Back to School with the Latest Teen Fiction Part Four of Eight: Jeff Ross' Dawn Patrol

The following is the fourth part of a series about books for teenagers to read. However, I am admittedly remiss in posting this series regularly (The series was originally meant run in a daily Canadian paper in summer 2012.) In that respect, I really ought to rename the series. A more appropriate name would be Summer Reading for Teens Part 4. In this part, I go local and talk to Ottawa 's Jeff Ross about his latest YA novel from Orca Books.

Dawn Patrol
Jeff Ross
Orca Book Publishers
May 1, 2012
160 pages
Paperback, $9.95

Jeff Ross launched Dawn Patrol on May 28, 2012 at Collected Works Bookstore in Ottawa.

Best friends Esme and Luca hunt for their friend Kevin, who has left only a cryptic note behind -“I’ll come back, but if I don’t, know that I love you both.”  The friends face not only monster waves in Panama, but the mystery surrounding Kevin’s disappearance and a surfer who has in it for them.

Ottawa author Jeff Ross knows his audience. “Kids that are looking for books that speak to something they’re interested in—snowboarding, skating, surfing—doing those kinds of activities —anyone who wants to stand on a board sideways," Ross said. A lot of those kids that are skateboarders and snowboarders are intelligent and do read already, but there’s not books that are about what they love.”

Ross' family Christmas vacation in in Panama inspired the setting for Dawn Patrol. “The house had two of the best breaks in Panama,” Ross recalls. “While I was waiting for another wave, I thought ‘What could I write about this?’”