Author Rex Ogle appears at BookPeople to discuss his Printz Award Honoree book 'Absent', which explores school absenteeism through three distinct narrative voices.
Rex Ogle is coming to BookPeople on Friday, September 11, for a reading and signing around his new book, Absent. He'll be there on the second floor of the store, and the whole thing is free and open to the public.
Absent is a Printz Award Honoree and a YALSA Nonfiction Award winner that looks at school absenteeism through three different voices. Manny's parts are written in verse, Calvin's as a comic, and Liam's as a prose journal, so the story changes shape depending on who's telling it. It's a nonfiction book, and Ogle's approach—mixing poetry, comics, and journals—is a good way to see how different people experience the same thing.
Ogle lives in Los Angeles and has built a career around these kinds of stories. Before Absent, he wrote Free Lunch, Punching Bag, Abuela, Don't Forget Me, Road Home, and When We Ride. If you've read any of those, you know he writes for young readers and doesn't shy away from the harder parts of growing up.
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After the speaking portion, he'll be signing and personalizing copies of the book. To get one signed, you'll need to buy a copy of Absent or something of equal value from BookPeople. Seating is first-come, first-served, and there's no livestream or recording, so if you want a spot, it's best to get there a bit early. The event starts at 5 PM and runs about 45 to 60 minutes.
