Justina Chen Headley has thoroughly impressed me with her kindness, her thoughtfulness, and her novels NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH (and a few white lies) and GIRL OVERBOARD, as well as her picture book, THE PATCH.

I interviewed her in September of 2006, when the TRUTH was out and the GIRL was a work-in-progress.

The title for your first YA novel is bound to grab readers. Was the second part (and a few white lies) meant to have a double meaning, referring to both untruths and racial identity, or was that a happy accident?

Justina: There's nothing harder to write than the book's title. I'm being serious! I went through 20 titles until I hit upon this—and even then, I angsted that it was way too long. Sheesh, how many more words can I stick on the cover? But my editor liked it, and so did sales & marketing at Little, Brown. So that was that.

And you nailed it—the title plays on both the white lies we tell ourselves as well as how my main character is half-white.

( Read more... )

Read my review of NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH (and a few white lies).

Read my review of GIRL OVERBOARD.

Visit Justina's official website.

Visit readergirlz, a literacy project co-founded by Justina Chen Headley, Janet Lee Carey, Lorie Ann Grover and Dia Calhoun.

Patty doesn't think she fits in anywhere, not even in her own family. She has a strict Taiwanese mother, an absentee white father and a college-bound older brother. As far as she can see, the scoreboard reads world = 100, Patty = 0. She is dragged with her mother to meet a fortune teller who reads her belly button (!) while everyone else is rocking out at the high school dance. She has to go to math camp while everyone else has fun summer plans. In other words, everyone else wins at life, while Patty comes up empty.

Patty's story is not just for hapas - read the book to discover the definition! - and not only for biracial teens. It has many levels of appeal. I recommend Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies) by Justina Chen Headley to a wide variety of people - both genders, various races, all thoughtful teens, and all astute adults, especially parents. This is a story for anyone who has wondered about an absent parent or struggled with a strict parent. This is for the smart kids who wonder why their parents keep testing them and making them prove themselves. This is for the kids who look different from their classmates on the outside or simply feel different on the inside. This is for anyone who considered his or her own personal secrets, lies, and truths.

I have already shared many of these thoughts with the author, Justina. I am glad that she shared this book with me. (The Internet gets points for introducing us.)

Read my interview with Justina Chen Headley.