Off the Page

DELILAH
I ve been waiting my whole life for Oliver, so you d think another fifteen minutes wouldn t matter. But it s fifteen minutes that Oliver is alone on a bus, unmonitored, for the first time, with the most ruthless, malicious, soul-sucking creatures on earth: high school students.
Going to high school is a little like being told you have to get up each morning and run headlong at sixty miles an hour into the same brick wall. Every day, you re forced to watch Darwin s principle of survival of the fittest play out: evolutionary advantages, like perfect white teeth and gravity-defying boobs, or a football team jacket keep you from falling prey to the demons that grow to three times their size when they feed on the fear of a hapless freshman and bully him to a pulp. After years of public school, I ve gotten pretty good at being invisible. That way, you re less likely to become a target.
But Oliver knows none of this. He has always been the center of attention. He s even more undeveloped socially than the boy who enrolled last year after nine years of being homeschooled in a yurt. Which is why I m actually breaking a sweat, imagining everything Oliver could be doing wrong.
At this point, he s probably ten minutes into a story about the first dragon he ever encountered--and while he might think it s a great icebreaker, the rest of the bus will either peg him as the new druggie in town, who puts shrooms in his breakfast omelet, or as one of those kids who run around speaking Elvish, wearing homemade cloaks, with foam swords tucked into their belts. Either way, that kind of first impression is one that sticks for the rest of your life.
Believe me, I know.
I ve spent my entire school career as that girl. The one who wrote VD Rocks! on all her second-grade valentines and who literally walked into a wall once while reading a book. The one who recently reaffirmed her subterranean spot on the social-status totem pole by accidentally punching out the most popular girl

Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five novels, including Small Great Things, Leaving Time, The Storyteller, Lone Wolf, Sing You Home, House Rules, Handle with Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister s Keeper. She is also the author, with daughter Samantha van Leer, of two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. Picoult lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children.


Samantha van Leer is a sophomore at Vassar College majoring in psychology with a minor in human development. She cowrote the #1 New York Times bestseller Between the Lines, the companion to Off the Page, with her mother, Jodi Picoult.

Jodi and Samantha have four dogs: Alvin, Harvey, Dudley, and Oliver, for whom the prince in this story is named.

PRAISE FOR OFF THE PAGE:
 
A fun, fairy-tale romance for teens who believe in happily ever after. SLJ
 
Fairy-tale sweet. Kirkus Reviews
 
A lovely fairy tale emphasizing the importance of family and creativity. Booklist


PRAISE FOR BETWEEN THE LINES:
 
An exploration of the nature of escapism that asks whether reality is any more real than make-believe, Between the Lines will delight readers of all ages whose imaginations willfully blur that distinction. Los Angeles Times
 
Between the Lines is a romance between a girl and a boy, but even more, it s a love letter to the visceral bond between a reader and a musty, beloved book. . . . The fictional Between the Lines is funny and unexpected . . . and it s fascinating to watch the authors address the problem of what it would be like to live not just in a story, but in a physical book. The Washington Post
 
What wasn t to love about the exciting, imaginative story of Delilah, a high school student, and the fairy-tale prince she fell in love with, Oliver? Bustle.com
 
 
PRAISE FOR #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR JODI PICOULT:
 
Jodi Picoult turns tough topics into bestsellers. NPR.org
 
Blockbuster novelist. Boston Globe
 
Cultishly successful writer. The Washington Post