Jenkins, A.M.

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JENKINS, A.M.
(Amanda McRaney Jenkins)

PERSONAL:

Born in TX; children: three sons.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Benbrook, TX.

CAREER:

Writer. Has also worked as an ice-cream scooper, pizza maker, aerobics instructor, and math teacher.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Delacorte Press Prize for First Young-Adult Novel, 1996, and California Young Reader's Medal, 2000, both for Breaking Boxes; Best Books for Young Adults selection, American Library Association, for Damage; PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer fellowship, 2005.

WRITINGS:

YOUNG-ADULT NOVELS

Breaking Boxes, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1997.

Damage, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Out of Order, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2003.

Beating Heart: A Ghost Story, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Young-adult novelist A.M. Jenkins is the author of such critically acclaimed works as Breaking Boxes and Out of Order. Despite her success in the genre, Jenkins does not see herself strictly as an author for teens. As she told Sue Reichard in an online interview for Suite101, "I don't really write to any particular audience; I write about characters that interest me, that I can spend days, months, weeks, years with, and yet still look forward to being with them and peeling them apart every day. I like to be free to explore any aspect of these characters, and I like to write as tightly as possible, in a straight line without many digressions. Luckily for me, all this also fits into a niche called 'YA.'"

Jenkins's debut title, Breaking Boxes, garnered the Delacorte Press Prize for First Young-Adult Novel. The honor did more than simply bring notice to the author's work; it also marked a sea change in her life. At the time, Jenkins was ready to give up writing and had composed an e-mail to a friend telling her of the decision. "I was at the end of my rope," the author admitted to Publishers Weekly contributor Emily Jenkins. "I told her I would have to quit writing. Although I had found what I loved to do, I was going to have to quit because I wasn't good enough." When Jenkins received a phone call from editor Wendy Lamb, informing her of the award, she was overwhelmed. "I just started bawling away on the phone," the author recalled. "I couldn't speak or say anything! But I never did send that e-mail."

Breaking Boxes tells the story of sixteen-year-old Charlie Calmont, a loner from the rough side of town who has lived with his older brother, Trent, since the boys' widowed father abandoned the family; their mother drank herself to death years earlier. Following a scuffle with a group of the wealthy students at school because they teased him, Charlie is sent to detention, along with Brandon Chase, one of his tormentors. As a peace offering, Brandon offers Charlie a ride home, and the pair strikes up an unlikely but genuine friendship. When Brandon learns that Trent is gay, however, he is horrified and rejects Charlie's friendship. "The dialogue, both spoken and unspoken, rings true, and Jenkins delivers a devastatingly accurate portrayal of adolescent males," noted Booklist reviewer Debbie Carton. Several critics praised the author's realistic depiction of the brothers' relationship; Horn Book contributor Lauren Adams, for instance, wrote that "sensible, articulate Trent is a good foil for Charlie's sometimes callous behavior, especially toward girls." According to a reviewer in Publishers Weekly, "This earnest drama's message of tolerance is loud and clear."

A high school football star battles depression in Damage, Jenkins's second novel. Senior Austin Reid, quarterback of the Parkersville Panthers, seems to have everything going for him: he is handsome, popular, and athletic, and he even dates the prettiest girl in school. Despite all that he has, Austin still suffers from the loss of his father when he was a child. Consumed by thoughts of suicide, the popular teen simply goes through the motions of his daily life. Austin finds some solace with his best friend, Curtis, and his girlfriend, Heather, but soon Heather's own emotional issues begin to threaten the couple's already complicated relationship. "Jenkins uses an intriguing second-person point of view to depict Austin's detachment, and lets the story drift, echoing Austin's own aimlessness," remarked Booklist critic Roger Leslie. "Appropriately," wrote Todd Morning in School Library Journal, "the book's ending is somewhat ambiguous, with Austin just beginning to understand his fragile mental state." "Not only is [Damage] … a grippingly realistic novel," observed Claire Rosser in Kliatt, "it gets across to YA readers how devastating depression is and how hard the struggle may be to avoid suicide."

