Todd Strasser (born May 5, 1950 in New York City, New York) is an American author of more than 130 young-adult and middle grade novels and novelizations, some written under the pen names Morton Rhue and T.S. Rue.
After studying literature in college, Strasser earned his living working as a journalist, also operated his own fortune cookie company, producing cookies under the "Dr. Wing Tip Shoo" brand name. He is the father of two children, and an avid tennis player and surfer.
Strasser has written many award-winning novels for young adults and teens, picking controversial themes like Nazism, bullying at schools, homelessness, school shootings, and sexuality. His works include Give a Boy a Gun, Boot Camp, and Asphalt Tribe. His most famous work The Wave, is a novelization of a social experiment that happened in Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California in 1969, and was made into a television movie in 1981 and a popular feature film in 2008. This book has been translated into more than a dozen languages and is read in schools around the world.
Strasser is also the author of the Time Zone High trilogy, How I Changed My Life, How I Created My Perfect Prom Date123, and How I Spent My Last Night on Earth. How I Created My Perfect Prom Date was adapted for the feature film Drive Me Crazy, starring Adrian Grenier and Melissa Joan Hart.
Other novels for young adults include The Accident, which became the television movie Over the Limit, as well as Angel Dust Blues, Friends Till the End, and A Very Touchy Subject. The latter also became a television movie, entitled Can a Guy Say No?
Strasser has also written a number of young adult series, including Impact Zone (about surfing), Drift X (about drift car competitions), and Here Comes Heavenly (about a punk nanny with magical powers).
His books for middle-graders include CON-fidence, The Diving Bell, and Abe Lincoln for Class President. His series for middle graders include the very popular 17-book Help! I'm Trapped... collection, as well as the Don't Get Caught, Against the Odds, and Camp Run-A-Muck books. Most recently he wrote "Is That a Dead Dog in Your Locker?" "Is That a Sick Cat in Your Backpack?" Is That a Glow-In-The-Dark Bunny in Your Pillow Case?" "Is That an Angry Penguin in Your Gym Bag?" and "Is That an Unlucky Lephrecaun In Your Lunch?"
Strasser has also published articles and short stories in The New Yorker, Esquire, and The New York Times.
Can't Get There from Here is about a group of homeless teenagers in Manhattan who struggle to survive a harsh winter. Maybe (the main character) has to deal with the death of many of her friends during the winter. She lives with a tribe of homeless teens-runaways and thrownaways, kids who have no place to go other than the cold city streets, and no family except for one another. Abused, abandoned, and forgotten, they struggle against the cold, hunger, and constant danger.With the frigid winds of January come a new girl: Tears, (real name: Nikki Frimer) a twelve-year-old whose mother loves her but does not believe Tears when Tears tells her that her stepfather has been sexually abusing her. As the other kids start to disappear-victims of violence, addiction, and exposure-Maybe tries to help Tears get off the streets... and she hopes that it is not too late to do so. Maybe then seeks the help of Anthony, the city's librarian and together, they send Tears back to Hundred, West Virginia, which was her hometown to live with her grandparents.And Maybe realizes that if you try you can get to a better life and that living on the streets doesn't have to be the only option.
The book Give a Boy a Gun was written as a series of interviews from Middletown High School, which was a recent location of a school shooting. Teachers, friends, and students give their versions of their time with Brendan and Gary, the two perpetrators of the shooting, from the beginning of ninth and tenth grades, and the day of the attack,which eventually led to the suicide of Gary(Brendan was severely beaten by students but it is unknown if he survived). It was recently adapted into a play by Elena M. Garcia.
The Nightmare Inn series consists of four horror novels set at a luxurious mountain hotel. The inn is the site of many horrific acts of murder and ghostly revenge. All four installments were published in 1993.
Strasser has also written separate stories including Kidnap Kids (about two siblings who kidnap their parents), Y2K-9 (about a dog who gets his 3 chat room friends to save the world from Year 2000 problem) and Hey Dad! Get a Life.
The Wave. New York: Dell, 1981; Laurel Leaf/Dell, 1985; Puffin Books 1988, ISBN 0-14-037188-5. Also made into an ABC television show (1981) and a German movie (2008)
"Young Adult Books: Stalking the Teen." Horn Book Magazine, vol. 62, no. 2 (1986, Mar.-Apr.), pp. 236—239.
The Accident. New York: Delacorte, 1988. Adapted for television in the [[ABC Afterscho