When I was 17, I walked into my first day as an NYU Tisch acting major and sat down next to a dark haired boy named Matt Boren who somehow felt familiar to me. We were beshert and would soon become platonic soulmates for life (who says men and women can’t be true best friends?) He was brilliant, funny in a way I’d never experienced before, and the perfect yin to my yang. We became inseparable, and as the years passed, stayed that way. Matt is kindness and geniality exemplified. He’s also a star, and always has been, To this day, not a day goes by we don’t have a text to uplift both our days. Well, Matt has just happened to have written the funniest book you’ll read all year, just in time to get us out of the rut of 2018.
Here we were in the 90’s:
Matt graduated Tisch, moved to Los Angeles, and got his start writing story arcs for All My Children. From there, he went on to sell his first pilot, Dirtbags, to FOX. That pilot was greenlit and thus began Boren’s career in television. He has gone on to sell shows to NBC, ABC, FX, E!, Disney and Nickelodeon and has written on over eighty-five episodes of television including Melissa and Joey, See Dad Run and Sofia The First. He has acted in many projects in both film and television including the lead role in the Sundance darling, Momma’s Man (in which he was crazy genius) and for nine seasons as Stuart on How I Met Your Mother. He recently sold both his movie The Switch Witch and half hour Potus McGotus to Disney Channel. He is currently developing the series Miss Joy, based on a true story about his friend who has MS – Jamie Lynn Sigler is attached to star. Along with our hilarious mutual friend Jessica Golden, he is the co-creator and co-host of, Don’t Steal This Morning Show, an online morning talk show which was recently re-booted.
Folded Notes from High School (Penguin/Razorbill) is my best friend’s first novel. And it’s FRIGGING HILARIOUS. You’ll need a muzzle and a diaper if you read it out of doors. My best friend wrote the funniest book of the year, and I couldn’t be more proud. Christina Applegate and Selma Blair jumped to perform the audiobook – that should tell you how good it is.
“Matt Boren brilliantly captures the voices of students way back in 1992 with humor and wit and a unique ability to shift from freshman to senior, boy to girl, cheerleader to theater geek. In this hilarious novel, Boren adeptly proves that the more things change, the more things stay the same.”
–Kelly Ripa
Do yourself a favor, and me, and BUY IT TODAY.
Want to know what it’s about first? Okay!
We all dealt with a queen bee in High School and Tara Maureen Murphy – the love-to-hate star of YA author Matt Boren’s debut novel “Folded Notes from High School” – would give Regina George from “Mean Girls” and Tracey Flick from “Election” a run for their money. And how!! Each and every day, teen-tyrant Tara Maureen Murphy cannot help but create hilarious soap opera level drama for herself and her fellow classmates with some super basic tech from the early 90’s – a pen and sheets of carefully folded notebook paper. This coming of age story takes us to a suburban public high school in New England – senior year – ’91-’92. The gang is back from summer vacation and gearing up for a production of “Grease.” Not being cast as Sandy is the catalyst to Tara’s spiral to the dark side. Using innocent-enough looking folded notes, Tara attempts to dictate the social hierarchy of their high school – much like social media and texting in today’s high schools. Tara is consumed with jealousy, insecurity, and a big heap of narcissism. Tara’s backstage backstabbing rises and falls as her obsession with the frosh in question grows. The story is the ultimate mix of comedy and tragedy – each character plays a pivotal role and there is a classic teen-chorus that attempts to chime in to give a rational perspective to the chaos Tara continually creates. Matt Boren created a fresh and relatable universe for his character-filled novel – with pop culture references from the New England ’90’s he grew up in. As you read the book, a sound track starts to play filled with hits from the 90s.
In addition to the print version of Folded Notes from High School – Matt assembled a stellar cast for the audiobook. Each actor captured the essence of their character to perfection!!
Taylor Spreitler (Kevin Can Wait, Melissa & Joey) as Tara
Ramy Youssef (Mr. Robot) as Matt
Ryan Newman (The Thundermans, See Dad Run) as Stef
Selma Blair (Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde) as Stacey
Katie Lowes (Scandal) as Pammy
Rebecca Budig (General Hospital) as Tricia
Meredith Salenger (Jake Squared) as Kath
Vicki Davis (Grey’s Anatomy, Melissa & Joey) as Deena
Adam Shapiro (Sense8) as Pete
WITH
Author Matt Boren as Christopher
AND
Christina Applegate (Anchorman, Bad Moms) as your Narrator
ALSO: Check out the Folded Notes Play list on Spotify made by Justin Warfield who is half of the darkwave duo She Wants Revenge, and just happens to be Matt’s cousin.
AND!
Sara Gilbert (“Roseanne”/ “The Talk”) will be hosting Matt’s book signing and Q&A in Los Angeles at Barnes & Nobles The Grove – Saturday April 07, 2018 at 1:00 PM
Follow Matt on social media on instagram @FoldedNotesFromHighSchool and twitter @Folded_Notes
Matt’s website is borentown.com