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losers
2008
[ official site ] Jupiter Glazer’s parents emigrated from Russia when he was seven years old. Now, at 14, he’s feeling the burn. He doesn’t understand what he’s doing wrong -- why broom-closet rendezvouses with girls don’t seem to be happening, why his teachers can’t understand his English, and why he and his best friend Vadim can’t seem to fit in, either with the indie-music-obsessed Americans or the otherworldly, leather-jacket cool Russians kids at school.
Maybe it has to do with their X-Men addiction and their near-obsessive behavior reading the blogs of their classmates. Or maybe it has to do with life dealing Jupiter the worst hand of cards ever. He’s named after a dead Roman god, his hair is on permanent Jew-fro status, and his parents live in the only housing that the Philadelphia Jewish Federation could find them--the top floor of an industrial warehouse.
free: pre-order Losers on Paypal and get a bonus zine with an exclusive Jupiter story!
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candy in action
2007
[ official site ] Candy Cohen is just the girl next door -- if the girl next door happens to be a college freshman and part-time model with a wicked sense of humor. She and her best friend Velma jaunt around the world, flirting with rock stars and power brokers. All that changes one night, when Candy turns down a dinner invitation from the rich and powerful Preston Reign. Suddenly, she finds herself being stalked by a guy who never takes no for an answer. Drawn into his web, Candy is on the run. Dodging bullets, blowing up buildings, being chased through exotic cities, she fights back with the only weapons she has: her friends, her natural wit, and her stiletto heels. TeensReadToo.com gave it a perfect score (5 stars) and said to "strap on your seatbelts for this book—you're in for quite a ride," and ForeWord Magazine compared Candy (favorably!) to Hermione from Harry Potter.
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candy in action: the deluxe edition
includes hardcover book & original CD
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yom kippur a go-go
2005
A 20-year-old punk kid named Matthue leaves behind a promising career in boring office stuff to move to San Francisco, become a professional poet, and learn a little about relationships -- and a little bit about G*d -- by becoming an Orthodox Jew and joining a lesbian basketball league.
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never mind the goldbergs
2005
Hava Aaronson is just your average teenage punk-rock Orthodox Jewish girl from New York. But when she's cast to star on a sitcom about your average Orthodox family, and moves to Hollywood for the summer, she's a fish out of water with one idea of what you're supposed to be on the screen, and quite another in real life. Bitch Magazine said, "Roth accomplishes the tricky task of explaining for a potentially uninformed readership both the personal and scriptural elements of Hava’s devotion, challenges, and dilemmas with great style and humor." It's been hailed as "vividly voiced" (Kirkus Reviews), "lively and unusual" (Children's Bookwatch), and Publisher's Weekly said that "readers will appreciate the look into Hava's modern Orthodox Jewish culture and beliefs."
an American Library Association Popular Paperback, 2007
a New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age
a Weekly Reader "Read to Succeed" book
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never mind the goldbergs: deluxe edition
includes hardcover book & original CD
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anthologies
this is PUSH: new stories from the edge
2007 . edited by david levithan
Includes my story "The Waitress," which is actually half of the first chapter and half of the second chapter from my new PUSH novel, coming in late 2008....we still don't know what it's called. If you got an idea, please, PLEASE let me or David know. [Update: It's called Losers, and it's going to be amazing. David didn't like the title until he saw the final cover. And then he LOVED it.] And then there's 14 more stories from PUSH authors.
free when you order 2 or more books from matthue.com
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the autobiographer's handbook
2008 . edited by jennifer traig / intro by dave eggers
How do you write a memoir? This book is a roundtable discussion between 41 authors, among them Frank McCourt, Sarah Vowell, the Eat, Pray, Love woman and me, about how to write your life story. You can read Dave Eggers' introduction here.
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democrat's soul
2008 . edited by the chicken soup for the soul people
An anthology of personal stories about the upcoming election. My story, "The Only Living Democrat in Brooklyn," has a misleading title, but I still like it. Mostly because it puts the song "Only Living White Boy in New York" in my head, and since Douglas Adams admitted that he wrote all his books with Paul Simon songs in his head, I've always hoped that, one day, a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy might pop out of mine.
