Colby: You’ve seen book trailers. You know that kids love them. My students often beg me to show their favorite trailers over and over again. Debut author Elly Swartz is trying something new: an audio book trailer. Here at The Yarn we are big fans of audio. I think Elly’s audio trailer is magnificent. Hopefully, others will follow suit, and the world will become filled with audio book trailers.

I asked Elly to tell us a little bit about her audio teaser.

Elly: I wanted to create something that truly captured the heart of Molly’s story and shined a light on her journey. I felt the audio teaser allowed me the room and creative space to accomplish that. It was also beyond meaningful for me to work with my son to create this piece. As an audio producer, he was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful, and as a son, tremendously supportive.

A bit about Finding Perfect

To Molly Nathans, perfect is:

• The number four

• The tip of a newly sharpened number two pencil

• A crisp, white pad of paper

• Her neatly aligned glass animal figurines

What’s not perfect is Molly’s mother leaving the family to take a faraway job with the promise to return in one year. Molly knows that promises are often broken, so she hatches a plan to bring her mother home: Win the Lakeville Middle School Slam Poetry Contest. The winner is honored at a fancy banquet with table cloths. Molly’s sure her mother would never miss that. Right…? But as time goes on, writing and reciting slam poetry become harder. Actually, everything becomes harder as new habits appear, and counting, cleaning, and organizing are not enough to keep Molly’s world from spinning out of control. In this fresh-voiced debut novel, one girl learns that finding herself means much more than finding perfect.

Elly Swartz lives in Massachusetts with her husband, two sons, and dog. Finding Perfect is her debut novel. Connect with Elly on Twitter @ellyswartz or online at http://ellyswartz.com/.