Background
Andrew Smith was born on July 16, 1959, in California, United States.
2018
6300 SW Nicol Rd, Portland, OR 97223, United States
Andrew Smith at Oregon Episcopal School in 2018.
18111 Nordhoff St, Northridge, CA 91330, United States
California State University, Northridge where Andrew Smith studied.
Andrew Smith
Andrew Smith
Andrew Smith with A. S. King.
Andrew Smith with Amy K. Nichols and A. S. King.
Andrew Smith
Andrew Smith
Andrew Smith
Andrew Smith
Andrew Smith with Holly Goldberg Sloan and Adam Silvera.
Andrew Smith with Keith Gray.
Andrew Smith with Patrick Stickles.
Andrew Smith with Sally Green and Ben Horslen.
Andrew Smith with his son.
Andrew Smith with his wife and daughter.
(The summer before Troy Stotts turns seventeen, his mother...)
The summer before Troy Stotts turns seventeen, his mother dies. Troy and his father barely speak, communicating instead by writing notes on a legal pad by the phone. Troy spends most of his time with his closest friends: Tom Buller, brash and fearless, the son of a drunk; Gabe Benavidez, smart enough to know he'll never take over the family ranch; and Gabe's sister, Luz, whose family overprotects her, and who Troy has loved since they were children. Troy and his friends don't want trouble. They want this to be the summer of what Troy calls "ghost medicine," when time seems to stop, so they won't have to face the past or the future. But before the summer is over, their paths will cross in dangerous and fateful ways with people who will change their lives: Rose, a damaged derelict who lives with a flock of wild horses and goats; and Chase Rutledge, the arrogant sheriff's son. Troy and his friends want to disappear. Instead, they will become what they least expect - brothers, lovers, heroes, and ghosts.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003E4CY3A/?tag=2022091-20
2008
(Two brothers leave home looking for their father, and fin...)
Two brothers leave home looking for their father, and find themselves hitching a ride with a violent killer - here is a road trip from hell. Jonah and his younger brother, Simon, are on their own. They set out to find what's left of their family, carrying between them ten dollars, a backpack full of dirty clothes, a notebook, and a stack of letters from their brother, who is serving a tour in Vietnam. And soon into their journey, they have a ride. With a man and a beautiful girl who may be in love with Jonah. Or Simon. Or both of them. The man is crazy. The girl is desperate. This violent ride is only just beginning. And it will leave the brothers taking cover from hard truths about loyalty, love, and survival that crash into their lives. One more thing: The brothers have a gun. They're going to need it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312659296/?tag=2022091-20
2009
(Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and is in the wrong plac...)
Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is kidnapped. He escapes, narrowly. The only person he tells is his best friend, Conner. When they arrive in London as planned for summer break, a stranger hands Jack a pair of glasses. Through the lenses, he sees another world called Marbury. There is war in Marbury. It is a desolate and murderous place where Jack is responsible for the survival of two younger boys. Conner is there, too. But he's trying to kill them. Meanwhile, Jack is falling in love with an English girl, and afraid he's losing his mind.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250010276/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(Fourteen-year-old Stark McClellan (nicknamed Stick becaus...)
Fourteen-year-old Stark McClellan (nicknamed Stick because he's tall and thin) is bullied for being "deformed" - he was born with only one ear. His older brother Bosten is always there to defend Stick. But the boys can't defend one another from their abusive parents. When Stick realizes Bosten is gay, he knows that to survive his father's anger, Bosten must leave home. Stick has to find his brother, or he will never feel whole again. In his search, he will encounter good people, bad people, and people who are simply indifferent to kids from the wrong side of the tracks. But he never loses hope of finding love - and his brother.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250088135/?tag=2022091-20
2011
(Marbury is another world, a dark world that best friends ...)
