James Preller's new novel for kids is The Courage Test. From his Q&A with Deborah Kalb:Q: You wrote that you were inspired by Roald Dahl’s Danny the Champion of the World to focus on a father-son dynamic in The Courage Test. How would you describe the relationship between your character Will and his father?Visit James Preller's website.
A: Yes, I came late to the Dahl classic and was struck that here was a loving book about a boy’s relationship with his father -- not the kind of thing I’ve seen in many middle-grade children’s books. I found it liberating, as if Dahl had given me a written note of permission.
In The Courage Test, William Meriwether Miller is a 12-year-old with recently divorced parents. His father has moved out and moved on. So there’s tension there, and awkwardness; William feels abandoned, and he also feels love, of course, because it’s natural for us to...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: The Fall.
--Marshal Zeringue