Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee

Josie
 
 
Here s the thing with dreams--and I m talking about the kind you have when you sleep, not the kind where you re finally learning to surf when you re fifty: they re carefully tailored to the only audience who will ever see them, which is you. So I m not big on telling people about my dreams for that reason.
 
That said, there s this recurring dream I have. It comes around every couple of months or so, but I wish it were more often because it s awesome, and when I wake up from it, I lie there for a few moments, wishing I could reenter it. In this dream, I m at a familiar place. Often it s my grandma s house.
 
Her house was tiny. It always smelled like quilts and oatmeal cookies and that musty odor when you first turn on a window-unit air conditioner after winter. It had a cellar that smelled like cold dirt even during the summer, where she kept store-brand cans of creamed corn, jars of home-pickled dilly beans, and two-liter bottles of Diet Coke. In my dream, I descend into the cellar. I find a door leading to a passageway. I go in. I follow it for a long way; it s cool and dark, and I m not afraid. Eventually it opens into this grand, palatial, brightly lit marble room. There are columns and fountains, and the air smells like flowers. I push forward and find room after room. It s all grand and glorious, beautiful and perfect. It s not what you would expect to find.
 
But there it is, and for those few minutes (I ve heard that dreams are never more than five minutes long, which I totally don t believe, but whatever), you get to experience the most unexpected grandeur, running like a rabbit warren under my grandma s little house in Jackson, Tennessee.
 
And then I wake up, the thrill of possibility and discovery drifting upward off me like steam. It s such a delicious feeling. Just stay a little longer, I say. But it doesn t.
 
Yet another reason it sucks to tell people about your dreams is that

Jeff Zentner is the author of The Serpent King, a New York Times Notable Book, winner of the William C. Morris Award, and recipient of many other accolades; and Goodbye Days , named an ALA-YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults title. Jeff was a Publishers Weekly Flying Start and an Indies Introduce pick. Before becoming a writer, he was a musician who recorded with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, and Debbie Harry. Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee is his ode to best friends who make things together. He lives in Nashville with his wife and son. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or visit him at jeffzentnerbooks.com.

One of Buzzfeed s Best YA Books of the Year
One of Paste Magazine s 10 Most Anticipated Young Adult Books of the Year

"A testament to the power of friendship and big dreams, Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee had me laughing aloud on one page and sobbing on the next. A resounding triumph." --NIC STONE, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin

"Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee starts as comedy about the wildly imperfect, and ends as poetry about the ever-hoping heart. I don't know how you write that book. Fortunately, Jeff Zentner does." --JESSE ANDREWS, New York Times bestselling author of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

"As in his award-winning The Serpent King (2016), Zentner packs a poignantly satisfying blend of wit and pathos, with lovable and unpredictable characters. . . . Readers looking for an unforgettable slice of small-town angst will love this one." --Starred Review, Booklist

"Zentner s quick-witted, charming characters tackle real-life issues with snappy dialogue and engaging levity." --Starred Review, Publishers Weekly

"Zentner nails his teen characters, their longings, and their motivations, and the first chapters are downright hilarious." --Kirkus Reviews

"[A] heartfelt story of a friendship in transition, fueled by funny, rapid-fire dialogue." --Horn Book

"A quirky fun, read that will give teens all the feels." --School Library Journal

"[W]ill no doubt offer hope to readers who want to stay friends when post high school plans take them in very different directions." -- The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"As funny as it is bittersweet." --Shelf Awareness

PRAISE FOR Goodbye Days:

"Jeff Zentner, you perfectly fill the John-Green-sized hole in our heart."--Justine Magazine

Evocative, heartbreaking, and beautifully written." --Buzzfeed

"Zentner does an excellent