I Am Number 13 Takes a Gap Year

WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO PUT ONE’S CREATIONS OUT THERE

When I was a teenager, I wanted to study abroad. I’m sure a gap year existed, but taking a year off between high school and college never occurred to me. Besides, my parents weren’t fans of my living with foreign strangers and getting up to they-didn’t-know-what.

Novelists can take a gap year anytime.

We can write these “I wish I hads” into our characters and educate readers about volunteer opportunities. Whether you’re a teen considering a gap year or an adult with influence over a teen’s life, you’re going to want to read I Am Number 13.

What would you do if you were orphaned at 18, the day you graduated from high school?

In I Am Number 13, Emmaline Cagney loses her father in a freak accident. As far as she knows, her mother is dead, but why would she want to go back to her anyway, right?

Her mother was a predatory monster.

Em decides to fulfill her commitment to a gap year volunteering with Nicaraguan refugees in Honduras.It’s 1986, the year the Iran Contra Affair mushroom-clouded into the headlines, but in May, most Americans were oblivious. What did a few purported communists and contras in Central America have to do with the typical American life?

Like a lot of people, Em knows little about the fight for Nicaragua. She believes shifting her focus to people who’ve lost everything will help process her grief. After graduation, she heads to Central America. The story opens with Em buttoning down a small refugee camp in the Mosquitia jungle while staring down the eye of Hurricane Paine.

Yes, there was a Hurricane Paine.

Gap years require kids to grow up fast, and Em rises to the challenge. But when she realizes she isn’t who she thinks she is, it’s already too late…….James Wilkinson is determined to use her to rule Nowhere for eternity.

As the book moves toward its final version, I’ll share a scene here-and-there. COME BACK TOMORROW FOR A DELETED SCENE FROM I AM NUMBER 13.

Here’s how you can help me:

1. Did you take a gap year between high school and college? Do you know someone who did? I’d love to hear your stories. Please drop your experiences in a comment on this post or send a message to readme(at)andrawatkins(dot)com.
2. Did you or someone you know study abroad at any age? Tell me about it! See contact instructions in item 1 above.
3. If you could still take a gap year, where would you go? How would you volunteer? Please share your wish list in a comment, or follow the instructions above to contact me privately.

Want to read more about gap year programs for teens? Head to Go Abroad’s website HERE.

Haven’t read my novels Hard to Die and To Live Forever? GET THEM HERE.