Paranoid Park -- Blake Nelson, Paperback

now a major motion picture directed by Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, and Milk)

It was an accident. He didn't mean to kill the security guard with his skateboard--it was self-defense. But there's no one to back up his story. No one even knows he was at Paranoid Park. Should he confess, or can he get away with it? It's an ethical question no one should have to answer.

Writing more intensely than ever before, Blake Nelson delivers a film noir in book form, complete with interior monologue and dark, psychological drama. This is a riveting look at one boy's fall into a world of crime, guilt, and fear--and his desperate attempt to get out again.

Author: Blake Nelson
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 02/28/2008
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.43lbs
Size: 8.22h x 5.45w x 0.52d
ISBN: 9780142411568

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 3.7
Point Value: 5
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 109184 / Paranoid Park

About the Author
Blake grew up in Portland, Oregon.

His first love was books but he spent several years in his teens and twenties playing in bands.

Blake's first writing job was at Details magazine, where he wrote short humor pieces on the slacker lifestyle. His fiction remained unpublished until Sassy Magazine (cool girl magazine from the 90s) began publishing excerpts from his first novel.

These excerpts generated enough response to get his first novel GIRL published by Simon and Schuster. GIRL (1994) has since been translated into six foreign languages and was made into a feature film.

After GIRL, Blake published two more adult novels, EXILE (1997) and USER (2001). In 2003 he decided to try a Young Adult novel, (a book specifically for teens) and wrote THE NEW RULES OF HIGH SCHOOL. Since then he has published five YA novels, NEW RULES, ROCKSTAR SUPERSTAR, PROM ANONYMOUS, GENDER BLENDER, and PARANOID PARK.

His books have won numerous awards and continue to be translated around the world. A TV movie for GENDER BLENDER is currently in development at Nickelodeon. And PARANOID PARK, is being made into a film by Gus Van Sant and MK2 Productions.

Blake Nelson currently lives with his wife in Brooklyn, NY.