Four teens who are pressured to achieve perfection are spotlighted in Perfect, Ellen Hopkins's September YA novel from Simon & Schuster's Margaret K. McElderry imprint. Cara, one of the protagonists, is the twin sister of Conner, who was driven to suicide by parental pressure in Hopkins's 2007 novel, Impulse.

"Impulse ends with Conner's funeral, and I wanted to explore how his death affected his family and his community," says the author. "And I also wanted to show how Cara, who is expected to be the perfect student, is under the same pressure from her parents that her brother was. She, like the other protagonists, is caught up in the drive for perfection that is not an attainable goal. In my earlier novels, I've written about other issues teens have—abuse, addiction—and though this is a different kind of pressure, it's no less important."

Having landed on bestseller lists, Hopkins's hard-hitting, sometimes dark novels—including the trilogy encompassing Crank, Glass, and Fallout—clearly speak to teens. "I think they appeal to kids on both sides," reflects Hopkins. "There are kids who have been through the same issues, and they can say, ‘Somebody gets me. I'm not the only person going through this.' And on the other side are readers who have not had the same experiences but perhaps know peers who have, and want to live vicariously with them, in some way, through the novels."

Hopkins's first adult novel, Triangles, will be published by S&S's Atria imprint in October. Written in free verse, as is Perfect, this book inspired Tilt, the YA novel that the author is currently writing. "Triangles is about three women having midlife meltdowns, and in the novel I also created teen characters, their children, who have great stories of their own. So I am writing Tilt, a companion, that's told from the point of view of these teens, who are dealing with their own issues while their parents are focused on what's going on in their own lives."

Though she's a newcomer to BEA, the Nevada resident has attended other large book conferences, and says she's "looking forward to meeting booksellers, as well as old readers and new readers." And other authors as well. "We YA writers are a tight-knit community, and I really enjoy their company," remarks Hopkins. "Oh—and I also love New York."

Hopkins will sign ARCs of Perfect this morning, 10–11 a.m., at Table 10.