Marbury is another world, a dark world that best friends Jack Whitmore and Conner Kirk have fallen into before. A stranger had given Jack a pair of glasses - it's through the lenses that the boys get to Marbury. Told through Conner's point of view, the King of Marbury asks whether Marbury is only in Jack and Conner's minds, or if it might actually be real. You decide.
https://www.amazon.com/King-Marbury-Original-Andrew-Smith-ebook/dp/B009AEM47E/?tag=2022091-20
2012
(Best friends Jack and Conner can't stay away from Marbury...)
Best friends Jack and Conner can't stay away from Marbury. It's partly because of their obsession with this alternate world and the unresolved war that still wages there. But it's also because forces in Marbury - including the darkest of the dark, who were not revealed in The Marbury Lens - are beckoning the boys back in order to save their friends and themselves. The boys try to destroy the lens that transports them to Marbury. But that dark world is not so easily reckoned with.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/125000487X/?tag=2022091-20
2012
(Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boardin...)
Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy. Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications with the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart. Filled with hand-drawn infographics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen’s experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1442444932/?tag=2022091-20
2013
(In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best fr...)
In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend Robby have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things. This is the truth. This is history. It’s the end of the world. And nobody knows anything about it.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grasshopper-Jungle-Andrew-Smith/dp/1405273410
2014
(Finn Easton sees the world through miles instead of minut...)
Finn Easton sees the world through miles instead of minutes. It’s how he makes sense of the world, and how he tries to convince himself that he’s a real boy and not just a character in his father’s bestselling cult-classic book. Finn has two things going for him: his best friend, the possibly-insane-but-definitely-excellent Cade Hernandez, and Julia Bishop, the first girl he’s ever loved. Then Julia moves away, and Finn is heartbroken. Feeling restless and trapped in the book, Finn embarks on a road trip with Cade to visit their college of choice in Oklahoma. When an unexpected accident happens and the boys become unlikely heroes, they take an eye-opening detour away from everything they thought they had planned - and learn how to write their own destiny.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1442444967/?tag=2022091-20
2014
(Skillfully blending multiple story strands that transcend...)
Skillfully blending multiple story strands that transcend time and place, Andrew Smith chronicles the story of Ariel, a refugee who is the sole survivor of an attack on his small village. Now living with an adoptive family in Sunday, West Virginia, Ariel's story is juxtaposed against those of a schizophrenic bomber and the diaries of a failed arctic expedition from the late nineteenth century and a depressed, bionic reincarnated crow.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KWG5XNQ/?tag=2022091-20
2015
(Ryan Dean West is back to his boarding school antics in t...)
Ryan Dean West is back to his boarding school antics in this sequel to Winger. It’s his last year at Pine Mountain, and Ryan Dean should be focused on his future, but instead, he’s haunted by his past. His rugby coach expects him to fill the roles once played by his lost friend, Joey, as the rugby team’s stand-off and new captain. And somehow he’s stuck rooming with twelve-year-old freshman Sam Abernathy, a cooking whiz with extreme claustrophobia and a serious crush on Annie Altman - aka Ryan Dean’s girlfriend, for now, anyway. Equally distressing, Ryan Dean’s doodles and drawings don’t offer the relief they used to. He’s convinced N.A.T.E. (the Next Accidental Terrible Experience) is lurking around every corner - and then he runs into Joey’s younger brother Nico, who makes Ryan Dean feel paranoid that he’s avoiding him. Will Ryan Dean ever regain his sanity?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TBKYKWO/?tag=2022091-20
2015
(Cager has been transported to Tennessee, a giant lunar-cr...)
Cager has been transported to Tennessee, a giant lunar-cruise ship orbiting the moon that his dad owns, by Billy and Rowan to help him shake his Woz addiction. Meanwhile, Earth, in the midst of thirty simultaneous wars, burns to ash beneath them. And as the robots on board become increasingly insane and cannibalistic, and the Earth becomes a toxic wasteland, the boys have to wonder if they’ll be stranded alone in space forever.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0797H2167/?tag=2022091-20
2018
(It’s been sixteen years since an army of horny, hungry, s...)
