“Sometimes, though, you make a pact with yourself. I'll pretend there's nothing wrong if you pretend there's nothing wrong. It's called denial, and it's one of the strongest pacts in the world. Just ask all those people who were still drinking champagne while the Titanic went down.”

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.