Gail Giles (born September 24 in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

) is an American writer of

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

. She aims to write books about social issues that connect with a teen audience in a realistic way. She has won several awards for her work, including an ALA Best of the Best book. In 2014, she co-authored ''No Returns'', the first in a series, with

Deb Vanasse Deb Vanasse (born September 12, 1957) is an American writer of more than a dozen books, many of which are set in Alaska. Her children's books include six picture books and two young adult novels. She and young-adult novelist Gail Giles are the co ...

Biography

Giles is a former high school teacher who grew up in Texas and now lives there with her husband, three dogs, and three cats. She has one son and two grandsons. She graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University. She studies English, speech, and drama.

Career

Her novel ''Shattering Glass'', was an

ALA Ala, ALA, Alaa or Alae may refer to: Places * Ala, Hiiu County, Estonia, a village * Ala, Valga County, Estonia, a village * Ala, Alappuzha, Kerala, India, a village * Ala, Iran, a village in Semnan Province * Ala, Gotland, Sweden * Alad, Seydu ...

Best of the Best Book, a ''

Book Sense IndieBound is a marketing movement for independent bookstores launched in 2008 by the American Booksellers Association. With resources targeted for "indie" booksellers, it promotes fiscal localism. IndieBound's curated reading lists include the In ...

'' 76 selection, and a ''

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is av ...

'' Top 10 Mystery for Youth selection. The novel is about a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

boy named Simon Glass who is helped to become one of the most popular kids in school by other students, only to end in a tragic twist of fate. Her second novel, ''Dead Girls Don't Write Letters'', was an ALA Top 10 Quick pick (2003) and a Book Sense 76 selection. It is about a girl named Sunny whose older sister, Jazz, has recently died. She receives a letter in the mail supposedly from her sister. Following the letter, things get stranger and stranger. ''Dead Girls Don't Write Letters'' deals with profound physiological insight and provides the reader with much to ponder. Giles' third novel, ''Playing in Traffic'' (2003), is an epic story about a boy trying to help a

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

girl. Her fourth book, ''What Happened to Cass McBride?'' (2006), deals with teen problems. It's about crime, death, torture, and suicide. In September 2007, she published another teen novel, ''Right Behind You'', about a boy who struggles with guilt after making a horrible mistake. ''Dark Song'', a fast-paced psychological thriller about a girl who falls hard for the wrong boy, was released on September 7, 2010. ''No Returns'', co-written with

( Running Fox Books, 2014), is the first in a planned series, the Battleband Saga. It features a boy band that accidentally makes a deal with the devil. In a twist on the legend of

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

, the boys in the bands discover there's more at stake than their fame.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Breath of the Dragon'' (1998) * ''Shattering Glass'' (2002) * ''Dead Girls Don't Write Letters'' (2003) * ''Playing in Traffic'' (2003) * ''What Happened to Cass McBride?'' (2006) * ''Right Behind You'' (2007) * ''Dark Song'' (2010) * ''Girls Like Us'' (2014)

Series

* ''No Returns'' (The Battleband Saga #1) (2014)

Awards

* ''Shattering Glass'',

Best of the Best Book * ''Shattering Glass'', ''

'' 76 selection * ''Shattering Glass'', ''

'' Top 10 Mystery for Youth selection * ''Dead Girls Don't Write Letters'', ALA Top 10 Quick pick (2003) * ''Dead Girls Don't Write Letters'', Book Sense 76 selection

References

External links

*
Battleband Saga series
(official) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Giles, Gaile 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American writers of young adult literature American women novelists Novelists from Texas Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American women writers of young adult literature American children's writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers