This week I’m pleased to welcome A.J. Cattapan, author of the young adult novel, Angelhood. A.J. loves to travel, so the four facts and a fib she has shared are travel themed! Try to guess the fib and read more about her novel below.
1.) I had lunch in the same cafe in Edinburgh, Scotland, where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter books.
2.) I studied Italian in Italy in the same school Elizabeth Gilbert studied at during Eat, Pray, Love.
3.) I did a series of cartwheels along a portion of the Great Wall of China.
4.) I ziplined over mountains in Guatemala and got stuck high above the jungle canopy.
5.) I visited Prince Edward Island for the 100th anniversary of Anne of Green Gables.
Keep reading to find out which one is the fib.
Seventeen-year-old theater geek Nanette believes her life is headed toward stardom on Broadway. But when her dream theater college rejects her and her best friend dies in a terrible accident, Nanette decides the world would be better off without her. Unfortunately, the afterlife offers something less than a heavenly situation. Trapped between alternating periods of utter darkness and light, Nanette is stuck following a high school freshman around. Soon, she learns she’s a guardian angel, and the only way she can earn her wings is to keep her young charge, Vera, from committing the same sin she did—taking her own life.
Unfortunately, Nanette is missing more than just her wings. She has no tangible body or voice, either. Frustrated by her inability to reach out to Vera and haunted by memories of her old life, Nanette wants to give up, but then she sees what happens when another Guardian at the high school turns his back on his charge. The shock is enough to supercharge Nanette’s determination. If she’s going to find peace in the afterlife, she’s going to have to discover what living is really all about.
A.J. Cattapan is an author, speaker, and middle school English teacher living in the Chicago area. Her published works include the young adult novel Angelhood, a story in Chicken Soup for the Soul: From Lemons to Lemonade, and numerous short stories and articles in magazines for teens and children, including Highlightsand Hopscotch for Girls. She will also be featured in a recipe and corresponding story anthology due out this summer.
The fib is #3. I’ve never been to China, much less cartwheeled across the Great Wall, but doesn’t that sound fun?
A.J.’s facts were just as exciting as most fibs anyone could tell! I thoroughly enjoyed Angelhood and thought it different from anything else I’ve read.