MELANIE CROWDER holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the author of the critically acclaimed Audacity and An Uninterrupted View of the Sky. She lives with her family on the Colorado Front Range. Visit Melanie online at melaniecrowder.net. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @MelanieACrowder.

ACCESSIBLE HISTORICAL FICTION: Set in 1959, this book brilliantly brings to life the world of 1950s New York, with an accessibility and identity quest that reads like a contemporary!AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR! Melanie is a School & Library darling as the author of National Jewish Book Award finalist Audacity, Walden Award finalist An Uninterrupted View of the Sky, and the winner of the Arnold Adoff New Voices Poetry Award, among other honors. Her books have received multiple starred reviews, landed on best of, notable, and state award lists, and received critical acclaim across the board.HISTORICAL INSPIRATION: Mazie explores industrial musicals, something not covered before in YA-a national fad during the fifties and sixties that married theater and booming commerce in the US. (Imagine if we launched our titles each season through song and dance!)MUSICAL THEATER: Mazie's journey through the 1950s broadway scene will appeal to aspiring actors, Broadway fanatics, and anyone who's ever been in a school musical!

*"Deserves a standing ovation." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

*" This is a terrific and realistic piece of historical fiction that is perfect for theater lovers and historical fiction fans." --SLC (starred review)

*"The peppy first-person narrative keeps the story zipping along, and adroitly placed period details make the setting come alive in this bighearted, exuberant novel." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

An eighteen-year-old aspiring actress trades in starry Nebraska skies for the bright lights of 1950s Broadway in this show-stopping novel from award-winning author Melanie Crowder.

Mazie has always longed to be on Broadway. But growing up in her small Nebraska town, that always seemed like an impossible dream. So when an opportunity presents itself to spend six weeks auditioning, Mazie jumps at the chance, leaving behind everything--and everyone--she's ever known.

New York City is a shock to the senses: thrilling, but lonely. Auditions are brutal. Mazie's homesick and she misses the boyfriend whose heart she broke when she left. Nothing is as she expected.

With money running out, and faced with too many rejections to count, Mazie is more determined than ever to land a role. But when she discovers that booking a job might mean losing sight of herself, everything Mazie always thought she wanted is called into question.

Mazie is the story of a girl caught between two lives--and two loves--as she navigates who she is, what matters most, and the cost of following her dream.
 
Praise for Mazie:
 
"Entertaining and heartfelt."-- Booklist
 
"Mazie s authenticity makes this novel stand out. Recommended for all collections, especially where theater is popular." School Library Journal