The Book Smuggler’s Smugglivus runs from December 1 to January 7 and is an “end of the year celebration. Back in our first year of The Book Smugglers in 2008, we wanted to do something special at the end of the year leading up to our blog anniversary in early January. So, we came up [...]

As you may remember, I was on last year’s committee for YALSA’s Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults.
This year’s committee just released it’s shortlist. Here are the titles, from YALSA’s the Hub:
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, written by Deborah Hopkinson, published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic
Bomb: The Race to Build — [...]

I was nine when Saturday Night Live premiered, too young to watch the late night comedy show. When friends at school came in reciting parts, my mother assured me they were not allowed to stay up that late and were only repeating what their older siblings had told them.
Within a few years, I was old [...]

I’m flashing back to reviews from years past. Here is what I was reviewing in November 2005.
I have to say, from a purely selfish viewpoint, I’m a bit fascinated at the evolution and growth of my writing and writing style over time. Some of these I’m not even sure are “reviews”.
Understanding the Holy Land : [...]

For a presentation I’m doing on children’s and young adult book blogs, what book blogs do you recommend as “must” read?
The audience is school librarians, if that helps.
Along with that, what are some of the reasons you think s…

Broken Harbor by Tana French. Viking Adult. 2012. Personal copy. This is my Thanksgiving Holiday Read, a review of something that is not a YA book. (Yes, it’s the day after, but you have the weekend to read it!) Book 4 in the Dublin Murder Squad series. Previous books: In the Woods; The Likeness; and [...]

I’m flashing back to reviews from years past. Here is what I was reviewing in November 2007.
I can’t believe this, but . . . I reviewed exactly one book that month. I KNOW. How times have changed.
Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor. Illustrations by Jim Di Bartolo. 2007. From my review: “Magpie Windwitch is [...]

And still don’t have an answer for.
So, over at the Los Angeles Review of Books, Sarah Mesle has an article YA Fiction and the End of Boys. I have conflicted feelings and thoughts about it; in part because Masle’s framing question is “I see, in the ongoing conversation about Bella and Katniss, our culture pondering [...]

And still don’t have an answer for.
So, over at the Los Angeles Review of Books, Sarah Mesle has an article YA Fiction and the End of Boys. I have conflicted feelings and thoughts about it; in part because Masle’s framing question is “I see, in the ongoing conversation about Bella and Katniss, our culture pondering [...]

And still don’t have an answer for.
So, over at the Los Angeles Review of Books, Sarah Mesle has an article YA Fiction and the End of Boys. I have conflicted feelings and thoughts about it; in part because Masle’s framing question is “I see, in the ongoing conversation about Bella and Katniss, our culture pondering [...]

As you may remember, I attended the YALSA YA Lit Symposium. And that while Hurricane Sandy gave me some problems, I did get there.
My report on the Symposium was in SLJ’s Extra Helpings eNewsletter at YALSA’s YA Lit Symposium Considers Fandom, Contemporary Fiction and Transmedia. Angela Carstensen (Adult Books 4 Teens at SLJ) also reported [...]

Gretchen, Stop Trying To Make Fetch Happen.
The beauty of that quote is it can apply to so many things.
Kelly at Stacked has a longish post with Some thoughts on “new adult” and also “cross-unders”. As Kelly explains, the Atlantic really, really likes the term “cross unders”; they themselves say it’s the term they prefer for [...]

Goblin Secrets by William Alexander!
From my review: “what a world! There is magic and science. Graba is a witch, with gearwork legs shaped like chicken’s legs. She uses magic to move her house around. (I know! A twist on Baba Yaga!) Goblins were once human, and now that they are changed operate under different rules [...]

I’m flashing back to reviews from years past. Here is what I was reviewing in November 2010.
Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler. 2010. Little Brown. From my review: “Fixing Delilah is not “oh noes, this thing happened eight years ago, here it is eight years later, sorry, all better now.” Oh, the book begins eight years [...]