Shaw, Tucker 1968-

PERSONAL:

Born 1968, in ME. Education: Earned degree from Bowdoin College.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Denver Post, Food & Dining, 101 W. Colfax, Ste. 600, Denver, CO 80202.

CAREER:

Writer and journalist. Denver Post, Denver, CO, food critic; Alloy.com, advice columnist.

WRITINGS:

(With Fiona Gibb) This Book Is about Sex, Alloy Books (New York, NY), 2000.

… Any Advice, Alloy Books (New York, NY), 2000.

Who Do You Think You Are? 12 Methods for Analyzing the True You, illustrated by Chuck Gonzalez, Alloy Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Dreams, Alloy Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Peace, Alloy Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Flavor of the Week, Hyperion (New York, NY), 2003.

What's That Smell, Oh, It's Me, Alloy Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Confessions of a Backup Dancer, Simon Pulse (New York, NY), 2004.

Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA), 2005.

The Hookup Artist, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2005.

(Editor) Dealing with Mom: How to Understand Your Changing Relationship, illustrated by Anne-Sophie Tschiegg, Amulet Books (New York, NY)-, 2005.

(Editor) Adoption: How to Deal with the Questions of Your Past, illustrated by Monike Czarnecki, Harry N. Abrams (New York, NY), 2006.

Author of advice column, "Ask Tucker," for Alloy.com. Contributor to periodicals, including YM, Seventeen, Teen People, Mademoiselle, Marie Claire, and the New York Times Magazine.

SIDELIGHTS:

Tucker Shaw is a journalist and author of numerous teen-centered books. Shaw, food critic for the Denver Post, previously worked as an advice columnist for the teen Web site Alloy.com. Shaw has written or edited several self-help books for teens, including This Book Is about Sex, Dealing with Mom: How to Understand Your Changing Relationship, and Adoption: How to Deal with the Questions of Your Past.

In 2003 Shaw published Flavor of the Week. Cyril, an overweight sixteen-year-old, is in love with Rose, who considers him to be merely a friend. Cyril eventually helps his best friend woo Rose by letting him take credit for his cooking, which Rose loves. In the end, honesty prevails and the true identity is revealed. Many critics considered the book to be a modern telling of Cyrano de Bergerac. Stephanie Squicciarini, in a Kliatt review, stated that "while this fun book … serves up a similar tale, it does so with refreshing substance and humor." Booklist contributor Jennifer Mattson called it a "flossy romantic comedy." And a critic writing in Publishers Weekly noted this about the book: "Flavored with a pervasive and good-natured sense of humor … this light novel leaves a pleasant aftertaste."

In 2004 Shaw began a project to record and photograph everything he ate within the period of a year. After a few months into the project, he started sending photos to his friends, which were in turn sent to their friends, and through this networking, landed a book contract with Chronicle Books. While some people found this an interesting concept, other critics did not. Raymond Bial, in a review for Library Journal, called Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth "a silly, shameful little book … quite bland and boring." A critic in Publishers Weekly found it "mundane and repetitive" but also noted that it "holds genuine appeal for foodies." In a Dallas Morning News interview with Michael Precker, Shaw explained that he is not offended by criticism, saying "The skeptics were abundant. There's nothing I like better than a skeptic because it makes you think about what you're doing."

In 2005 Shaw published The Hookup Artist, a book about Lucas, a gay teen, and his matchmaking talents with his friends. When Lucas tries to set up Derek, the new boy at school, with his best friend, Cate, confusion abounds as Derek seems to be flirting back with Lucas and nobody is sure what the rules of the game are anymore. Critics gave this book mostly positive remarks. One such critic, writing in Kirkus Reviews, called Shaw's writing "above average" and the story "funny and sweet." Michele Winship, who also complimented Shaw's writing abilities in a Kliatt review, said: "Readers will enjoy the plot that unrolls like an I Love Lucy episode." And in a review in School Library Journal, Hillias J. Martin said that in this "amusing story … the characterizations are coyly unique and mingle well with the novel's in-your-face style."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2001, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of This Book Is about Sex, p. 1045; September 1, 2002, Stephanie Zvirin and Beth Leistensnider, review of Peace, p. 115; November 15, 2003, Jennifer Mattson, review of Flavor of the Week, p. 607.

Dallas Morning News, June 25, 2005, Michael Precker, review of Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth.

Gothamist, July 6, 2005, Rachel Kramer Bussel, author interview.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2005, review of The Hookup Artist, p. 1327.

Kliatt, September, 2005, Stephanie Squicciarini, review of Flavor of the Week, p. 23; January, 2006, Michele Winship, review of The Hookup Artist, p. 12.

Library Journal, September 1, 2005, Raymond Bial, review of Everything I Ate, p. 138.

Publishers Weekly, October 6, 2003, review of Flavor of the Week, p. 85; May 16, 2005, review of Everything I Ate, p. 51.

School Library Journal, December, 2003, Ronni Krasnow, review of Flavor of the Week, p. 160; February, 2006, Hillias J. Martin, review of The Hookup Artist, p. 136; April, 2006, Deborah Vose, review of Adoption: How to Deal with the Questions of Your Past, p. 157.

Westword (Denver, CO), November 24, 2005, Michael Roberts, author profile.