Influenced

Tenth grader Lainey struggles with her anxiety and shifting friendships after her twin brother moves away, but when her confident friend Bliss goes missing, Lainey uncovers a web of secrets about Bliss’s hidden struggles

Sarah Darer Littman is the Sydney Taylor Honor author of Some Kind of Hate; Deepfake, Backlash; Want to Go Private?; Anything But Okay; In Case You Missed It; Life, After; and Purge. Together with Cindy L. Otis, she has written Influenced. Sarah is also an award-winning news columnist and teaches writing at Western Connecticut State University and with the Yale Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Connecticut with her family in a house that never seems to have enough bookshelves. You can visit her online at sarahdarerlittman.com.

Cindy L. Otis is the author of At the Speed of Lies and the nonfiction book for young readers True or False: A CIA Analyst’s Guide to Spotting Fake News. Together with Sarah Darer Littman, she has written Influenced. She is a former CIA officer, a national security expert, and a frequent media commentator and writes regularly about national security issues, often cited by the Washington Post, the New York Times, the BBC, NPR, and CNN. As a wheelchair user and passionate advocate of disability rights, she has also worked as a consultant to major disability rights organizations. You can visit her online at cindyotis.com.