Is it true you worked in a group home?

Yup, but only for about four months (back in 1989). It was one of the most interesting experiences of my life.

How “true-to-life” is the group home portrayed in The Last Chance Texaco?

Keep in mind that there is no "one" kind of group home--they're as different as the people who live in them. But Kindle Home is pretty true to the group home I worked in. Lucy, my main character, says that dinnertime is like dusk on the African savannah--“it’s when everything happens.” That was definitely true. And there was always plenty of eavesdropping and intrigue, blackmail and backstabbing. Unfortunately, there were also “meltdowns” and budget-cuts and drug addictions and prejudice from the neighbors and the kids at school. 

Did the events of the book happen to you while you were a counselor?

Some did. Just as in the book, we had a kid who seemed to know everything about everyone else (and who even somehow found a way to get into a locked cabinet inside a locked office!). And also as in the book, someone was setting the neighborhood cars on fire.

My group home really was a “last chance” group home--the last stop before being shipped off to a high-security island detention facility. The kids were desperately afraid of being sent to that island. And years later, it was revealed that kids were being sexually abused at that detention facility, and it was a huge scandal. So the kids definitely knew something that we adults did not. But I was like Leon, in that I always wanted every kid to have another “last” chance.

What about the characters? Are they based on the kids you worked with?

The characters themselves are all my own invention. Lucy is a composite of a lot of the kids I worked with. But mostly I think she’s the kid I would have been if I’d grown up in a group home like Kindle Home.

And the counselors? The Last Chance Texaco counselors all seem to have very different approaches to their job.   

In the house I worked in, the counselors were all wonderfully weird, and all very, very different from each other. Every one of them had some really interesting story as to how they’d ended up working in that group home.Well, except for me. I just needed a job.

Who's your favorite counselor?

I like Leon, but I respect Mrs. Morgan.

Isn't there a Ricky Lee Jones song called "The Last Chance Texaco"?

Yes, and it's a great song, but it has nothing to do with my book.

Being a guy, was it hard to write a main character who's a girl?

That kind of thing is a little weird at first, but now it's one of the things I most like about writing fiction: getting a chance to imagine the world from someone else's point-of-view. Of course, it remains to be seen if people think I wrote a convincing female character. (Maybe it helps that, partly due to circumstances, Lucy is a pretty "masculine" character. In fact, she may be more butch than I am!) 

What was the best part and worst part of working in a group home?

The best part was the same as worst part. It was the fact that we really did become a kind of family. It proved to me once and for all that “family” isn’t anything about blood--it’s just any group of people who live together and love each other. But what made it sad was the fact that we were the first real family some of these kids had ever had. And just like with Lucy, circumstances were constantly working to tear our little family apart. In fact, my group home closed down while I was working there, and all the kids had to separate and be sent all over the state. The real-life ending wasn’t nearly as happy as the one in the book.

At what point did you know that a group home was a good setting for a book?

Within five minutes of walking through the door. No, really! There was so much drama, and everyone was so interesting and so complicated--not like the people from my white-bread upbringing. Besides, who doesn’t love an underdog?  And man, nobody is more of an underdog than the kids in group homes. Everything is against them.

Why did you write the book?

I knew a group home would make a great setting for a book, but I resisted writing it for years. The kids had already been abused and exploited so much, I didn’t want to “profit” from their misery. But one day, while out with some friends, I happened to run into one of my kids. He was just as obnoxious as ever--now a drug addict living on the streets of Seattle. I tried to explain his background to my friends, the incredible challenges he had had to overcome just to still be alive. But no one was impressed. They just saw the obnoxious street kid. That’s when I knew I had to write a book telling the story of one of these kids, albeit one from my imagination. Hopefully, it will help people understand what I learned while working in a group home:  that while not everyone starts out at the same place in life, everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

Will you sign my book?

Certainly. But rather than send me the book itself, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the address below, and I'll send you a signed bookplate. I'll also include some other cool stuff too, so, hey, don't delay, free stuff here!

Brent Hartinger
PO Box 720
Tacoma WA 98401

Be sure and include a note telling me which of my books you want a bookplate for, and who I should sign it to.

Folks outside the U.S., you don't need to stamp the envelope, but please include an "international reply coupon" (ask for them at your local post office).

Can you send me a free copy of your book for my group home or foster care program?

Maybe. Truth is, I hate that people have to go out and buy my books (which is why I also encourage people to get it or request it from their libraries). But I don't get books for free myself, and I've already given away so many free copies--seventy-five over the last year.

That said, while I can't donate copies to individual organizations, I am more than happy to donate a copy or two as a prize for a raffle or silent auction in any fundraisers your program may be having. That way, you get a way to make a little money, and I get a little publicity for my book, and everyone (including my checkbook) is happy.

Send me an email and pitch me your event.

I have to write an essay or book report on your book. What should I write about?

There are lots of good ideas in my Last Chance Texaco Discussion Guide Check it out!