Sydney Salter

My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters

Release Date: April 6, 2009
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Graphia

Seventeen-year-old Jory Michaels wakes up on the first day of summer vacation with her same old big nose, no passion in her life (in the creative sense of the word), and all signs still pointing to her dying a virgin. Plus, her mother is busy roasting a chicken for Day #6 of the Dinner For Breakfast Diet.

In spite of her driving record (it was an accident!), Jory gets a job delivering flowers and cakes to Reno’s casinos and wedding chapels. She also comes up with a new summer goal: saving for a life-altering nose job. She and her new nose will attract a fabulous boyfriend. Nothing like the shameless flirt Tyler Briggs, or Tom who’s always nice but never calls. Maybe she’ll find someone kind of like Gideon at the Jewel Café, except better looking and not quite so different. Jory survives various summer disasters like doing yoga after sampling Mom’s Cabbage Soup Diet, Enforced Mother Bonding With Crazy Nose Obsessed Daughter Night, and discovering Tyler’s big secret. But will she learn to accept herself and maybe even find her passion, in the creative (AND romantic!) sense of the word?

About the Author:

Sydney Salter held a variety of jobs before becoming a full-time writer, including her brief stint delivering pies and flowers, wrecking vans, and destroying wedding cakes in Reno, Nevada. Sydney now lives in Utah with her husband, two daughters, two cats, and two big Bernese Mountain dogs. She loves reading, writing, traveling, and, of course, baking and decorating cakes (but not driving them anywhere).

Excerpt:

It all comes down to my nose.
Good old Great-Grandpa Lessinger’s famous nose. The one they used to joke about until it turned out that I didn’t “grow into my nose” like they’d all hoped, and probably prayed, even though we’re not exactly a church-going family. My parents worship at the Caughlin Club—you know, the gods and goddesses of good golf swings, cute tennis skirts, prestigious addresses, and beautiful, gifted progeny.
I don’t fit in.
My eyes are muddy brown while everyone else in the family has eyes that rival Lake Tahoe. Sure, I’ve got the blond hair, but mine is curly and more brown than blond (though Mom insists I’m blond like the rest of them). Mom’s is more a Platinum #305, but she’ll never admit to it. “It’s just a conditioning rinse,” she always says. Right.
And it’s just a nose.

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“Complex, likeable, believable characters, and a fresh,
appealing fictional voice pull together this very agreeable summer romance.”
–Kirkus Reviews

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Book Club Guide

Katie Bakes! Chocolate Chip Cake

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Jungle Crossing

Release Date: September 28, 2009

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Thirteen-year-old Kat can think of dozens of good reasons
not to go on a boring family vacation to hot, grungy Mexico. Number one:
missing her friend Fiona’s mini-camp. If she’s not there, she’ll begin eighth
grade as a social reject.

And it looks like she’s the odd girl out on vacation, too.
When Kat’s parents arrange for her and her younger sister, Barb, to go on a
teen adventure tour, Barb makes more friends than she does. The only person who
will talk to Kat is Nando, a young Mayan guide (who happens to be quite a
cutie). Each day as they travel to different Mayan ruins, Nando tells Kat and
Barb another installment in the original legend of Muluc, a girl who lived in
the time of the Ancient Maya. The dangerous, dramatic world in which Muluc
lives is as full of rivalry, betrayal, jealousy, and sacrifice as Kat’s world
at school. And as she makes new friends and discovers new treasures in Mexico,
Kat begins to wonder: Is she willing to keep sacrificing her self in exchange for popularity?

Authors Photo: Carin Davis