Last Tuesday, right before the Thanksgiving holiday long weekend, I had the opportunity to booktalk to the three 11th grade English class sections at my school.
During each period I talked about 5 books, then asked the students to share their recent favorites with each other. We left the last 10-15 minutes of the period for [...]
Booktalks
By on November 26, 2012
Booktalks
By on November 26, 2012
Last Tuesday, right before the Thanksgiving holiday long weekend, I had the opportunity to booktalk to the three 11th grade English class sections at my school.
During each period I talked about 5 books, then asked the students to share their recent favorites with each other. We left the last 10-15 minutes of the period for [...]
Why a Classic Is a Classic
By on November 21, 2012
A starred review today, from our graphic novel guest blogger, Francisca Goldsmith:
Sequential art has been the go-to format for creators and adaptors, bowdlerizers and clever clogs who rework, or try to rework, classics. Disney-sponsored Scrooge McDuck, Posy Simmonds’ Gemma Bovery, published-for-classroom Manga Shakespeare, and Will Eisner’s repurposing of Moby Dick give only the beginning of [...]
The New Look of Adult Books 4 Teens
By on November 15, 2012
Adult Books 4 Teens began its life as the Adult Books for High School Students print column in SLJ, which provided 15-20 reviews a month. Two years ago the print column was replaced by this blog, which continued to provide 3-4 reviews a week, with the benefit of added context.
Starting today, though, AB4T is [...]
Angel’s Ink
By on November 14, 2012
Jocelynn Drake is known for her Dark Days series. With Angel’s Ink she begins a new urban fantasy/paranormal romance series (The Asylum Tales) which, for a change, features a male protagonist.
Fans will be glad to see that there are already two prequel tales to this story available.
DRAKE, Jocelynn. Angel’s Ink. Bk. 1. 352p. (The Asylum [...]
The Round House & The National Book Awards
By on November 12, 2012
This Wednesday evening, the National Book Award winners will be announced in a grand ceremony at Cipriani in New York City. I went to the NBA site to refresh myself on just how the awards work.“The National Book Award is an American literary prize given to writers by writers and administered by the National Book Foundation.” [...]
Life After Murder
By on November 8, 2012
Can a convicted murderer ever merit a fresh start? Investigative journalist Nancy Mullane spent years examining that question. In Life After Murder she writes about five convicts in San Quentin State Prison in California, from their lives before the murders through the experience of reentry. Mullane clearly believes in giving criminals a second chance, once they [...]
The YALSA Young Adult Literature Symposium Hones in on Social Reading and Classics vs. Contemporary
By on November 8, 2012 2 Comments
About 500 librarians gathered in St. Louis for YALSA’s Young Adult Literature Symposium to discuss social reading within Ereaders, apps such as Inkling, Kno, and Subtext, and which contemporary books teens will be reading in the 2057.
Kickstart the Halloween Treats
By on November 7, 2012
Thanks to Hurricane Sandy we missed Halloween here in New York City. So please enjoy this post from our regular graphic novel guest blogger, Francisca Goldsmith, exactly one week later than planned:
Batton Lash studied with Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman, but has gone on to create a unified field of their master teachings of good [...]
January First
By on November 5, 2012
Michael Schofield’s nonfiction account of his daughter’s schizophrenia has similar appeal to titles that have drawn teen readers in the past. Think Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel, A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar and perhaps especially Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Scheff. Next week I will [...]
Escape
By on November 1, 2012
AmazonCrossing is a program that brings books published in other languages to American audiences. Escape is translated from the Turkish.
Author Perihan Mağden lives in Istanbul, where she is well-known not only for her fiction, but also for writing controversial editorial newspaper columns which get her into trouble. An interview about another of her novels published [...]
Hosoi
By on October 30, 2012
Christian Hosoi is one of the top skateboarders in history. He turned pro at 14.
He was at the top of the world until he started using. A methamphetamine addiction landed him in prison, where he found freedom in reading the Bible. Hear it from the man himself.
Hosoi’s 300-page memoir includes more than 100 color and black-and-white [...]
Hosoi
By on October 30, 2012
Christian Hosoi is one of the top skateboarders in history. He turned pro at 14.
He was at the top of the world until he started using. A methamphetamine addiction landed him in prison, where he found freedom in reading the Bible. Hear it from the man himself.
Hosoi’s 300-page memoir includes more than 100 color and black-and-white [...]
Muck City
By on October 29, 2012
Bryan Mealer’s exploration of football and poverty in one small Florida town brings to mind other books about high school sports, such as Friday Night Lights and Michael D’Orso’s Eagle Blue.
You probably know Mealer’s previous work, even if you don’t recognize the name. He wrote The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind with William Kamkwamba, a [...]
History, Mystery and the Power of Symbolism
By on October 24, 2012
from regular graphic novel guest blogger, Francisca Goldsmith:
Mark Siegel’s experience in the graphic novel idiom is long, deep and informed by international strains and precepts. He brings all this to bear in a narrative that plumbs the mysteries first brought to literary ears by Homer: how very like the Sirens’ song is man’s belief in [...]
The White Forest
By on October 23, 2012
I first became aware of The White Forest at a Simon & Schuster preview where its editor spoke about her passion for this book. She called it her Night Circus.
You can see Adam McOmber speak about his work in the book trailer, and The White Forest made The Book Smugglers’ Top 10 Most Highly Anticipated SFF Reads [...]
Medusa’s Gaze and Vampire’s Bite
By on October 22, 2012
Monsters are eternally intriguing, and Matt Kaplan offers a unique take on the historical possibilities of where our fears may have originated. From dragons to golems to zombies, the interdisciplinary nature of this work will thrill young science and history readers.
Kaplan is a regular contributor to National Geographic, New Scientist, Nature, and The Economist. Teens [...]
The Vanishing Act
By on October 19, 2012
Every night Minou leaves her room for the lighthouse tower, where she knits as long as she can stay awake, as long as her cold hands can manage.
The Vanishing Act has a subtle magic, while being at the same time down-to-earth and philosophical. This is Mette Jakobsen’s first novel, and it is not quite like [...]
Cold Light
By on October 18, 2012
They found a body. I know who it is.
Such a great tag line!
Three teenage girls and the jealousy-filled triangle of their friendships are at the center of Jenn Ashworth’s dark, contemporary British murder mystery.
The author is currently on a virtual (blog) tour of the U.S. that started Tuesday.
ASHWORTH, Jenn. Cold Light. 352p. Morrow. 2012. pap. [...]
Looking forward to 2013
By on October 16, 2012
Last week I attended an AAP Book Buzz (that’s the Association of American Publishers). This is a twice-annual event at which publishers introduce upcoming adult titles. It is a gold mine for me, as you can imagine, as I work to tease out the adult books with potential teen appeal.
I thought it would be fun [...]
