BOTHERATION

Vito DiBarone was a self-described “egghead” growing up in East Orange and Phillipsburg, New Jersey. He puts it this way: “In the summertime, our library had a contest for who could read the most books. I never won because most of what I read were technical science books.” He received two Hardy Boys novels on his 10th birthday, and they sparked a lifelong love of mysteries. “I’m stuck in that era,” he jokes. “I’m rereading the story of Edward Stratemeyer, who owned the syndicate that hired Charles Leslie McFarlane to ghostwrite the Hardy Boys series.” (He was surprised to learn later in life that East Orange was home to the Stratemeyer Syndicate). -Kirkus --- Book Summary After he witnesses a fiery car crash kill both his parents, Matthew “Matty” Weber is sent to live with his Grandma Debbie. Four years later, now sixteen, Matty swears to stop hiding behind his introverted behavior and forces himself to become socially and emotionally normal. He has a rough start when he mistakenly sits down at the lunch table of the high school’s elite. That day, he meets Samantha, the girl of his dreams, but also Mark, captain of the football team and general jerk. Even though Matty miraculously avoids getting beat up, his next hurdle is to ace the State Standardized School Tests. A worldwide cyber-attack quickly ends the examination. With academics on hold, Matty decides to approach Samantha but finds her an emotional mess. She seems scared and asks for his help and trust. Shockingly, Mark confronts him and asks for the same. Now, two socially backward high school students, Matty and his best friend Gabriel, set out to find a solution to the unusual requests from the popular crowd. They must fight against cyber terrorism, but can a worldwide event really be stopped by two teens? --- Subscribe https://www.independentpressaward.com/subscribe or get a copy of the latest magazine issue https://www.zinio.com/publisher/independent-press-award-m41160 --- See more at https://www.independentpressaward.com/ and https://www.nycbigbookaward.com/ AND subscribe to our YouTube Channel, the Independent Press Award YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/IndependentPressAwardSpringNYCBigBookAwardFall

Website: https://www.mattyweberadventures.com/ Read Now! Amazon - https://tinyurl.com/bdhmv78y Barnes and Noble - https://tinyurl.com/yvwkbpkd About The Book: When seventeen-year-old Matty Weber agrees to escort Freddie Carter to Dinosaur National Monument in eastern Utah on a school trip, he encounters more than a quiet intellectual visit. They were supposed to be there to see one of the country's best dinosaur excavation sites, but instead, Matty immediately finds himself saving a young paleontology major from New Zealand. Amidst the chaos, Matty nearly misses his chance to score points with his dream girl Samantha Carter. Along the way he fights the raging waters of the Green River and intellectually duels with a general a Santa Claus look-alike. After almost losing Freddie, Matty temporarily loses himself in underground tunnels before reuniting with Samantha and friends and eventually wanders through waves of dinosaurs. Picking up where Matty and his friends left off in the Botheration series, Matty gets into all sorts of trouble on what was supposed to be just another ordinary day. Most importantly, though, he continues his quest to discover more about trust, develop new interpersonal skills, and be more social. About The Author: Vito DiBarone was a self-described “egghead” growing up in East Orange and Phillipsburg, New Jersey. He puts it this way: “In the summertime, our library had a contest for who could read the most books. I never won because most of what I read were technical science books.” He received two Hardy Boys novels on his 10th birthday, and they sparked a lifelong love of mysteries. “I’m stuck in that era,” he jokes. “I’m rereading the story of Edward Stratemeyer, who owned the syndicate that hired Charles Leslie McFarlane to ghostwrite the Hardy Boys series.” (He was surprised to learn later in life that East Orange was home to the Stratemeyer Syndicate). DiBarone created a Hardy-adjacent alter ego to front his own book series, Botheration, which now comprises two novels with a third on the way and a fourth in the works. His debut YA novel, Part One: The Missing Link, introduced 16-year-old Matty Weber, a recently orphaned high schooler who struggles with the trauma of seeing his parents perish in a car fire as well as with navigating high school’s social hierarchy after he moves to Southern California to live with his grandmother. Throw in a series of cyberterrorist attacks and you have what Kirkus Reviews praises as a “captivating blend of teen drama and techno-thriller.” The DiBarone home, when he was growing up, contained “lots and lots of books” that entranced him, his older brother, and his younger sister. DiBarone mostly read science books: anthropology, geology, archaeology, astronomy, and paleontology. As a Catholic school student, he presented a lecture on dinosaurs when he was in the third grade. “The next day, a nun came up to me and told me, ‘There were never animals that big on Earth,’ ” he recalls with a laugh. His love of science was further nurtured by visits to New York museums when he attended Fairleigh Dickenson University in Teaneck, New Jersey. His favorite, he says, was the Met Cloisters—the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annex, whose building is a reconstructed medieval castle. As for writing, he “dabbled,” he says. In elementary school, he wrote stories that a friend would animate. When he was around 8 years old, he “got the notion” to create a neighborhood newspaper on index cards. “That was fun to try, but it never took off,” he says. When DiBarone was a college sophomore, he took a class in English composition. He was a physics major, which earned him the enmity of his English comp professor. “That teacher hated Physics majors,” he says with a laugh. He remembers one assignment vividly: a how-to 3,000-word essay. “I wrote how to open a door,” he reports. “I actually analyzed where you should put your feet, which arm you should use to keep your head from getting hit by the door. [The professor] gave me an F. He said, ‘Nobody wants to know how to open a door.’ His message to me was, ‘You’re really smart, but you’re really stupid.’ ” While his stories have adventure and SF elements, they deal with universal adolescent issues such as friendship, first love, and bullying. “I want to share with readers that they are not alone,” DiBarone About Us: Bringing your stories to the world; one tap at a time. Bookside Press is all about creating buzz in the digital world. Our esteemed marketing team creatively connects with clients in building better brands that reach greater heights. Visit Our Website https://booksidepress.com/ Follow Us: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/booksidepress/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/booksidepress/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/BooksidePress Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@booksidepress Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.ca/BooksidePress/ Copyright © 2022 Bookside Press, All rights reserved.

