Trailer Park Tuesday: Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman

Welcome to Trailer Park Tuesday, a showcase of new book trailers and, in a few cases, previews of book-related movies.

As stark, offbeat, and cool as a Cannes Film Festival indie movie, the trailer for Tupelo Hassman's debut novel Girlchild is haunting and engaging.  The book, released in paperback earlier this year, centers around elementary school student Rory Hendrix, "a smart kid living in a poor town" which is "just north of Reno and just south of nowhere."  Out of loneliness, Rory decides to start her own Girl Scout troop.  So what if she's the only member?  As long as she is willing to sell cookies, we should ask no questions.  She also goes full-on GS as a way to cope with her single mother's behavior.  As a bartender at the local truck stop, Jo has poor taste in men.  Echoing William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, Rory tells us in the video, "My mother is a hungry dog."  Lines like that should make you hungry to read this novel, which Aimee Bender has called an "amazing debut [that] spills over with love, but is still absolutely unflinching and real."  In case you missed it earlier here at the blog, Tupelo contributed a memorable story to the My First Time series about writing in closets.