Out of Order focuses on Colt Trammel, a cocky high school sophomore who is interested in little else besides baseball and his brainy girlfriend, Grace. Colt's struggles with schoolwork, however, threaten his eligibility to play sports and cause Grace to end their relationship. He finds salvation in Corinne, a unconventional green-haired school newcomer who sees beneath his tough surface and begins tutoring him in English. "Jenkins shows admirable restraint by not defining Colt's learning disabilities (he appears to be dyslexic), focusing instead on how he uses an aggressive exterior to cover his fears of exposure," wrote Horn Book contributor Peter D. Sieruta. In School Library Journal, Morning also complimented Jenkins's portrait of Colt, stating that "every part rings true, from his rough language and obsession with sex to his need to act cool at all costs." According to Paula Rohrlick, writing in Kliatt, Out of Order "isn't a sports story, but rather a tale about learning to know oneself and to relate to others."

Jenkins turns readers' attention to the supernatural in Beating Heart: A Ghost Story. After seventeen-yearold Evan moves into a Victorian fixer-upper with his newly divorced mother and younger sister, the teen realizes the house is also inhabited by a spirit of a young woman named Cora who lived there a century earlier. Cora's ghost develops a romantic interest in Evan, and as he begins having erotic dreams about her, he also loses interest in his longtime girlfriend. "The third-person narrative works as an excellent foil," a Publishers Weekly critic stated, adding that Jenkins "portray[s] … Evan's kind nature with an even tone as opposed to the growing urgency of the dead girl's obsession." "Filled with the heat of awakening sexuality," remarked Kliatt reviewer Michele Winship, Beating Heart "crosses decades and genres as memory and reality meet each other in a dance shrouded in tragedy."

Asked by Reichard how she manages to create realistic male protagonists in her fiction, Jenkins replied: "I try to be honest and nonjudgmental. I grew up among friends who were boys, and spent time tagging along after my boy cousins, so that may have something to do with feeling comfortable with their conversations." While Jenkins finds ample rewards in the career she once almost abandoned, as she told Reichard, perhaps none is greater than "giving voice to characters who wouldn't exist, if I didn't put fingers to keyboard."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 1997, Debbie Carton, review of Breaking Boxes, p. 106; September 15, 2001, Roger Leslie, review of Damage, p. 227; September 1, 2003, Frances Bradburn, review of Out of Order, p. 115; February 1, 2006, Frances Bradburn, review of Beating Heart: A Ghost Story, p. 45.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November, 1997, review of Breaking Boxes, p. 88; July, 2001, review of Damage, p. 410.

Horn Book, September-October, 1997, Lauren Adams, review of Breaking Boxes, p. 573; September, 2001, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Damage, p. 587; November-December, 2003, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Out of Order, p. 749.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2001, review of Damage, p. 1485; August 1, 2003, review of Out of Order, p. 1018; December 1, 2005, review of Beating Heart, p. 1276.

Kliatt, May, 2003, Claire Rosser, review of Damage, p. 18; September, 2003, Paula Rohrlick, review of Out of Order, p. 8; January, 2006, Michele Winship, review of Out of Order, p. 8.

Publishers Weekly, July 14, 1997, review of Breaking Boxes, p. 85; December 22, 1997, Emily Jenkins, "Flying Starts," p. 28; November 12, 2001, review of Damage, p. 60; September 8, 2003, review of Out of Order, p. 77; December 5, 2005, review of Beating Heart, p. 56.

School Library Journal, October, 2001, Todd Morning, review of Damage, p. 162; September, 2003, Todd Morning, review of Out of Order, p. 214; March, 2006, Hillias J. Martin, review of Beating Heart, p. 223.

Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 1997, review of Breaking Boxes, p. 318; October, 2001, review of Damage, p. 279; February, 2006, Kevin Beach, review of Beating Heart, p. 499.