SUMMER OF '69

Drawing from his teenage years, Todd Strasser's novel revisits a tumultuous era and takes readers on a psychedelically tinged trip of a lifetime.

With his girlfriend, Robin, away in Canada, eighteen-year-old Lucas Baker's only plans for the summer are to mellow out with his friends, smoke weed, drop a tab or two, and head out in his microbus for a three-day happening called the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. But life veers dramatically off track when he suddenly finds himself in danger of being drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam. If that isn't heavy enough, there's also the free-loving (and undeniably alluring) Tinsley, who seems determined to test Lucas's resolve to stay faithful to Robin; a frighteningly bad trip at a Led Zeppelin concert; a run-in with an angry motorcycle gang; parents who appear headed for a divorce; and a friend on the front lines in 'Nam who's in mortal danger of not making it back. As the pressures grow, it's not long before Lucas finds himself knocked so far down, it's starting to look like up to him. When tuning in, turning on, and dropping out is no longer enough, what else is there? Timed to release in summer 2019 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, Summer of '69 is sure to carve out a place in teen literature. Todd Strasser is the author of more than 100 books for teens and middle graders including the million-copy selling Help! I'm Trapped series, and numerous award-winning YA novels including The Wave, Give A Boy A Gun, The Accident, Can't Get There From Here, Boot Camp, If I Grow Up, and Fallout. Several of his books have been adapted for television, and his novels The Wave and How I Created My Perfect Prom Date became feature lms. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and he has also written for television, newspapers such as The New York Times, and magazines such as The New Yorker and Esquire. Todd now divides his time between Westchester and Montauk, NY.