Pat Sassone

I write for young adult readers because I feel in constant connect with my inner child, believing in imagination and the intensity of the joy and sorrow of life's experiences, many of which are first explored as a young adult.

In my 1st novel, Hanging in the Stars, Andrew, a skinny ninth-grader living in a female-dominated home, struggles to toughen up as he works out in the gym with Cruz, the local drug-dealer. He soon experiences his first romance with Cruz's sister, Maya. He finds himself under immense pressure from his mother, an ambitious business woman devoted to women's advancement, particularly that of Andrew's sister, Ally, a scholar athlete.

As a high school English teacher who has taught in the New York City public school system for many years, as well as a mother of two grown sons, I have known many boys like Andrew. They struggle to make important choices that will not only affect their lives but the lives of those they love.