Jay Asher's Blog, page 44

A Trailer & A Song

I've seen over 100 fan-made trailers for Thirteen Reasons Why, and I've highlighted many of them on my blog. Over the past several weeks, I've watched some more and have been keeping track of which ones to show you. While setting aside one particular trailer, I noticed that its creator had made two other 13RW trailers, both of which were previously featured on my blog. So for this person's latest creative and atmospheric trailer, I thought I'd let it stand solo.



But all great movies do need a ...

The Swedish Edition!

Houston, There's No Problem

When I first began speaking at schools as an author, I was terrified. So here's a tip for any brand new authors looking for a good place to test the waters. Come to Houston! The students here are great. They're interested in books, they ask great questions, and (my favorite part of all) it's so easy to make them laugh!

Even though it was a Saturday, students from nearby middle and high schools decided the best use of their day would be to spend it listening to a bunch of authors talk. Why...

Give it Up for South Dakota

Thirteen Reasons Why won South Dakota's Young Adult Reading Program (YARP) Award, which was voted on by teens, and you know how much those awards mean to me!


So where are we now? South Dakota gets 3 electoral college votes in presidential elections. That's not a huge number, but sometimes these things come down to the wire. Thirteen Reasons Why previously won teen book awards in Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and South Carolina (27, 6, 8, 11, 15, 7, and 8 votes)....

Discuss Amongst Yourselves, Ohio

On Thursday, I spoke at Timken High School in Canton, Ohio. It was my first time speaking at a school where every student had been given a copy of Thirteen Reasons Why to read before my visit. Ms. Russell, the teacher in charge of bringing me to the school, took me out to dinner the night before my presentations and she told me about some amazing discussions she's had with students about my book, as well as how other teachers were using the book in their classrooms.

Some students plastered o...

Michigan is Nice Nice, Baby

This past weekend, I spoke at the SCBWI conference in Lansing, Michigan. I sat down with eleven writers to discuss their manuscripts, gave two writing workshops, and delivered one keynote speech. If my high school self knew I'd be doing this for a living, I probably would've spontaneously combusted (at the very least, spontaneously sweated).

For the final event, the faculty sat onstage and took questions from the attendees. Here I am with author Donna Gephart, illustrator/cartoonist Dave Co...

Coffee's Up!

My flight to Michigan was totally fun, if your idea of fun is being totally freaked out. (Thankfully, I like being freaked out!)

At one point, the plane started turning left and right like it was sitting on a Lazy Susan and two giants were fighting over the scrumptious cockpit. And then the plane just...dropped. A big drop. If I wasn't wearing my seatbelt, my noggin woulda been bonkin' the overhead storage bin.

Unfortunately, the flight attendants were in the middle of serving drinks when t...

J 'n NJ

This is the view of the New Jersey shore from my hotel room:

(And that's the last time you'll see the words
Jersey and shore next to each other in this post.)

Last night, I went out to dinner with a bunch of New Jersey librarians (including the wonderful Ms. Liz B.) and authors Matt de la Peña and Elizabeth Scott. It was one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook everything at your table and make a show of it, tossing egg yolk high into the air and setting things on fire. It's awesome! ...

Beach Day!

I've lived near the beach for over twenty years, but very rarely have I actually enjoyed the beach. Either the sun's too hot or the breeze is too cold. Either the water's too cold or the water's too...actually, the water's never anything but cold here. And the sand just gets everywhere!

But today was an all-around great day at the beach. Who woulda thunk?


JoanMarie and I had lunch on the sand with two of our best friends, Pat and Heather. And this time, for once, the sand didn't get everyw...

This One Goes to Eleven!

Earlier this week, just before hopping on a flight to Kansas City, Missouri (that's where the airport was, I was actually speaking in Kansas), I found out that Thirteen Reasons Why won Missouri's Gateway Readers Award!


So what's the current tally? Missouri gets 11 electoral college votes in the presidential election. Thirteen Reasons Why previously won teen book awards in Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and South Carolina (27, 6, 8, 15, 7, and 8 votes). During the election ...