William C. Morris Award National Book Award Finalist
John Corey Whaley (born January 19, 1984) is an American author of contemporary fiction novels for young adults. His debut Where Things Come Back won the Printz Award from the American Library Association in 2012, recognized as the year's "best book written for teens."[1] His second novel, Noggin, was a finalist for the 2014 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and was on Time Magazine's list of the 100 Best YA Books of All Time. [2]
Whaley was born and raised in Springhill, Louisiana, and attended Louisiana Tech University. He taught public middle and high school English for five years in his home state before becoming a full-time author.
Just when seventeen-year-old Cullen Witter thinks he understands everything about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town, his knowledge all disappears.
In the summer before Cullen's senior year, a nominally depressed birdwatcher named John Barling tries to validate the spotting of a woodpecker species thought to be extinct since the 1940s in Cullen's hometown of Lily, Arkansas. His attempts to find the so-called Lazarus woodpecker bring a flurry of press and woodpecker experts from all over the U.S to the previously tame and static town. However, the townspeople of Lily hope that the woodpecker that was brought back to life will put some life back into their town. All the kids start getting woodpecker haircuts, everyone eats the new Lazarus burgers, and everyone shares their cheer about the woodpecker, everyone except for Cullen, that is. Cullen sees the town's preoccupation with the Lazarus woodpecker as an absurd carnival with John Barling as the carnival's crazy ringmaster. Nothing is more startling though for Cullen and the people of Lily, Arkansas than the realization that Cullen's sensitive, gifted 15-year-old brother Gabriel has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared.
While Cullen navigates his way through a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young missionary in Africa, who has lost his faith, searches for any semblance of meaning wherever he can find it. As distant as the two stories seem at the start, they are thoughtfully woven ever closer together and through masterful plotting, brought face to face in a surprising and harrowing climax.
Complex but truly extraordinary, tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, this novel finds wonder in the ordinary and emerges as ultimately hopeful. It's about a lot more than what Cullen calls "that damn bird." It's about the dream of second chances and things coming back.[4]
The in between part is still a little fuzzy, but he can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy's body, and well, here he is. Despite all logic, he's still 16 and everything and everyone around him has changed. That includes his bedroom, his parents, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Or maybe she's not his girlfriend anymore? That's a bit fuzzy too.
Looks like if the new Travis and the old Travis are ever going to find a way to exist together, then there are going to be a few more scars.
Sixteen-year-old Solomon Reed is agoraphobic. He hasn't left the house in three years, two months, and one day, which is completely fine by him. Lisa Praytor, an ambitious seventeen-year-old, has her sights set on the second-best psychology program in the country (she's being realistic). Determined to "fix" Sol, Lisa steps into his world, along with her charming boyfriend Clark, and soon enough the three form an unexpected bond. But, as Lisa learns more about Sol and he and Clark grow closer and closer together, the walls they've built around themselves start to collapse and their friendships threaten to do the same.
The U.S. Young Adult Library Services Association recognized Where Things Come Back with the annual Printz Award that is open to all books published in the U.S. for young-adult readers.[1] Naturally Whaley also won YALSA's award for new authors (debut books), the 2012 William C. Morris YA Award.[5]
Where Things Come Back was chosen as a Publishers Weekly Best Book 2011.[6]
Whaley was selected by the National Book Foundation as a Top 5 Under 35 Author for 2011.[7]
Whaley and Where Things Come Back are included on ABC Children's Group's New Voices 2011 Top Ten List for Teens.[8]
Whaley was named a Spring 2011 Flying Start Author by Publishers Weekly for his debut novel, Where Things Come Back, which also received a starred review from the publication.[9]
SIBA, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, named Where Things Come Back as one of its Spring 2011 Okra Picks.[10]
