In partnership with the Southern Independent Bookseller Alliance, Page 158 Books is excited to present Reader, Meet Writer, a virtual event series featuring Southern authors hosted by children's author and illustrator Constance Lombardo. Space is limited, so RSVP is required. Check out the rest of the tour on our website. Sign up here. 

FRANKIE & BUG stars ten- (almost eleven!) year-old Bug, a feisty girl who just wants to play at the beach all summer, who is feeling left out as her older brother stretches his wings toward independence. And there is 11-year-old Frankie, sent from Ohio to stay with his gay uncle in Venice Beach for the summer: a trans boy who just wants the opportunity to be who he is. Wary of each other at first, Frank and Bug bond over their mutual desire to catch the Midnight Marauder, a serial killer stalking Southern California in 1987. When the violence comes closer to home, what Frankie and Bug learn about themselves is far more important — family can be whatever you make it, love is stronger than blood, and it’s up to all of us to hurry toward justice. Additionally, FRANKIE & BUG conveys an important, and incredibly timely message about acceptance, friendship and showing up: one that we can all use right now.

A novel over eight years in the making, and acquired by editor Kristin Gilson, who said recently to Publisher’s Weekly, “I was drawn to FRANKIE & BUG given the ongoing need for trans representation in books, which I am of course tuned into living with a trans teen who is an avid reader. And this is a book about allyship in general—which is so important.”

So, how do we show up and stand up for each other? FRANKIE & BUG shows us how much the world has changed since the 1980s, and sadly, how much it has stayed the same. And how young people can — and do — change the world.

Gayle Forman is an award-winning author and journalist whose articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, and Elle in the US. Gayle Forman’s novel, If I Stay, was released as a blockbuster movie starring Chloë Grace Moretz in 2014. Her most recent YA novel is We Are Inevitable. Gayle lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family.

Our event provides a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Sexual language and imagery are not appropriate. Anyone violating these rules may be expelled from the event without a refund at the discretion of the organizers.