Now available in paperback!
SUPER STOCK ROOKIE
A Motor Novel
by Will Weaver
Square Fish / Macmillan
$8.99 Trade Paperback
ISBN 978-0-312-60869-9
On sale April 27, 2010
Featured on our Twin Cities Live WHAT TO READ NEXT book segment on June 21!
And don’t miss the third book in the series . . .
CHECKERED FLAG CHEATER
A Motor Novel
by Will Weaver
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
$16.99 Hardcover
ISBN 978-0-374-35062-8
On sale April 27, 2010
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SUPER STOCK ROOKIE
A Motor Novel
by Will Weaver
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers
On sale May 12, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-374-35061-1
$14.95 Hardcover
Young Adult fiction for ages 12 and up
Set in central Minnesota – stock car racing 
Now in paperback — the first book in the Motor Novels series!
Saturday Night Dirt
A Motor Novel
Will Weaver
Square Fish
On sale April 14, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-312-56131-4
$7.99 Trade Paperback
Young Adult fiction for ages 12 and up
Set in central Minnesota – stock car racing
American Library Association Quick Picks for Young Adults
Minnesota Book Award Finalist
“If you have a young car-racing fan in your family, this book is the perfect summer reading choice: It’s a face-paced story about a struggling speedway in northern Michigan and features a great cast of characters, all car-obsessed teens. Great for boys and girls.” – Good Morning America
“Saturday Night Dirt is a great book. I have never been a big racing fan, but even so, this was an awesome book. I can’t wait for the next one.” – Kyle, 14
Buy this book from your favorite locally owned and operated Midwest independent bookseller! Click here for the directory of our member bookstores.
MBA Bookseller Information
For more sales or marketing information about this book, please contact your Macmillan sales rep. If you would like to inquire about publicity and events for author Will Weaver, please contact Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers: Jennifer Doerr, Publicity.
MBA Booksellers: earn up to $75 in rebates for promoting this book! See the marketing information and rebate form below.
Downloads
Please download these PDF files for the June 21 Twin Cities Live book segment and print out the sign and shelf-talkers to use with your displays of these books.
SIGN FOR JUNE 21 FEATURED BOOKS (PDF)
SHELF-TALKERS FOR JUNE 21 FEATURED BOOKS (PDF)
Note: The shelf-talkers need to be printed on card stock and cut apart along crop marks. Each book has its own shelf-talker, which is double so that it can be used either on the shelf under the book, or as a slip card standing up from the top of the book like a large bookmark.
- SUPER STOCK ROOKIE Paperback book photo (JPG)
- Midwest Connections Rebate Form (PDF)
- Full color sign/flyer (PDF)
- Author photo(JPG)
- SUPER STOCK ROOKIE book photo(JPG)
- SATURDAY NIGHT DIRT paperback book photo (JPG)
- Midwest Connections Generic Display Materials – MC logos, print ad templates, signs, shelf-talkers, book marks
About the Books
”The novel is likely to appeal to youngsters who normally shy away from fiction.” -School Library Journal
“Weaver offers outstanding descriptions of the races, putting readers in the center of the action.” -Booklist
“I was pleasantly surprised when I began reading Saturday Night Dirt. I was completely absorbed. I really felt like I could identify with the characters. I read the book in one day. It was impossible to put down.”-Ben, 17
“The book Saturday Night Dirt has been one of the best books I’ve read.”-Hannah, 13
“I loved the book Saturday Night Dirt. Anyone who reads this book will change the way they look at dirt tracks forever.”-Bethany, 13
SUPER STOCK ROOKIE:
After a couple of seasons of small-town racing, things are shifting into high gear for a young dirt-track driver with the skills to make it big. Trace Bonham has landed a corporate sponsor and a custom-built dream ride. But this means Trace can no longer pilot his dad’s Street Stock Chevy, and must let a new kid get behind the wheel. It also means having to turn his back on his hometown speedway, which his team leaders think is a hayseed operation not worth their time, even though it’s run by a girl who matters to Trace in a big way. Filled with authentic race-car action and detail, Will Weaver’s fast-paced novel is the story of a boy struggling with the speed and demands of his own success.