It’s been sixteen years since an army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises forced Arek’s family underground and into the hole where he was born; it’s the only home he’s ever known. But now, post-end-of-the-world, the army of horny, hungry praying mantises might finally be dying out, and Arek’s ready to leave the hole for good. All he has are mysterious letters from Breakfast, a naked, wild boy traveling the countryside with his silent companion, Olive. Together, Arek and his best friend Mel, who stowed away in his van, navigate their way through the ravaged remains of the outside world.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1534422234/?tag=2022091-20
2019
Andrew Smith was born on July 16, 1959, in California, United States.
Andrew Smith attended high school in Southern California. During his school years he played soccer. Then he studied at California State University, Northridge.
Andrew Smith began his career writing for newspapers and radio. He then traveled around the world and from job to job, working in metal mills, as a longshoreman, in bars and liquor stores, in security and as a musician. After that, he went to school and worked there as a teacher. As an author, he has published numerous short stories and articles.
In 2008 he published his first novel Ghost Medicine. This is a coming-of-age story that recounts the summer of three friends. The novel itself lacks the expected qualities of complicated twists and the anticipated romance, but that is what makes the book so different and special. The author describes every scene with great detail and dialogue. The book was followed by such books as In the Path of Falling Objects (2009), The Marbury Lens (2010), Stick (2011), King of Marbury (2012), and Passenger (2012). In 2013 he published a successful novel Winger about a 14-years-old teen. Set in the upscale Pine Mountain boarding school in Oregon, the story follows the maturation of Ryan Dean West as he reflects on his past, deals with life and love, and comes of age. “Winger” refers to the nickname given to Ryan Dean for the position he plays in rugby. When an unspeakable tragedy takes place, Ryan Dean calls upon his new friends, playing rugby, and pursuing his romantic crush on Annie to overcome a difficult time.
The next young adult novel Grasshopper Jungle (2014) follows a cast of characters living in the fictional, run-down, half-abandoned town of Ealing, Iowa. The story follows the life of two young high school boys who fight for their lives during an apocalypse. Smith's other works include 100 Sideways Miles (2014), The Alex Crow (2015), Rabbit & Robot (2018). His more recent book is the sequel to Grasshopper Jungle, Exile from Eden: Or, After the Hole (2019). He currently teaches Government, US History, and Economics at Canyon High School in Santa Clarita, California.
(It’s been sixteen years since an army of horny, hungry, s...)
2019(Skillfully blending multiple story strands that transcend...)
2015(Cager has been transported to Tennessee, a giant lunar-cr...)
2018(Fourteen-year-old Stark McClellan (nicknamed Stick becaus...)
2011(Two brothers leave home looking for their father, and fin...)
2009(In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best fr...)
2014(Marbury is another world, a dark world that best friends ...)
2012(Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boardin...)
2013(Ryan Dean West is back to his boarding school antics in t...)
2015(Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and is in the wrong plac...)
2010(The summer before Troy Stotts turns seventeen, his mother...)
2008(Finn Easton sees the world through miles instead of minut...)
2014(Best friends Jack and Conner can't stay away from Marbury...)
2012Andrew Smith very much enjoys the traveling part of being an author. He has always believed that reading books and travel are the two most enriching sources of education a human can be subjected to.
Interacting with kids provides him with an endless source of inspiration and information. He loves teaching, and his students give him hundreds of stories every day.
Quotations:
"I honestly don’t know where my ideas come from; they just come."
"Characters are very important to me. I believe that if I create whole, authentic, and interesting characters I could pretty much have them doing the most mundane things and their story would be enjoyable and readable. I knew that I wanted to have this confusing love/friendship dynamic going on in the story, and the creation of my characters came first and helped drive the path of the narrative. As far as their characteristics are concerned, I just wanted all my characters to look like food."
"One of the frustrations that I had(have) with my “job” as a writer has to do with labels: young adult, boy books, girl books, LGBTQ books, age level, male author, female author. I hate labels."
"Coffee is a girl who never tells a boy no."
"You could never get everything in a book. Good books are always about everything."
Andrew Smith doesn’t watch television.
Andrew Smith is married. The couple has a daughter and a son.