mascot
MASL Book Trailer Winner
Mascot: Carson A. and Ian A. from Marshfield Jr. High
About the Author
Antony was born in England in 1972 and grew up in cloudy seaside Bournemouth. He was raised on fish and chips and bizarre British comedies, excelled in arts classes, and was horrible in science. To his parents’ chagrin, he pursued classical music. He always wanted to be a composer once he started playing a plethora of musical instruments as a teenager. His life was music.
He graduated from Oxford University; Oxford was inspiring and fun. He remembers getting the first draft of my senior thesis back from the professor who wrote three words. “This is illiterate!” Funny for a person who is now a published writer. He enjoyed academia, so he attended Washington and Lee University as an exchange student.
After then working at Swiss ski resort for a year he remembered how much he enjoyed the United States. So he returned to the US and earned a Ph.D. in composition from Duke University. He loved Duke because he had ample time to compose, and he met his wife there. He spent a great deal of time writing academically, too; his roommate studied English, and they frequently discussed books. His first love was composing, and he decided that his second love might be later writing books.
After teaching at Duke and the University of South Carolina, he and his wife moved to Seattle, and they had their first child; he became a stay-at-home dad. When his son napped (not often)—he started writing. It was awful, but taught him about what not to do as a writer. His next novel, Busted: Confessions of an Accidental Player, was published in October 2008, a year after his second child was born and months after they moved to St Louis. Five Flavors of Dumb, published in 2010, won the American Library Association’s Schneider Family Book Award, and was in the final nominee lists for ten state book awards. In 2012 Thou Shalt Not Road Trip, and the first book in the fantasy trilogy, Elemental were published. The second in his fantasy trilogy, Firebrand, was published in 2013, and the final book, Renegade, in 2014. His thriller Imposter was published in 2015. In 2018, Mascot, set in St. Louis and his first middle-school-aged book, was published. His research included eating at several local restaurants and attending Cardinals baseball games; he loves the culture of baseball. His second middle-grade novel, The Other, Better Me, about family, home, and the detective in all of us, was published in late 2019.
He loves to write about Missouri. He now lives near Philadelphia with his family. His wife is a scientist (remember that he was horrible in science?). His kids are in school, so he writes full-time, does many school visits, and attends book festivals, all things he loves.
About the Book
“This is the first week of the rest of your life. Make it count. Okay?” Seventh-grader Noah Savino, in a wheelchair for months, hates the way people look at him: like he is completely and totally helpless. He's not making progress in physical therapy, he’s tired of having no control over his body, and he misses baseball. He misses his dad even more; he died in the car accident that paralyzed Noah.
Between dealing with his disability and his guilt since the accident, Noah is scared he'll never feel normal and he doesn't want people to think of him as different. If he is ever going to get himself in the game, he needs to stop hiding from life and confront his fears that are holding him back.
Reviews
“The strength and beauty of this novel lie in the ways in which a community gathers around Noah…. it is so very real.” — Gary D. Schmidt, New York Times Book Review
"Wonderful. Poignant. Beautifully written. Mascot is a masterpiece.” — Roland Smith, bestselling author.
“Noah’s dilemma is universal: the struggle to rebuild identity when what once defined us no longer exists. Highlights the challenges of adapting to puberty and sudden disability at the same time.” — Kirkus Reviews
“This action-packed, humorous story contains well-developed, dynamic characters who are thoughtful and relatable.” — School Library Journal
" As Noah comes to terms with his life-changing accident in this refreshingly fastpaced novel, readers will have an easy time cheering him on as he moves toward recovery." — Booklist
" I loved each page as this story unfolded. This is a book that could be read as a class and entertain and teach in equal measures.” — Kiss The Book (reviewed by Cindy, middle school librarian)
Honors
Junior Library Guild selection, 2018
Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year list, 2019
Lexile 630
Resources / Teaching Ideas
Social Media