A teacher for twenty-five years, Wilder has earned numerous awards and fellowships, including the inaugural Innovations in Reading Prize by the National Book Foundation. He has published essays in Newsweek, Details, Salon, Parenting, Creative Nonfiction, plus numerous anthologies and has been a commentator for NPR’s Morning Edition.Wilder applied the Page 69 Test to Nickel and reported the following:
The final line on page 69 in my novel Nickel is a question from Monroe, Coy’s sick best friend after she convinces him to ditch school in the middle of the day. Coy made a promise to his mother that he’d never do something like that—be the cliché boy who acts out because his dad is dead and his mother is in rehab. He’s the kind of kid who is worried about everything, getting in trouble being first item on a long list of worries. Monroe asks, “What kind of trouble will we get into that would be worse than what we’ve already been through?” This line stings Coy because it forces him to face the difficult landscape of his life—haunting past, tumultuous present, and seemingly daunting future. Just like many teenagers, Coy’s paralysis (and eventual action) is at the heart of the novel and representative of the work as a whole. I think most casual readers would want to turn the page to see how he deals with the aftermath of his decision to follow Monroe into dark places.Visit Robert Wilder's website and Facebook page.
The Page 99 Test: Daddy Needs A Drink.
My Book, The Movie: Nickel.
Writers Read: Robert Wilder.
--Marshal Zeringue
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