October 21 was a great day for the Bronx. Why, you might ask? Because debut author Adam Silvera got the opportunity to speak to teens from his neck of the boroughs since the release of More Happy Than Not.

What would you do if you could erase all of your bad memories? Just a simple nip and tuck, and poof-gone! Those memories are a thing of the past. And you're in luck because the Leteo Institute has got what you need!

The novel opens following the loss of the main character's (Aaron) father to suicide. As the months go on Aaron tries to rediscover what it means to be happy and so far doing well with the support of his amazing girlfriend, Genevieve, and his mom. But it doesn't seem be enough these days and with Genevieve headed off to camp for the next couple weeks, Aaron's stuck trying to keep himself busy. Enter the new kid, Thomas, from the other side of the projects. Things are going great and Aaron begins to think that maybe there is some happiness left in world after all. But as they get closer, Aaron's old crew isn't cool with it the closeness between Thomas and him. Aaron's faced with violent outcomes and struggles with the repercussions of his feelings. Remember the Leteo Institute? Forget all your problems! Aaron struggles with whether or not he should go ahead and get the procedure done. Do you face your memories or do you delete them? Get a copy near you and find out!

Teens gathered from near and far (mostly near) to meet an author for the first time. How often you get to meet the people behind the books, let alone one from your own neighborhood? Tables were pushed together in the Teen Corner and teens filed in, set their stuff down, and got comfortable.

Adam showed up way early and chatted with some of them as we prepared for talking about his new book. In a casual Q&A,  Adam answered all kind of questions ranging from "what challenges did you face?" to "are you writing more books?" to "what inspired you to write this?" The teens found this to be insightful as a couple of them are aspiring writers themselves, while the rest just enjoyed that they could kick back and hang out with Adam.

After, the discussion we held a "write-in workshop" with the author as a way for teens to write alongside a real writer and just be silly. The workshop prompt was to write a list of 5 crazy things you'd like to try in your life and then to write about it. And boy did we get silly. From skydiving to bungee jumping to being in a cage surrounded by sharks, we wrote and laughed. 

Overall, it was a great success and we at Francis Martin Library are grateful to have such an opportunity to really connect teens with not just what they're reading, but who's behind it.