Additional information
by B. A. Binns (Author)
The world implodes for seventeen-year-old David and his younger sisters when their father kills their mother. Stuck in a cramped apartment with an aunt he suspects is only interested in the money from his after school construction job, all David wants to do is separate himself from the violence in his past. Guilt drives him to concentrate on fulfilling his mother's last wishes for him - that he prepare for college. But he is happier working with his hands under the tutelage of his crew boss than sitting in classrooms that feel like a prison. David deals with homework, and hormones that draw him ever closer to Yolanda, the hottest girl in the "in" crowd. When Yolanda and David finally come together, sparks fly. But she means trouble, because she's pack leader Malik's girl. Malik has it out for David, not only as a romantic rival, but also on the basketball court and -- most importantly -- as a threat to David's freshman sister.
PULL is the winner of the 2010 National Readers Choice Award for Young Adult fiction presented by the Oklahoma Romance Writers of America.
PULL was named to the 2012 YALSA Quick Picks For Reluctant Young Adult Readers, and School Library Journal's 2011 Best Books For Youth in Detention lists.
Author Biography
B. A. Binns is a Chicago Area author who writes to attract and inspire reluctant readers with stories of "real boys growing into real men...and the people who love them." After graduating Hyde Park High School, she obtained degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin and Michigan State University; and in Computer Science from Roosevelt University, and DePaul University. Her writing skills were honed at Chicago State University and Harper College. She does talks and classes on domestic violence and teens, attracting teen boy readers, and multicultural literature. She finds writing an exercise in self-discipline, and the perfect follow-up to her life as the eldest of five children, an adoptive parent, and a cancer survivor. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America, the Chicago Writers Association, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association). In 2009 her work won the Oklahoma Romance Writers Finally a Bride Contest and the Rose City Golden Rose Contest. In 2010 she was a finalist in the RWA Golden Heart(R) contest. Her favorite quote is from Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Easy reading is damned hard writing." Her website is babinns.com. She is the YA "genre-ista" on the Romancing the Genres group blog at romancingthegenres.blogspot.com.
