about the book
Ben, a seventeen-year-old British teen, enjoys knitting.
It all starts when Ben is busted for petty theft, one involving a crossing guard, a bottle of Martini & Rossi, and, of course, Ben’s immature friends. His punishment is to keep a journal for probation and to take a course at the community college. Ben’s options: auto mechanics with his father, or knitting with a hot teacher. Ben chooses knitting.
Ben soon discovers he has a knack for knitting. He’s good at it and it calms his anxieties. (Ben tends to have a problem with worrying.) Why not enjoy it?
When Ben is convinced to participate in a knitting contest, more worrying results. Ben can’t stand the thought of being found out by his friends, his soccer-obsessed father, or even worse, his crush.
How will Ben keep his hobby a secret? Will humiliation be the ultimate result of this mess?
about the author
T.S. Easton—famous author of fiction for all ages and speed knitter—might not really be as good at knitting as Ben, the main character of Boys Don’t Knit, but check out this funny video of Tom’s speed knitting demonstration: “A Demonstration of Speed Knitting.”
While Tom isn’t very good at knitting, his wife does knit. In fact, she showed him how to knit so that he could try to be accurate while writing about the craft.
Along with his wife, Tom lives with three children and two cats in Surrey, England. He has many pseudonyms, and used to write on subjects including vampires, pirates, pandemics, and teenage agony aunts. He also works for a publisher as a Production Manager.
While writing, Tom prefers typing rather than handwriting, because he corrects himself as he goes. He also listens to iTunes on shuffle while writing, and he noticed that “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers played often while writing Boys Don’t Knit. He continues to write and try harder because he loves that so many people are reading his books.
Boys Don’t Knit won the Coventry Inspiration Book Award in 2015, was shortlisted for the Leeds Book Award in 2015 and for the Peter’s Book of the Year for 2015, was longlisted for the Nottingham Book Award in 2015, and was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2015. Tom has followed this book up with a sequel, An English Boy in New York, to be published in 2016, and he’s currently working on a couple middle-grade books.
Sources:
Author website
Author interview: Lattes and Llamas
Author interview: Death, Books, and Tea
Also by T.S. Easton:
An English Boy in New York. Bonnier Publishing. April 2016.
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