SATURDAY NIGHT DIRT:
It’s a sizzling summer Saturday, and Headwaters Speedway is suddenly the place to be. Thanks to rainouts across the state, this small-town dirt track is drawing big-time stock cars and local drivers. First up: Trace Bonham in his Street Stock Chevy that’s sure to be a winner, if only he can figure out why it’s acting up. Next is Beau Kim: his Modified is patched together from whatever parts he could scrape up. And on the outside, moving in fast: Amber Jenkins, a strawberry blonde who has what it takes to run rings around them all. Keeping everyone on track is Melody Walters: she knows that the impending rain might be exactly what they need to keep her father’s speedway afloat-or sink it for good.
”Weaver fleshes each [character] out enough to leave a lasting impression on readers and make them curious to know what happens next.”-Publishers Weekly
“The racing lingo moves the story along, while the reader’s interest remains piqued wondering how all the characters will fit together, who will end up with whom, and who will win their heart’s desire. This book is a winner in a sports event rarely dealt with by young adult authors.”-VOYA
About the Author
WILL WEAVER has written numerous young adult novels, including Defect, winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Young Adult Literature, and Full Service, a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. Also the author of the adult books Red Earth, White Earth and A Gravestone Made of Wheat, Will Weaver grew up in northern Minnesota on a dairy farm. The sometimes harsh and beautiful landscape of farm and small town life figures strongly in his writing. Sweet Land, an independent feature film adaptation of his story “A Gravestone Made of Wheat”, premiered in October of 2006.
Weaver is well known for his young adult fiction. His character Billy Baggs, a teenage farm boy baseball phenom, earned his way into the hearts of teen readers in the series Striking Out, Farm Team, and Hard Ball. Each novel has won numerous awards, including being named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Memory Boy, a post-apocalyptic novel based on environmental collapse, is used across the curriculum in many junior and senior high schools.
Claws, a novel set in northeastern Minnesota (Duluth and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness) features outdoor survival with a strong family back story. Weaver’s Full Service won starred reviews (Kirkus Reviews and The Horn Book) for its focus on a young man struggling with matters of religious faith and doubt, all complicated by his first “real” summer job, at a gas station, where he “meets the public” in all its variety. Defect, a novel about a teenager born with a miraculous birth abnormality, highlights what one reviewer from The St. Paul Pioneer Press called “the humanity and decency that runs through all of Weaver’s work.”
As an author, Mr. Weaver is particularly concerned with youth literacy and keeping kids reading. His new MOTOR series addresses a group of underserved young adult readers: kids who love cars. His new novel Saturday Night Dirt and its sequel, Super Stock Rookie, focus on dirt track stock car racing. The series starts with a close focus on a small town speedway and the cast of colorful characters who come there to race on Saturday nights. One of the characters, sixteen-year-old Trace Bonham, is a natural driver with dreams of racing professionally. The MOTOR series follows Trace’s on his path toward getting a “ride” (a sponsored race car) and competing at the highest level he can. While these auto racing novels will certainly appeal to boys, Weaver’s novels always contain a diverse cast of characters. Auto racing is one of the few sports that gives no gender advantage, and the MOTOR series also includes a positive and realistic portrayal of young women involved in racing.
Along with the MOTOR series of novels, Weaver has formed a stock car racing team with a teenaged driver. His black No. 16 Modified race car, co-sponsored by Farrar, Straus & Giroux publishers, is driven by Skyler Smith of Bemidji. Team Weaver races in the WISSOTA circuit in the upper Midwest. You can learn more about the Skyler, the race car and the MOTOR series at www.motornovels.com.
An avid outdoorsman, Will Weaver lives with his wife on the Mississippi River in northern Minnesota.
