According to geographers, the American West begins at the 100th longitudinal meridian. Thanks to the fact that this meridian is the main street of her hometown in Nebraska, Kirstin Cronn-Mills grew up six blocks east of the West. She learned to read when she was three (according to her mother) and she hasn’t stopped since.

Kirstin is a self-proclaimed word nerd. Her grandmother and her father passed on their love of language to her, and that love became a love affair when she started writing poems in sixth grade. She still writes poems, but now she focuses on young adult novels.

In 1992 Kirstin moved from Nebraska to southern Minnesota, where she lives now. She writes a lot, reads as much as she can, teaches at a two-year college (she won the Minnesota State College Student Association 2009 Instructor of the Year award), plays on an adult dodgeball team, and goofs around with her son, Shae, and her husband, Dan. The Sky Always Hears Me is her first novel. She also published a middle-grade science book in 2009: Collapse! The Science of Structural Engineering Failures (Compass Point Books).

The Sky Always Hears Me and the Hills Don't Mind
Flux/Llewellyn, 2009

I borrow the car again from Grandma and drive out to my hill. I scream I AM A BIG FAT ZERO, plus I AM SWEARING OFF KISSING FOREVER, and I HATE BEING A SECRET SEX FIEND, about sixteen times each. Then I sit very still and watch a hawk swirl over the fields. I have to get a new life before I go crazy.

Sixteen-year-old Morgan lives in a hick town. Her mom was killed in a car accident when she was two, her dad drinks, and her stepmom is a non-entity. Her boyfriend Derek is boring and she can't stop staring at her coworker Rob's cute butt. Then there's the kiss she shared with her neighbor Tessa . . . But when Morgan discovers a devastating secret about the one person she completely trusted, her entire world crashes and she must redefine her life and herself.

Compelling and complex, The Sky Always Hears Me is a fast-paced narrative with raw humor and a heart-wrenching twist.

A discussion guide is available for this title.

Collapse! The Science of
Structural Engineering Failures (Headline Science)
Compass Point Books, 2009
ages 8 to 12, ISBN978-0756540616

While you crane your neck to see the top of a skyscraper or gaze at a bridge spanning a vast river, it might seem impossible that such impressive structures can collapse. But as we see from footage during a news story, even the sturdiest buildings can crumble into a pile of metal, concrete, and wood. Headline Science uses news stories and everyday applications to explain the science behind structural engineering failures.