THE FACULTY LOUNGE

From the acclaimed author of Moxie comes a funny, big-hearted adult debut that is at once an ode to teachers, a timely glimpse at today's pressing school-place issues, and a tender character study, following a sprawling cast of teachers, administrators, and staff at a Texas high school.

With its ensemble of unforgettable, charming characters, THE FACULTY LOUNGE shows readers a different side of school life with its petty drama, collegial trauma bonding, and frustrating bureaucracy.

It all starts when an elderly substitute teacher at Baldwin High School is found dead in the faculty lounge. After a bit of a stir amongst the present teachers, life quickly returns to normal... it's not like it's the worst (or even the most interesting) thing that has happened within the building walls. But when a week later the spontaneous scattering of his ashes on the school grounds catches the attention of some busybody parents, it sets in motion a school year that can only be described as wild, bizarre, tragic, mundane, beautiful, and funny all at once.

In the midst of the ensuing hysteria and threats of disciplinary action, the novel peeks into the lives of the implicated adults who, it turns out, actually have first names and exist outside the school grounds. We meet: a former punk band front man who is now a middle-aged principal that must battle it out with the schoolboard to keep his job; an English teacher who has her neighbor/student housesit and accidentally lets him find her vibrator; and a no-nonsense school nurse willing to break the rules, despite the tight watch they are now under, when a student has an unintended pregnancy. Oh, and there's also a teacher make out session in a supply closet during a lockdown.

But as these people continue to manage the messiness of this school year, there is the looming threat of what will become of their beloved Baldwin High. Ultimately, at the heart of this unconventional workplace novel is a story of the power of human connection and of passion for what it is we do every day, which reminds us what it's all about.

Jennifer Mathieu is the critically acclaimed author of six novels for young adults including most recently Bad Girls Never Say Die and Moxie, which is now a major motion picture directed by Amy Poehler (Netflix). Her books have been translated into over twenty languages. A former journalist, Mathieu is a graduate of Northwestern and has been a high school teacher for nearly twenty years. She lives with her family in Houston.