as "effortless perfection". Dessen describes this term as the young girls in her books being able to have friends, look good, be a good student and have one's life together, and to make it look easy. At the start of the book, the reader is supposed to relate with the main characters and throughout their changes in the book, the reader should see that it is okay to not have everything together and not be perfect. Gragert asked Dessen about her anxiety coping mechanisms because writing tends to cause an author to be anxious. Dessen said that she likes to exercise and read in her free time because all writers are going to be anxious, it's part of the process, but it also opens their mind more because they see the world differently than readers. Bibliography 1996 – That Summer 1998 – Someone Like You 1999 – Keeping the Moon (also known as Last Chance) 2000 – Dreamland 2002 – This Lullaby 2004 – The Truth About Forever 2006 – Just Listen 2008 – Lock and Key 2009 – Along for the Ride 2010 – Infinity (novella) 2011 – What Happened to Goodbye 2013 – The Moon and More 2015 – Saint Anything 2017 – Once and for All 2019 –The Rest of the Story Film adaptations The 2003 romantic comedy-drama film How to Deal starring Mandy Moore, Allison Janney, Dylan Baker, Peter Gallagher and Trent Ford was based on both That Summer and Someone Like You. On May 30, 2019, it was announced that Netflix had purchased the rights to adapt three of Dessen's books into films: This Lullaby, Along for the Ride, and Once and for All. In June 2021, it was announced The Truth About Forever was added to the Dessen books obtained by Netflix to be adapted into a feature film. Along for the Ride was released on May 6, 2022. References External links Official website 1970 births 20th-century American novelists Living people Novelists from North Carolina People from Chapel Hill, North Carolina Writers from Evanston, Illinois University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni American young adult novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists 20th-century American women writers Women writers of young adult literature 21st-century American women writers Greensboro College alumni Novelists from Illinois Shorty Award winners