{"product_id":"2940013912052","title":"Cardboard Characters","description":"Set under the boiling sun of Tampa, Florida, the young adult novel, CARDBOARD CHARACTERS, tells the story of sixteen-year-old Leah Bergan, a girl who knows that you can’t build a boat out of cardboard. And you should trust her on that. She and her best friend, Eddie, have been trying for months. And not just cardboard: plastic, paper, the hood of a junk-yard car. They’re running out of ideas and time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTime gets even tighter when Leah is accidentally cast as the lead in her high school’s play. Suddenly, Leah is stuck in the spotlight -- and stuck going four hour rehearsals. Instead of being surrounded by the ocean, she’s now surrounded by a bunch of wacky drama kids, who like to stare deeply into the distance and make up stories about doors. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLeah just wants to survive the play without humiliating herself, but the student director, Minerva Watson, has other plans. To Leah, it seems like Minerva only has two goals in life: 1) Turn Leah into an actress, whether she likes it or not and 2) Keep the drama club from getting shut down by the student government. But when one of Minerva’s schemes involves Leah’s friend Eddie, Leah is forced to choose between protecting him and lying to everyone, including her long-lost love, Nathan, or telling the truth and losing everything. Then, of course, things go horribly wrong, and Leah ends up stuck twenty miles outside a town called Christmas, next to a gift store selling alligator meat. But with the help of her crazy cast-mates, Leah might just make it home, take the stage and even finish her boat, learning a little bit about life, love, and character development along the way. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eQuestions you might be having about this book: \u003cbr\u003eHow can you sell such a staggering work of heartbreaking genius for only ninety-nine cents?\u003cbr\u003eI know, right? I’m sure someday it will be sold for millions at auction, so you better get it now while you still can.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAm I in it?\u003cbr\u003eProbably\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat ages should read this book? \u003cbr\u003eI would say thirteen and up, but if you’re concerned, you could always read it first and then decide. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhy did you write this book?\u003cbr\u003eWell, it’s a long story (Haha. Get it?), but the short version is this: I started writing it for a class I took, and it was so much fun, I just couldn’t stop. But then after about 70,000 words, I decided it was time to stop.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHey, weren’t you the lead in a play?\u003cbr\u003eYes, yes I was. How do you know that? Anyway, much like Leah, in high school I played Alice in Alice in Wonderland (although our version was much more traditional than Minerva’s). Unlike Leah, I wasn’t cast against my will. In fact,  I wanted to be the lead, and I clawed my way up the drama ranks to get it (just kidding). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo is the entire book about you?\u003cbr\u003eNo, it’s not. It’s true that I was inspired by some events in my life. For example, after I was in that play in high school, I realized that even though being the lead is really fun, there are also some downsides to it. Like, you’re in every scene and have to practice every one, so when the rest of the cast is offstage, joking around in the dressing rooms during their down time, you are always onstage. I was interested in that idea - the realization that something you thought you wanted wasn’t really what you wanted, and I tucked it away for later. Then I started thinking about what would happen if someone didn’t want it at all, and I went from there. Other things in the book, like the setting in Tampa and a few aspects of the characters personalities, are based on things in my real life, but the majority of it I made up. If this book were simply The Autobiography of Julie Seifert in High School, it would be very boring, and there would be a lot more scenes of people eating ice cream. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhy did you decide to write about teenagers?\u003cbr\u003eWell, for one thing, I think they’re interesting and fun. I’ve spent quite a lot of time around teenagers (I worked as a camp counselor, for example), and I think it’s an interesting time in a person’s life. Also, as at twenty-one year old, I find that I don’t have much to say to an adult audience. Finally, I like young adult literature, both reading and writing it. I think some of the best and most exciting writing being done right now is being done in this field. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIs Treasurer Boy real?\u003cbr\u003eNo, but I encourage you to look for him. Start by asking any red-headed male you see on the street if he was ever in student government.","brand":"Julie Seifert","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47166607884528,"sku":"2940013912052","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013912052_p0.jpg?v=1763597051","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013912052","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}