Talia Talk in November

I live in a town called Prescott City. Never heard of it? I’m stunned, because it’s, like, the cultural and recreational capital of the world. For fun, kids go to the Kwickie-Kleen Laundromat and watch clothes dry. Okay, so it’s not really that bad. But unless you count a miniature-golf course, a skating rink and a movie theater where the usher’s always on cell phone patrol just waiting to toss us out if we get a call (or even a text!), Prescott City is approximately as exciting as a stalk of celery.

I’m a sixth-grader at Crossroads Middle School. Wouldn’t it be cool if the school was named after the Eric Clapton song? (Classic rock rules!) But it’s not. It’s named after . . . nothing, as far as I can tell, because only one road leads to the school, and its name is Persimmon Street. Ever had a persimmon? I sprinkle salt on mine. But good luck finding a persimmon on Persimmon Street. You’d have a better chance finding Eric Clapton there.

My best subject in school is English, but this doesn’t mean I’m great at English. It means I'm totally awful at math. That reminds me of a board game I got for Christmas. You have to answer totally random questions like, “Would you rather have a head two sizes too large or too sizes too small?” Just because you answer “two sizes too small” doesn’t mean you’re actually cool with that. So that’s what I mean when I say my best subject is English.

But I do really like to write. Nerdy, huh? I know. The upside is that my writing “flair” landed me a spot on the Crossroads Middle School Oddcast. The Oddcast is a combination broadcast/podcast. It used to be just a bunch of kids standing in front of a video camera reading school announcements in a monotone. But my BFF, Bridget, turned it into something awesome.

Here’s what you need to know about Bridget: She can be totally annoying. But she’s really smart and funny, and her head is always exploding with ideas. She’s the director of the Oddcast, and she has a zillion fantabulous ideas for it, including (insert modest blush here) a weekly commentary by moi. So I get to spill my guts once a week to the whole school—well, technically, to the whole universe, if you’re counting everybody who has Internet access.

Wanna know more? Like how my snotty friends, Brynne and Meredith, totally blew me off as soon as middle school started? Or how Meredith registered at the mall boutique, Threads, for birthday presents? (I am SO not kidding.) Or how I was a little freaked out by my mom’s new boyfriend, Jake, until I bonded with Jake’s dog, Ebay, whose name, incidentally, makes no more sense than Crossroads Middle School’s?

I’ll tell you all about it … in my book. My book’s easy to find. It’s called Talia Talk (the name of my podcast) and I look like I’m trying to bust out of an iPod on the cover. In fact, the cover looks more like an iPod than a book. Pretty cool, huh? So read the book, then come back to my website and tell me if you liked it. If you liked it, awesome. If you didn’t like it, tell me how you’d make it better, Smarty Pants. Or tell me your favorite Eric Clapton song. Or if you don’t know who Eric Clapton is, borrow your mom’s credit card, stop by the store and pick up a life.

Okay, I’m starting to sound like Bridget now, so I better wrap things up. Just read my book, okay? I’ll read yours, too, if you ever write one. Assuming it’s not about algebra.
 

  

Written by Christine Hurley DerisoAuthor Alerts: Random House will alert you to new works by Christine Hurley Deriso


(Available November 11, 2008)