Debut YA Novel by Steve Brezenoff Demonstrates That, in Life, Nothing is Absolute

MINNEAPOLIS - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Life as a teenager is complicated, but at least there are a few constants. For a trio of tenth-graders, the disorder of their lives has so far left their awkward but familiar friendship untouched. But, just like a tiny mathematical symbol that can unhinge a whole equation, it's the smallest detail that change everything. Written by Steve Brezenoff and published by Carolrhoda Lab , a new line of distinctive fiction for young adults from Carolrhoda Books, The Absolute Value of –1 explores the limits of a person's perspective in gripping reality and the games people play to hold on.

Lily, Noah, and Simon are not exactly the Three Musketeers. Getting high together before and after school and occasionally getting wasted on the weekends, the three coexist in a hazy equilibrium that can loosely be called "friendship." Through the fog of drugs and adolescent apathy, it's hard for any one of them to see how things really are. Lily, a good girl gone bad after her parents' messy divorce, pines for Simon. Noah, a notorious stoner who regularly fist fights his father, lusts after Lily. And Simon...well, no one, least of all Simon himself, seems to know his story.

As Simon's family crumbles after news of his father's cancer, as Noah descends further into a life of doping and dealing, and as Lily finally makes her move for Simon's love, the teenagers' perspectives of their common world begin to shift. As allegiances and identities change, the path toward reality-and the subtle details that alter it—proves more painful than the three could imagine. And the homecoming of Simon's beautiful and overly affectionate older sister, Suzanne, gives rise to tensions that threaten the relationships between them all.

Through the voices of four distinct and achingly realistic characters, Steve Brezenoff portrays the trauma and numbness of youth. In a beautiful patchwork of narratives, The Absolute Value of –1 reveals the fractured nature of truth that make any 'absolute' an absolute impossibility.

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About the Author
Steve Brezenoff is the author of numerous series novels for young readers. This is his first YA novel. Visit him at stevebrezenoff.blogspot.com. Or, as Steve says, "I was born and raised in and around New York City, and I lived in the tri-state area for over thirty years. But I met and fell for a shiksa, and my exile began in earnest in March of 2006. Now we live in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with our infant son and our scrappy, smelly dog."

About the Publisher
Carolrhoda Lab is dedicated to distinctive, provocative, boundary-pushing fiction for teens and their sympathizers. Carolrhoda Lab probes and examines the young-adult condition one novel at a time, affording YA authors and readers an opportunity to explore and experiment with thoughts, ideas, and paradigms in the human condition.
Carolrhoda Books is a division of Lerner Publishing Group, which creates high-quality fiction and nonfiction titles for children and young adults. Visit Lerner Publishing Group's website at www.lernerbooks.com.

PUBLICATION DATE:
September 2010

$16.95 Hardcover, Jacketed
$12.71 eBook
Ages 12–18
HC: 978-0-7613-5417-8
EB: 978-0-7613-6220-3
296 Pages ● 5 ¼" x 7 ½"

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