Pat Schmatz

Pat Schmatz grew up in rural Wisconsin, and moved through Michigan, California, and Minnesota before landing back in Amherst Junction. She is the author of three novels for teens: Mrs. Estronsky and the UFO (Windstorm Creative, 2001); Circle the Truth (Carolrhoda Books, 2007), and Mousetraps (Carolrhoda Books, 2008). Circle the Truth was chosen by Wisconsin Library Association as one of the outstanding books for children by a Wisconsin Author in 2008, and was included in the 2008 Best Children's Books of the Year from the Children's Book Committee at the Bank Street College of Education. Mousetraps was awarded the Council for Wisconsin Writers Award for children’s fiction, and was a 2009 Lambda Literary Award nominee for best children’s/young adult fiction. Pat’s fourth novel, Bluefish, was awarded the 2010 PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship. Bluefish is scheduled for release by Candlewick Press in fall of 2011.

Bluefish
Candlewick, 2011
young adult, ISBN 978-0763653347

Travis is missing his old home in the country, and he’s missing his old hound, Rosco. Now there’s just the cramped place he shares with his well-meaning but alcoholic grandpa, a new school, and the dreaded routine of passing when he’s called on to read out loud. But that’s before Travis meets Mr. McQueen, who doesn’t take "pass" for an answer—a rare teacher whose savvy persistence has Travis slowly unlocking a book on the natural world. And it’s before Travis is noticed by Velveeta, a girl whose wry banter belies some hard secrets of her own.

Mousetraps
illustrated by Bill Hauser
Carolrhoda, 2008
young adult, ISBN 978-0822586579

Back in grade school, Maxie and Rick were best friends. Rick would design crazy inventions, and Maxie, the artistic one, would draw them. Then something terrible happened to Rick, and he vanished from her school and her life. Years later, he shows up at Maxie's high school. In some ways he's the same person she once knew. But in other ways—frightening ones—he's very, very different...

Awards
Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in the LGBT children/young adult category, 2008; Winner of the Tofte/Wright Children's Literature Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers, 2008

Circle the Truth
Carolrhoda, 2007
ISBN 978-0822572688

Strange things are happening in Rith's house at night.

First a spiral staircase replaces the regular stairs. The new stairs lead to a living room that isn't his, a cat that isn't his either, and a strange old man whose words are cryptic riddles.

Or are they? Rith's never been into religion. But he realizes those words have a spiritual source — and an uncanny ring of truth. Is he just dreaming? Is the old man God? As Rith tries to circle closer to the truth, the line between reality and unreality blurs…

Awards
Outstanding Book by a Wisconsin Author, 2008

Mrs. Estronsky and the UFO
Little Blue Works,
children's division of Windstorm Creative, 2001
ages 10 to 14, ISBN 1-883573-85-8

Jackie Riley thinks that six months' worth of piano lessons is a terrible idea for a birthday present. But those lessons lead her to an extraordinary experience one October night when she and her piano teacher, Mrs. Estronsky, see something that will change them both forever.

"Trust your own experience, Jackie," says Mrs. Estronsky. "It's the only truth that you'll ever know."

When Jackie tries this idea out in her difficult relationships with family and friends, she finds that nothing changes—and everything changes—all at the same time.