Brock Cole is a philosophy professor-turned painter whose picture books have been critically praised for their expressiveness as well as depth of detail, and whose three young adult novels have won numerous awards for their realistic portrayal of contemporary issues. While his picture books range in theme and content from broad humor to allegory and drama, Cole's novels "set out to . . . uplift, comfort, amuse or expand the horizons of those readers known, perhaps condescendingly as `young adults,'" according to Lynn Freed writing in the New York Times Book Review. "They manage to accomplish all this and much more, simply by telling fine stories about unforgettable characters." Cole's first young adult novel, The Goats, a survival/adventure narrative of two thirteen-year-olds, was published in 1987; his second, Celine, something of a female variant of Catcher in the Rye, came out two years later; and his third, The Facts Speak...