WINNER: BEST COMING OF AGE BOOK, 2019 AMERICAN FICTION AWARDS
ORDER: AMAZON | INDIEBOUND | BARNES & NOBLE
ISBN: 978-0-9899087-4-0. Paperback. 228 pages. $12.99.
978-0-9899087-5-7 (EPUB) and 978-0-9899087-9-5 (Mobipocket)
MEDIA: PRESS RELEASE | NPR “THE STATE OF THINGS” | “INSIDE THE WRITER’S STUDIO” PODCAST | THE AGEWYZ PODCAST | THE CHARLOTTE READERS PODCAST
“Lovely and funny and heart-aching and true. I didn’t want it to end. But the big-hearted story and characters—especially the very real, unforgettable Gabe—will stay with me for a long, long time.” — Jennifer Niven, NY Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places
“A must for any YA collection.” — School Library Journal
“Full of heart and humor . . . will make young readers take stock of their own parents’ responsibilities, and what it means to make sacrifices for the ones you love.” — Booklist
“An emotional story, filled with lots of laughter and great sadness . . . smartly written, with beautiful characters and a compelling plot.” — Foreword Reviews
SEE MORE PRAISE FOR “NO SAD SONGS”
BACKGROUND INFO AND Q&A WITH FRANK MORELLI
Following a family tragedy, eighteen-year-old Gabe LoScuda suddenly finds himself thrust into the role of caregiver for his ailing grandfather. Between the shopping trips and the doctor visits with Grandpa, Gabe and his friend John try to salvage their senior year, meet girls, and make the varsity baseball team. It doesn’t take long for Gabe to realize that going to school and looking after a grandfather with Alzheimer’s is more work than he ever imagined. And when long-lost Uncle Nick appears on the scene, Gabe soon finds that living with Nick and Grandpa is like babysitting two grown men.
Aside from John, the only person who truly understands Gabe is Sofia, a punk-rocking rebel he meets at the veteran’s hospital. When these three unlikely friends are faced with a serious dilemma, will they do what it takes to save Grandpa? If there’s a chance of preserving the final shreds of Grandpa’s dignity, Gabe may have to make the most gut-wrenching decision of his life—and there’s no way out.
Read a Q&A with Frank from the Winston-Salem Journal (January 2018).
FRANK MORELLI has been a teacher, a coach, a bagel builder, a stock boy, a pretzel salesman, a bus driver, a postal employee, a JC Penney model (see: clerk), an actual clerk (like in the movie of the same name), a camp counselor, a roving sports reporter, and a nuclear physicist (okay, maybe that’s not true). At heart, he’s a writer, and that’s all he’s ever been. His fiction and essays have appeared in more than thirty publications, including The Saturday Evening Post, Cobalt Review, Philadelphia Stories, Jersey Devil Press, and Indiana Voice Journal. His sports-themed column—“Peanuts & Crackerjacks”—appears monthly at Change Seven Magazine. A Philadelphia native, Frank now lives near Greensboro, NC in a tiny house under the trees with his best friend and muse, their obnoxious alley cats, and two hundred pounds worth of dog. Connect with Frank at www.frankmorelliwrites.com, on Facebook, or on Twitter @frankmoewriter.