ZIP

Lyssa is a spunky eleven-year-old girl who dreams of being a singer. But then her mother, a free-spirited performance artist, dies of ovarian cancer, bequeathing her home to the community and leaving Lyssa with Michael, her nerdy computer-programmer stepfather.

Now, recently relocated to a suburb of Seattle, WA, Lyssa feels her dreams are drying up she misses her hometown of Austin, her best friend, and the spontaneous and free-wheeling lifestyle she enjoyed with her mother. So when Lyssa hears that her old home her mother's legacy to the community is going to be torn down, she decides she must join the Traveling Talent Show in staging a protest and fulfilling her mother's dying wish. So she hops on her childhood scooter and runs away, traveling through the Western United States, meeting crazy characters and encountering magical mishaps as she tries desperately to make it to Austin before it's too late.

Ellie Rollins spent her childhood zipping across the Midwest. Since then, she's chased many of her own adventures in places like Seattle, Paris, and New York. She got her BA from the University of Washington in 2008 and now works at a university press in New York City. Zip is her first novel.