Introducing the Author of A Mark in the Road
NAPERVILLE–Every time Naperville resident and English teacher Angelique Burrell saw skid marks on the road, she would try to imagine what could have caused them. “When my family started taking cross-country road trips for vacation each summer, my thoughts shifted to wondering what it would be like if someone really could see the stories behind the marks,” says Angelique.
Angelique’s first young adult novel, A Mark in the Road introduces Mason, an 18-year-old boy who has the ability to see the cause of every skid mark in his mind like a silent movie. When his on-again-off-again crush Addie begs him to drive her cross-country to help her move, he must face his greatest fear – the open road. Until he learns that a woman driving on The Loneliest Road in America is missing and the skid marks near her car might hold the clue to what happened.
On their long road trips to and from Tahoe, Angelique’s family would stop in small towns and at various attractions along the way. “On our second trip west, we discovered the Loneliest Road in America,” says Angelique. “As we traveled, I took notes on my phone, and that became my research. It was the best kind of research.”
A Mark in the Road, winner of this year’s Illinois Author Project competition, can be found at Anderson’s Book Shop in Naperville and the store’s website. It is also available for sale online, wherever books are sold.
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