Maria Padian is a young adult novelist who makes her home in Brunswick, Maine. Her most recent book, Out of Nowhere (Knopf, 2013), is set in the imaginary town of Enniston, Maine, and is about the friendship that develops between a Somali refugee boy and a white Franco boy who are high school soccer teammates. Out of Nowhere has received starred reviews from School Library Journal and the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, and is one of the selections in this year's "I'm Your Neighbor" community read in Portland Maine. Maria's other books for young adults include Jersey Tomatoes Are the Best (Knopf, 2011) and Brett McCarthy: Work in Progress (Knopf, 2008) , which was an ALA-YALSA Best Book for Young Adults and received a Maine Lupine Honor Award and a Maine Literary Award. To learn more about her, visit
www.mariapadian.com or Maria Padian Books on Facebook.
