“I came running down the stairs that morning, like it was Christmas. My parents were already up. In my family, presents never waited; they were there upon waking. Our family has a problem with what they called delayed gratification. We want what we want when we want it, and we always want it now.”

American writer of young adult fiction

Neal Shusterman is an American writer of young adult fiction. He won the 2015 National Book Award for Young People's Literature for Challenger Deep, and his novel Scythe received a 2017 Michael L. Printz Honor. His work is best known in the young adult field, where he writes fiction that has earned major recognition. Challenger Deep and Scythe are among his best-known books, and his writing often reaches readers through stories that balance imagination with serious themes.