K.M. Walton: CRACKED

BIO: K.M. Walton writes contemporary YA, middle grade suspense and picture books. She has also co-authored a book on the teaching of mathematics called TEACHING NUMERACY: 9 Critical Habits to Ignite Mathematical Thinking from Corwin Press. She is fortunate to be represented by the lovely Sarah LaPolla from Curtis Brown Ltd.

K. M. had a dream when she was a little girl. Actually she had a gazillion dreams, and she spent a large amount of her childhood wondering what her future would hold. Her biggest dream was to be a teacher. Teaching became a reality for K. M. and she taught for twelve glorious years – some of it in Osteen, Florida and most of it in Springfield, Pennsylvania (Hi, Osteen Elementary and ETR Middle School!!). But, it turns out writing is K. M. Walton’s favorite thing to do in the whole world. Even the hard parts – and there are a lot of hard parts. She even sang about the hard parts.

She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband/best friend and their two ridiculously incredible sons (and she’s not one speck biased). They dance in their dining room and sing in their hot tub. A lot.

DEBUT: CRACKED (Simon Pulse ~ Simon & Schuster, March 6, 2012)

Victor hates his life. He's relentlessly bullied at school and his parents ridicule him for not being perfect. He's tired of being weak, so he takes a bottle of his mother's sleeping pills -- only to wake up in the hospital.

Bull is angry, and takes all of his rage out on Victor. He's the opposite of weak. And he's tired of his grandfather's drunken beatings, so he tries to defend himself with a loaded gun.

When Victor and Bull end up as roommates in the same psych ward, things go from bad to worse. Until they discover they just might have something in common: a reason to live.
 
5 BOOKS FOR THE APOCALYPSE: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Red Tent by Anita Diamante, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, The Stand by Stephen King