Author Sarah Dessen Recalls Working with 'So Advanced for Her Age' Mandy Moore on 2003'sHow to Deal(Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE, the North Carolina-based author recalls working with the actress, 40, on one of her first films,How to Deal, which was based on Dessen’s two novelsThat SummerandSomeone Like You.

“We were so lucky to get Mandy Moore when she was just starting out her career,” Dessen says of Moore’s role in the 2003 film.

Dessen recalls meeting the young actress and singer for the first time in Toronto as she visited the film’s set, noting that she was “so advanced for her age.”

Mandy Moore, Trent Ford and Allison Janney at the ‘How to Deal’ premiere in 2003.Robin Platzer/FilmMagic

Robin Platzer/FilmMagic

She recalls that before the film’s premiere, the books did a tie-in with the movie, featuring Moore on the cover, which she jokes helped boost sales.

“It never hurts to have Mandy Moore on the cover of your book,” she quips. “So the book was best-selling before the movie even came out. I remember being at the premiere with her and she said, ‘Oh, I heard the book’s a bestseller. Congratulations.’ And I said, ‘Oh, it’s because you’re on the cover.’ ”

She adds that as her bookAlong for the Ridewas adapted for Netflix, she got many responses from fans hoping to see Moore as one of the moms.“I think that would [have been] so fun to do that, to have her now that she’s a mom herself,” she says, adding that it’s been a full-circle experience watching Moore step into the role of mom, both onscreen with roles likeThis Is Usand offscreen as she haswelcomed three childrenwith husbandTaylor Goldsmith.

“I definitely felt very emotional when I see her having kids of her own because that’s sort of a crazy thing to see her moving into that mom role in real life and then also onThis Is Usin pop culture as well,” she says.

“That was done before Netflix decided to move forward so I’m ever hopeful,” she continues. “You just never know with the market. But I just keep my fingers crossed always.”

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She adds that she thinks it still resonates deeply with people today as it focused on the “perennial issues” teenagers still go through.

“I think that’s why YA continues to be popular and continues to appeal,” she adds. “It’s because these things don’t change. The technology changes, the pop culture changes, the slang changes, but the idea of being a teenager and having all these firsts come at you at the same time and trying to navigate all of that is very much the same whether you’re growing up when I was growing up or now.”

source: people.com