Girl Overboard is a new novel telling the story of a teenage girl struggling to overcome a serious knee injury and family disapproval to achieve her dream of becoming a professional snowboarder. It's aimed at teenage readers but it's a great story of self discovery and self acceptance that readers of any age will enjoy.

Author Justina Chen Headley has been touring the US with Burton rider Hannah Teter to hold book readings and support a new Burton grant for young people. We caught up with Justina during the crazy busy tour to find out more about her and the book.

First of all we just wanted to tell you how much we loved Girl Overboard. The main character Syrah has a complicated life and family – we’d be exhausted if we were her!

Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed the book. I was exhausted writing about Syrah’s complicated life and family. It just goes to show that having it all really means having to deal with it all. And not all of it is very cool.

Where did the idea for Girl Overboard come from?

Can you say, I watched one too many episodes of “My Super Sweet Sixteen” even though I found it pretty repulsive? So I thought, there’s got to be a truly dark side to the rags-to-richest story. And then, of course, that came right around my infamous wipe out in powder. Mortifying. Even more embarrassing was being tobogganed headfirst downhill by ski patrol. That experience literally collided head-on with my concern about our society’s glamorization of uber-wealth. A book was born!

Obviously the main character Syrah and you have something in common – a bust knee. Are there any other elements of Syrah that are based on you or anyone else for that matter?

In a weird way, every single one of my characters is a slice of me. Syrah is no different. I get how she didn’t feel good enough being who she was (at first). I get how it feels to have a dream taken away.

How is your knee these days?

Like a grumpy old man. Grousing in cold, wet weather. Filled with look-at-me-I’m-so-fit-and-cool bravado in the first three miles of a run…only to ache and creak later. But I refuse to slow down and I’ve found replacement sports.

What elements do you think her Chinese heritage bring to her character?

I hope my readers will see Syrah as a cool character who happens to be Asian-American, rather than an Asian-American character. Her Chinese heritage, I think, adds depth to the story.

Justina at the X-Games

Did anyone give you any insights into the pro snowboarding world while you were writing the novel?

You bet. I could not have written Girl Overboard without Lexi Waite’s help when I was first conceiving the story. She let me ask her about a billion questions—she was so generous with her time. But as I started writing Girl Overboard in earnest, I realized that I didn’t want Syrah to be a pro snowboarder, but a girl who ached to go pro—but wasn’t quite good enough. So I started talking to a bunch of snowboarders who were on the brink of going pro or who turned away from that track to ride for the pure and simple joy of riding.

The scenes where Syrah is riding the backcountry are really vivid – we can almost imagine being there with her in the powder! What’s your snowsports experience? Have you spent much time snowboarding or skiing?

Let’s just get this right out in the open: I am a klutz. Yoga is a contact sport for me. The first time I got up on skis, I was 22. (My family didn’t have the money when I was growing up for all the gear and lift tickets. Skiing and snowboarding is expensive…which is why I wrote about Burton’s CHILL program in my book—they outfit kids helmet to snowboot. And that, to me, is incredible.)

You also spent time at the Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Seattle during your research – what impact did your visit there have on you?

HUGE impact. Profoundly huge. How could you not be touched by babies attached to IVs and bedridden teens? That experience has totally inspired a community service project that I’m launching through readergirlz, the online book community I run with a few incredible authors (Dia Calhoun, Janet Lee Carey, Lorie Ann Grover, and Mitali Perkins). You’ll hear about this project in April, 2008—but what I can say is that it’ll impact thousands of teen patients around the country. I’m stoked!

Syrah has a pretty disappointing experience with a male pro snowboarder – have any of the girls you’ve spoken to mentioned similar experiences or do they say the men are all considerate, wonderful specimens?

Ummm…let’s just say that there are some men (pro snowboarders and otherwise) who should be tattooed with BEWARE: EMOTIONAL AVALANCHE AHEAD.

Introducing the book at a signing with Hannah Teter

We wondered if an equivalent novel about a boy would have worked as well – what do you think - Boy Overboard?

Interesting… I would for sure love to read a book about a boy snowboarder. And I’m hoping that guys will want to read Girl Overboard.

How do you go about writing your novels? Are you a night owl or do you write by day?

I write by green-tea-fuelled mornings.

How do you fit your work around motherhood?

