We have all read books that changed our lives, and for me one of those was Meg Rosoff’s How I live now, which made me first realize that there was more to Young Adult fiction than Sweet Valley High–and that I might just want to contribute to it. Yes, it is that excellent.

Even now, several years later, Rosoff”s characters and events continue to crackle and glow in my memory like a birthday sparkler in the midnight sky–something that I can only hope to do myself one day for readers with my own writing.

So thank you How I live now and Meg Rosoff, you inspire me.