Wayne, Teddy

Wayne (The Love Song of Jonny Valentine) offers a witty and fascinating peek into today's youth culture, and delivers an enthralling portrait of male narcissism and voyeuristic obsession through the literary device of an unreliable, though brilliant, narrator. [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/16.]

Narrated by the young singing sensation himself, the novel rides on the appealing combination of Jonny's innocence and wisdom beyond his years. This is ultimately a satire with a heart, capturing the sadness, longing, and confusion beneath the celebrity veneer as Johnny tries to make sense of the confusing adult world around him and be loved in a way that has nothing to do with star-struck fans. A top-of-the-charts tale.

Winner of a 2011 Whiting Writers’ Award and a finalist for the Young Lions Fiction Award, Wayne follows the travails of an 11-year-old bubblegum-pop star who’s manipulated by his glitz-obsessed mom and looking for his dad...