Three words: an amazing husband. Oh! And…my parents moved in two blocks away from us. Can you say life-changing, hugely transformative, wonderful, amazing, state of bliss? I love my parents. My mom brings dinner by twice a week. It’s paradise, I’m telling you.

Do you still ski/snowboard? If so what’s your favourite resort?

After my accident, I rehabbed by doing a ton of cross-country skiing, which is a lot easier on the knees but doesn’t give quite the same adrenaline rush. BUT…have you seen the women who skate ski? They’ve got amazingly fit physiques and are incredibly strong. And then in the novel I just finished writing, North of Beautiful, my girl is a skate skier. So I’ve been getting more serious about that sport.

You’re one of the founders of a website and forum promoting reading amongst girls – readergirlz – what was the motivation for starting that?

When I was on tour for my first novel, Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies), I made it a point to visit inner city schools. It was so heartbreaking to realize that these kids who need story the most, who need role models, rarely if ever got to meet authors. So I pitched the idea of readergirlz to some amazing YA authors—where we could bring authors directly to girls regardless of their circumstances or geographic location by harnessing the internet, MySpace and Facebook. We want to inspire girls to be strong, to dream big, to be leaders. So we read about and discussstrong girls in fiction at www.readergirlz.com.

What’s the most important message you want readers to take away from Girl Overboard?

You’re powerful and perfect the way you are. So stop obsessing in front of the mirror. Go rock the world instead. We’re waiting for you.

How did the idea for the tour come about and how did Burton’s involvement happen?

Here’s the deal: I made a commitment to tie community service to every single book I publish. So in Girl Overboard, Syrah gains so much confidence and esteem from helping her girlfriend’s sick sister. After I finished the book and was kicking around some ideas for community service, I thought to myself: I should actually create a grant to fund the best youth-led ideas that change the world.

Signing copies of the book with Hannah

I loved Burton’s CHILL program—where they put kids on the mountain. And I especially loved Burton’s-powerful messages about women and snowboarding in their ads. I really believe in what they’re saying: women own the mountain. They make strength an absolutely beautiful quality. I love that.

So I contacted Burton, talked to them about the Grant idea. Burton’s co-founder, Donna Carpenter, and her brilliant director of women’s marketing, Deb Friedman, read my book and said they could get behind it and the grant. You can find all the info about our Go Overboard Challenge Grant at www.burton.com/GoOverboardGrant. …And then Deb had the idea of putting Olympic Gold Medalist Hannah Teter on tour with me. Hannah lives the message of my book: live loud, give big. She could be Syrah’s soul sister since she does so much amazing community service with her Hannah’s Gold maple syrup that funds AIDS orphans in Kenya and her rallying against the genocide in Darfur. You can follow our tour at www.burton.com/PositiveTurnTour.

How has the tour been going?

Awesome! First, I couldn’t have a better tour partner than Hannah Teter. She is deep and soulful and grounded and real. And the people we’re meeting at high schools and middle schools—from the students to the teachers, librarians and principals—have been extraordinary. Absolutely extraordinary in terms of their ideas of how they want to change the world. (You can read about the tour on our blog at www.myspace.com/GirlOverboardTour.)

Have you heard any of the ideas submitted for the grant? Can you give us a sneak preview of the kinds of things people are suggesting?

I can’t really comment right now on the actual grant ideas. But I have to say, at every stop of our Positive Turn Girl Overboard book tour with Hannah, we have been blown away by the students' suggestions--like teaching mentally disabled kids to skateboard (since skateboarding was one boy's passion). Or beautifying a rundown neighborhood with murals. Or creating a home for homeless kids. I am so pumped up by the energy and enthusiasm of everyone we've met.

Do you have plans to write any more books about Syrah or bring snowsports into future stories?

Syrah makes a cameo appearance in my next novel, North of Beautiful. And you bet I’ll be bringing snowsports into my other novels somehow. I love being in the snow, on the mountains. Terra in North of Beautiful snowshoes and skate skis. Have you ever tried skate skiing? Talk about total body work out. I swear, in just three days, skate skiing undid the ills of sitting and writing for six months straight. It’s the miracle workout—you’re in the beautiful outdoors, gliding alongside a glazed river with trees hanging with icicles, while your gluts are being reshaped. It doesn’t get better than that.

For more information on Justina visit her website www.justinachenheadley.com

Buy Girl Overboard at Amazon UK

Buy Girl Overboard at Amazon US