BIG BIG NEWS!

Freeze Frame won the 2009 IRA Children's and Young Adults' Book Award. The IRA -- International Reading Association -- is "the world's leading organization of literacy professionals". The IRA is a nonprofit network of people and institutions committed to global literacy -- over 70,000 members strong.

The Melindas -- Kyle, Mr. Cordoba and I were all nominated for awards. The award-winning Eva Perry Public Library Mock Printz Club (just recognized with YALSA's MAE Award for Best Teen Literature Program) along with the NC State University Young Adult Literature graduate class held their awards ceremony February 23. Kyle, nominated for best lead main character and Cordoba for best supporting character in a novel lost out to worthy opponents. (Of course I'm supposed to say that. I'm being gracious, right?) But I was absolutely thrilled to win best up-and-coming YA author.

Nominated for the Rhode Island Teen Book Award (2010).

Freeze Frame is on Tayshas list -- a list of recommended books for students grades nine to twelve. The official list has over seventy titles. Freeze Frame was highlighted in this article as being one of the best of the seventy!

AND Freeze Frame was nominated by the ALAN for BBYA (Best Books for Young Adults) in 2010.

Freeze Frame Reviews & Links

"Freeze Frame is, quite simply, a stellar first novel. Heidi Ayarbe's powerful prose compels you to turn page after page until, along with protagonist Kyle, you reach the necessary resolution to mind-numbing conflict. This story will stay under your skin for a very long time." - Ellen Hopkins, author of the National Book Award nominee BURNED and New York Times bestseller IMPULSE.

"Readers of Ayarbe's debut novel will be thrilled that she has a second book in the works. Offer this one to fans of Gail Giles' Right Behind You." VOYA (Starred)

"Satisfying and truly moving." Kirkus Reviews

"This tightly written story unfolds both through Kyle's memories and his current experiences of pain, self-loathing, and fear ... A truly strong first novel." Booklist

REVIEWS:

YALSA

BookMuncher

Reader Reviews by Kids

Teen Libris.

Carson City Library Website.

I got my first starred review by VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates) in their December 2008 issue. 4Q (4 Quality means, in VOYA's words, "Better than most, marred by occasional lapses." 5P (5 Popularity: "Every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday.") I'm thrilled!

Information About Freeze Frame for the curious, book reports and the like ...

Over the course of the past few years, during school talks and library visits I've gotten quite a few questions about Freeze Frame and how it evolved. Here's a list of the most popular questions and some questions I just wanted to include that I wish people would've asked me! Why not? It's my Website.

What does FREEZE FRAME mean?

In cinema, a freeze frame shot is used when one shot is printed in a single frame several times. It makes the film stall -- looking like a still photograph -- in essence freezing the action. Why use FREEZE FRAME SHOTS? Directors use freeze frame shots in critical scenes to focus on characters' emotions or expressions.

Where did the idea for FREEZE FRAME come from?

I was at a poetry reading in Nevada (Ash Canyon Poets) and a woman came to the reading, laughing, because her grandson had just asked the question, "Which way is tomorrow?" I loved that question and wondered what would make a teenager ask "Which way is yesterday?" Over the next several months, I kept the question in the back of my mind. That year, two similar incidents to what happened to Kyle and Jason happened in the Northern Nevada area. And I decided I wanted to write about it.

Was it always called FREEZE FRAME?

Ahhh ... I'm title-challenged. We went through something like seven titles including: FINDING YESTERDAY, THE MEMORY KEEPER, SHATTERED, SUPPOSE, 10:46 ... Really, I lost count. Jill Santopolo, the most amazing editor in the Western Hemisphere (I'd say the world, but that's cliche, so I'll just use a hemispheric hyperbole), finally came up with the perfect title.

How long did it take to write FREEZE FRAME?

From the time I actually began writing (not counting the months I thought about the question, "Which way is yesterday?") to the last revision -- three and a half years.

How do you feel about your characters? Do you have a favorite? Least favorite?

I think, as a writer, you have to, if not like, appreciate all of your characters (because you spend so much time with them), but some are more difficult to get to know than others. Every scene I wrote with Chase and Kohana was a gift. I loved getting to know them better throughout the process of revisions. And of course, Cordoba. He is central to the entire book, and creating a character that I love, like I love Cordoba, was a privilege. My most challenging character was Jason, and I still feel like I don't know him all that well. I just know him through Kyle. And Kyle's sometimes not very communicative about things, as you'll see!

So much time is spent in the library. Why did you choose the library as Kyle's "place"?

I don't know of the first school library that isn't a refuge for students that don't quite fit in. I've always loved the neutrality and peace of libraries and the openness of librarians. I remember in school, when I wanted to hide, I'd go to the library. I kind of think of libraries like the Switzerland of the teenage world. Moreover, Kyle is a storyteller. What better place to find stories than at a library or movie theater? And who is better to open the doors of storytelling than a librarian?

What's FREEZE FRAME'S main theme?

I was actually asked this once (so technically it's not a FAQ, but it's a good question) and drew a blank. (This, of course, did not go over well with the English teachers since it was clear that this is something they were really pushing their students to think about.) So I thought about it, and I think it's forgiveness. (And so does Mitali Perkins. She featured FREEZE FRAME on her blog "Fifteen New YA Books Featuring Forgiveness" on Mitali's Fire Escape!)