TWEEN HOBO

A hilarious and irreverent illustrated book based on the popular Twitter feed (@tweenhobo), featuring a young spunky girl who packs up her glitter pens and sneaks out of math class one Monday afternoon to traverse the railroads in search of freedom, adventure, and her own personal obsession: Justin Bieber tickets.

Get ready to laugh and learn with the littlest hobo. She’s only twelve years old, but a “hard twelve.” You’ll meet her friends: Stumptown Jim (a hero who tried his best to homeschool her on the road); Tin Cap Earl (who’s always up for shooting a “Call Me Maybe” parody video in a graveyard); Toothpick Frank (who loves Pinterest); Salt Chunk Annie (a “woman of the night,” whatever that means) and Hot Johnny Two-Cakes (who Tween Hobo swears she does NOT have a crush on). Find out how she survives, thanks in part to the kindness of park rangers. You’ll hear her take on major cultural events (“I go off a fiscal cliff every time I go near a Claire’s.”). And you’ll enjoy beautiful hand-rendered illustrations that bring out the beauty in her words—just like how eyeliner makes a hobo’s look really pop. Often snarky and frequently ridiculous, this imaginative journal-like book includes maps, jokes, laughs, doodles, tips, hobo symbols (“House with a triangle on top means PIZZA PARTY!!!), games, stories, and more. So grab your iPhone and wrap it in a handkerchief, tie it to a stick, and let’s roll!

Tween Hobo's Twitter feed has been featured in a number of publications including The Believer which called it, “one of the most imaginative uses for Twitter so far” and was just named number 10 in The Best 75 Twitter Accounts of 2012 by Paste Magazine, beating out people like Jim Gaffigan, Mike Birbiglia, and Steve Martin.

AN INCREDIBLY TALENTED DUO: Alena Smith graduated from Yale Drama School and has had her plays produced on Broadway and reviewed in the NYT. Illustrator, Kate Harmer works on Zoe Deschanel's popular website, Hello Giggles.

A DEDICATED FAN-BASE: With more than 12,000 followers favoriting and retweeting her work, Tween Hobo's feed is only becoming better known.

CELEBRITY FANS: Tween Hobo's feed has garnered a mass of devoted and in-the-know fans like Lena Dunham, Mindy Kaling, Tavi Gevinson, Nicole Richie, Sasha Frere-Jones, Death Cab for Cutie, and Patton Oswalt.

Alena Smith is the creator of Tween Hobo and a playwright. She graduated from the Yale School of Drama, and her plays have been produced in New York, London, and Germany. Her play The Bad Guys was made into an independent film. Alena lives in Los Angeles, where she is developing projects for television. She spends too much time on Twitter, but she is also very proud of the fact that she is not on Facebook.