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BOTHERATION: Part One: The Missing Link by Vito DiBarone After he witnesses a fiery car crash kill both his parents, Matthew "Matty" Weber is sent to live with his Grandma Debbie. Four years later, now sixteen, Matty swears to stop hiding behind his introverted behavior and forces himself to become socially and emotionally normal. He has a rough start when he mistakenly sits down at the lunch table of the high school's elite. That day, he meets Samantha, the girl of his dreams, but also Mark, captain of the football team and general jerk. Even though Matty miraculously avoids getting beat up, his next hurdle is to ace the State Standardized School Tests. A worldwide cyber-attack quickly ends the examination. With academics on hold, Matty decides to approach Samantha but finds her an emotional mess. She seems scared and asks for his help and trust. Shockingly, Mark confronts him and asks for the same. Now, two socially backward high school students, Matty and his best friend Gabriel, set out to find a solution to the unusual requests from the popular crowd. They must fight against cyber terrorism, but can a worldwide event really be stopped by two teens? --- Subscribe https://www.independentpressaward.com/subscribe or get a copy of the latest magazine issue https://www.zinio.com/publisher/independent-press-award-m41160 --- About the Author Vito DiBarone was a self-described “egghead” growing up in East Orange and Phillipsburg, New Jersey. He puts it this way: “In the summertime, our library had a contest for who could read the most books. I never won because most of what I read were technical science books.” He received two Hardy Boys novels on his 10th birthday, and they sparked a lifelong love of mysteries. “I’m stuck in that era,” he jokes. “I’m rereading the story of Edward Stratemeyer, who owned the syndicate that hired Charles Leslie McFarlane to ghostwrite the Hardy Boys series.” (He was surprised to learn later in life that East Orange was home to the Stratemeyer Syndicate). DiBarone created a Hardy-adjacent alter ego to front his own book series, Botheration, which now comprises two novels with a third on the way and a fourth in the works. His debut YA novel, Part One: The Missing Link, introduced 16-year-old Matty Weber, a recently orphaned high schooler who struggles with the trauma of seeing his parents perish in a car fire as well as with navigating high school’s social hierarchy after he moves to Southern California to live with his grandmother. Throw in a series of cyberterrorist attacks and you have what Kirkus Reviews praises as a “captivating blend of teen drama and techno-thriller.” --- See more at https://www.independentpressaward.com/ and https://www.nycbigbookaward.com/ AND subscribe to our YouTube Channel, the Independent Press Award YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/IndependentPressAwardSpringNYCBigBookAwardFall