Melissa Wyatt has a very boring life, but that’s good because if her life was a non-stop whirl of excitement and activity, she wouldn’t have time to write, and that is mostly what she does. Well, that and raise her two sons, go birdwatching with her husband, watch old movies and eat way too many potato chips. (It’s not her fault. She lives in the potato chip capital of the world, York, PA.)
 

Funny How Things Change
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, April 2009

Remy Walker has it all: he found the love of his life at home in crumbling little Dwyer, West Virginia, deep in his beloved Appalachian Mountains where his family settled more than one hundred and sixty years ago. But at seventeen, you’re not supposed to already be where you want to be, right? You’ve got a whole world to make your way through, and you start by leaving your dead-end town. Like his girlfriend, Lisa. Lisa’s going away to college. If Remy goes with her, it would be the start of everything they ever dreamed of. So when a fascinating young artist from out of state shows Remy his home through new eyes, why is he suddenly questioning his future?

Over the course of a summer, Remy learns how much he has to give up for a girl, and how much he needs to give up for a mountain.


 

Kirkus Review (STARRED) for FHTC:

Remy Walker is torn. High school is over and Lisa, the girl he loves, is leaving West Virginia for college. She wants him to come, too, but everything else calls him to stay in Dwyer, where Walker roots go back to 1840. Many locals-Remy's mother was one-can't wait to escape this hardscrabble life with diminishing job prospects, where mountaintops are systematically destroyed to reach dwindling reserves of coal left from centuries of mining. Others, like Remy's dad, stay on, stubbornly eking out a living. Remy gives in to Lisa's plans, but the arrival of an attractive young outsider, alive to the harsh enchantment of Remy's world, makes him question his choice. Laconic but full of heart, smart, thoughtful and proudly working-class, Remy makes a fresh and immensely appealing hero. Wyatt's prose is tautly evocative throughout; her plot is a welcome departure from the stale conventions of the hero's journey. What Remy seeks, his terra incognita, lies not in some distant place, but beneath his feet and all around him, the achingly beautiful, vulnerable landscape of home. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Advance Praise for FHTC:

"Intense, spare, and gorgeously written." — Nancy Werlin, author of Impossible

"Remy Walker is someone you’ll remember and care for long after the last page is turned." — A. M. Jenkins, author of Repossessed

"Wyatt masterfully weaves two tender love stories—the quiet story of a boy’s first love, and also a far-reaching tale of a boy’s love for land and its history." — Mary E. Pearson, author of A Room on Lorelei Street.

Raising the Griffin
Wendy Lamb Books/Random House, 2004

What's it really like to be a prince? 16-year-old Alex Varenhoff is about to find out.

Alex has always known that his family once ruled the tiny Eastern European country of Rovenia, but he has grown up in England, where his family has lived in exile for years. So he isn’t exactly thrilled when the Rovenian people vote to restore the monarchy, taking Alex from happily anonymous British teenager to Prince Alexei Varenhoff, heir to the throne of Rovenia, and nothing will ever be the same.

Alex is thrust into a life he was never raised for. He hates the pomp and circumstance and the hordes of screaming girls that wait everywhere. He never has a second of privacy and isn’t even allowed to dress himself. And this new life is dangerous, for there are Rovenians who oppose the monarchy. When Alex gets mixed up with a scheming jet-set princess, he exposes himself and his country in unexpected and frightening ways. Becoming a true prince presents Alex with a heartbreaking challenge far beyond anything he ever expected, one of the greatest challenges that any Varenhoff has ever had to face.Raising the Griffin
Wendy Lamb Books/Random House

Critical Praise for Raising the Griffin:

"Packs a punch" - Kirkus Reviews

"Powerfully affecting...This is a compulsively readable book that lingers in the mind long after the final page." - School Library Journal

"This serious, realistic debut novel will draw plenty of young readers with Alex's taut, first-person narration of his predicament, as well as the detailed creation of a non-existent, yet totally plausible Eastern European country." – Booklist

"The characters ring true in this novel and the pace is nonstop." – KLIATT

"This is an exciting action filled story that is very well told. The reader will have difficulty putting this book down as the drama builds to an unexpected climax and a moving ending." - Children's Literature

"First time novelist Wyatt is definitely one to watch. Her stunning debut will resonate with teen readers. The audience who enjoyed the change made by Cole in Ben Mikaelsen's Touching Spirit Bear will enjoy the transformation Alex makes in his life in Raising the Griffin." - Di Herald, Genrefluent

"RAISING THE GRIFFIN is thoughtful, compelling, romantic, and suspenseful. A dazzling debut for Wyatt; clearly an author to watch. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION." - Cynthia Leitich Smith Children's Literature Resources

"...A compelling and polished read, and one which rarely goes in expected directions. Wyatt's presentation of Alex's dilemma -- personal freedom versus living up to a responsibility he never wanted -- is fair and thought-provoking...And if you can put the novel down with only the last few chapters left to go, no matter how late it's getting, you're a stronger woman than I." - Rachel Manija Brown, Green Man Review

Honors and Awards:

2005 New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age List

2005-2006 Tayshas List

2004 Best of the Best, Missouri Library Association YASIG

2005 Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award Nominee

Nominated for 2005 Best Books for Young Adults

 

Learn more about Melissa Wyatt at melissawyatt.com