More and more lists! From the Rainbow Book List website: “The Rainbow Book List is a joint project of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table and the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association. The Rainbow Book List presents an annual bibliography of quality books with significant and authentic GLBTQ content, which [...]

Margarita Engle is the Cuban-American author of The Surrender Tree, which received the first Newbery Honor ever awarded to a Latino/a.  Her other novels in verse about the island include The Poet Slave of Cuba, Hurricane Dancers, The Firefly Letters,…

I’m definitely not the first to make this sort of comparison… In the early Aughts I hit my fair share of chain music store liquidation sales. Sam Goody, Tower Records, and other mall-type CD shops that were going out of business post music industry collapse. I didn’t feel good about the doors closing, but I [...]

So, I’m having my cup of coffee, eating a cinnamon roll, and reading the news feed on my vacation day (yes, I admit it, fear of driving home during Nemo made me use a day off), when I see a tweet from Jenny Luca:  Which led me to this article in The Atlantic: Introverted Kids [...]

Some lists that come out of ALA are not from ALSC or YALSA. Take, for example, the 2013 Amelia Bloomer List from the Amelia Bloomer Project, a product of the ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table’s (SRRT) Feminist Taskforce, announced the 2013 Amelia Bloomer List at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, held Jan. 25-29, 2013. From [...]

Deb Caletti is the award-winning author of nine young adult novels, including Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, The Nature of Jade, Stay, and The Story of Us.  In addition to being a National Book Award finalist, Deb’s work has gained other distinguished recognition, including the PNBA Best Book Award, the Washington State Book Award, and School LibraryJournal’s Best Book award, and finalist citations for the California Young Reader Medal and the PEN USA Literary Award.  Her first novel for adults, He’s Gone, will be released in May of 2013, and her next Y/A novel, The Last Forever, will appear in the spring of 2014.  Deb lives with her family in Seattle.

As you can see, I am trying to include all the various lists that have come out recently! I am sure I am not the only list obsessed reader out there, right? Best Fiction for Young Adult (which sort-of kinda used to be Best Books for Young Adults) includes several top titles; Angela Frederick has [...]

Franny writes middle-grade and young-adult fantasies.  Her most recent novel, Chime, was nominated for the National Book Award. Her novel The Folk Keeper won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the Mythopoeic Award.  She’s written one pictur…

Let’s set the scene for a moment.  It’s the early 1980s.  3-2-1 Contact is giving young children an unceasing stream of Bloodhound Gang episodes.  Men have not yet shaved the mustaches they acquired in the 1970s.  Bicycles remain almost universally helmet-free.  And in Kalamazoo, Michigan a little girl is given a very special present. Okay.  [...]

WRITING ADVICE FROM MO WILLEMS I’d say Mr. Willems has a handle on writing for kids (Boom! *Understatement Award*). He recently put out a list of tips on his blog titled How to Write in 4 Easy Steps, 4 Kinda Harder Steps, and 1 Pretty Much Impossible Step. Anyone who reads, critiques, writes, or hopes [...]

Some more YALSA lists! Amazing Audiobooks is all about audiobooks, fiction and nonfiction. Anyone who has listened to a book knows that the narration and direction can make or break a book; here is the list of 2013 Amazing Audiobooks. I’ve listened to exactly none of them. Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers is a terrific list, [...]

Twice Kathi Appelt’s books have duked it out here, and both times they went down to worthy challengers.  But she is not bitter.  Instead, she has focused her energies on her next novel, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, which features r…