I don't live in what you'd call a neighborhood rich in Democrats.
As a matter of fact, my neighborhood isn’t one for local color at all—pretty much everyone dresses in black and white. You’d recognize it from movies, TV cop shows (usually with an undercover detective trying to blend in, always unsuccessfully) and even The Simpsons: this is the Hasidic part of Brooklyn, New York.
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men speak out: views on gender, sex and power
2007 . edited by shira tarrant
A collection of essays written by and about pro-feminist men. My story, "Preaching to the Choir," is about my time sort of leading my college Take Back the Night group -- even though it was non-hierarchical, and my tenure only lasted about a week. And how we ended up in Playboy magazine. You know, just another normal college drinking story.
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don't forget to write
edited by jennifer traig . 2005
A bunch of writers, artists, and random famous people - among them Dave Eggers, Sarah Vowell, Jon Scieszka and Aimee Bender - write real-world lesson plans. Mine is called "Word Karaoke: Become a Hip-Hop Lyrical Genius." All proceeds benefit free student programming at 826 Valencia.
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homewrecker: an adultery reader
edited by daphne gottlieb . 2005
Includes my story "Beating around the Burning Bush":
"I'm cheating on my girlfriend with G-d.
"I came home late last night, Friday night, still in my dress clothes from work. My clothes smelled of candlewax, sweetbread challa was on my breath. I felt the compulsion to buy a box of Tic-Tacs and swallow them all. The classic compulsion of cheating: as much as you try to cover up, you can never cover up enough."
[ read more ]
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bottoms up
edited by diana cage . 2004
Includes my poem, "Waiting for the Man," which is a decidedly different version of the Hulk prancing around San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood than you'll find in the movie: She plants me against the wall, grinds my hand like coffee. Inside her there is fusion, nuclear fission and gamma radiation. I'm sandwiched between Michelle Tea, Daphne Gottlieb, and a whole bunch of awesome writers in this anthology edited by Diana Cage, editor of On Our Backs magazine.
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zines
What's a zine? Poems, stories, drawings, and a heckuva lot of elbow grease. These were the first books I ever made money off, sold when I was fresh out of college at poetry slams, bars, preschools, and anywhere they wouldn't throw me out of. In here are my first stories and my favorite stories. You can see where I'm coming from. And see where Cleis Press stole the title "Yom Kippur a Go-Go" from.
Yom Kippur A Go-Go
2002
Eight poems (including a secret track about my grandmom) and a story, "Britney," about the world's most unlikely Bar Mitzvah tutor. With original illustrations by the author.
New Year
Hard
Palestine [ read it ]
Dreidel Maven [ listen to it ]
Andy Warhol Love Song
Hell (I Made the Devil Do It)
Daughter
Britney
Platonic
2001
Short stories and poems, all of them from the early performances and Includes poems that reflect a sense of cheerful, apocalyptic irony ("Merger Mystery") and early Hasidic leanings ("Sequence"), plus the memoir "My Father, on the Radio" and fan favorite "Platonic (Sarah Michelle Gellar)" -- and a hidden track, of course.
When We Tour Europe, Will You Dance in a Cage in Our Show?
Merger Mystery
Platonic (Sarah Michelle Gellar) [read it]
Sequence
Holidays and Rockets
Amos's Graffiti Posse
Ani'im Zemiros (God Drives an SUV)
My Father, On the Radio
Want Ads for Paradise
My Cat Maceo
Platonic (reprise)
My Roommate Listens to the 1980s (secret track) [read it]
Bellybudding
2001
20 post-it note poems, 150 different covers printed, paper and ink in an intricate origami fold-out format. Includes "Why I Don't Date Poets," "Dreaming in Yiddish," and an exceedingly difficult-to-reach hidden track.
Why I Don't Date Poets
Murder Mystery
Invitation
Macrobiotic Hasid
Rock Show
Orthodox Girls' Names (English)
Wax Nostalgic
Bananas (pts. 1 & 2)
Forgetting
Orthodox Girls' Names (Yiddish)
Music
History
This is how it ends
Security Problems
Hidden Track
Dreaming in Yiddish
High School
Electric Guitar Haiku
