt has done his best to cover the subject appropriately for kids of that age.
Also, please, please, please ask for the book in libraries, particularly your school libraries, and classrooms, and fight book banning wherever it’s happening in your community!
SAVAGE CROWNS TOUR!
Catch Matt all through the month of June as he celebrates the release of SAVAGE CROWNS and the conclusion of his first epic fantasy series, the Savage Rebellion Trilogy, with a series of virtual and in-person events featuring amazing authors like Mur Lafferty, Premee Mohamed, and Kate Elliott!
The Savage Crowns tour will also include Matt’s first in-person store event since 2020! Visit the events page for more details, as well as registration links to the virtual events!
