about the book
When trying to describe himself in a college application essay, Harbinger “Harry” Jones shatters the 250-word limit. Instead of a short character synopsis, he provides a novel.
As a child, he was left tied to a tree by some neighborhood bullies when a storm was approaching. The tree was struck by lightning. Needless to say, his face is covered in burn scars.
Then in eighth grade, when he was being bullied again, Johnny rescued him. He found a friend.
Johnny suggested they start a band together, and the Scar Boys ended up touring all over the country. Playing in the band is the only time Harry feels normal. It’s the only time people see through his scars.
But what happens when the music stops?
about the author
Len Vlahos dropped out of the film school at New York University to play guitar and write songs for Woofing Cookies in the mid 80s. The band, which had two singles and one full-length LP, toured up and down the East Coast. When the band broke up in 1987, he entered the book industry.
He wrote his first song when he was six years old on a play organ, but writing really began to interest him in high school. During tenth grade, he had two influential school assignments. One was “a one-act play about two Christmas trees on the side of the road after they’d been thrown out after Christmas, and it was the two Christmas trees talking about life” and “Sesame Street 20/20” which took place in the 1980s; the Sesame Street characters taok on some risque personality changes. Thankfully, he had a forward-thinking English teacher.
The Scar Boys, Len’s first book, is loosely based on a tour that he took with his band Woofing Cookies. The time he spent touring with the band was transformative, and Len has spent years trying to tell that story. It wasn’t until he realized that the narrator he used when drafting the story was too old that Scar Boys really took off.
Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is adapting The Scar Boys for the stage. Len is working with the theater teacher and the kids via Skype. When performed in February 2015, Len and his wife will be there on opening night.
The sequel to Scar Boys will be published in the fall of 2015.
Len currently lives in Connecticut with his wife and two sons.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Goodreads
Author interview: Teen Reads
Author interview: Darien Neirad
Also by Len Vlahos:
Scar Girl (Scar Boys, Book 2). Egmont USA. August 2015.
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