Christina Reads YA

Excerpts: Poet Anderson Of Nightmares - Suzanne Young & Tom DeLonge, Truly Madly Famously - Rebecca Serle,Fathomless - Anne Pillsworth, An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes - Randy Ribay, Traffick - Ellen Hopkins, Winter - Marissa Meyer

Authors: Darkness Brutal - Rachel A. Marks, In the Shadow of the Dragon King - J. Keller Ford, This Monstrous Thing - Mackenzi Lee, Fear My Mortality - Everly Frost, Walk on Earth a Stranger - Rae Carson, A Madness So Discreet - Mindy McGinnis, These Shallow Graves - Jennifer Donnelly

An interesting venture from Malindo Lo & some other authors: serialized book publishing in the way of HBO.

Jennifer Weiner has signed on for her first deal for MG books: "The middle-grade series, called The Littlest Bigfoot...The Littlest Bigfoot follows a shy and awkward girl named Alice Palmer, who feels out of place in her upper-crust family. After rescuing Millie from the lake near her boarding school, Alice has finally made a friend. But, as Aladdin explained, what Alice doesn't realize is that silver-haired Millie is part of a long-forgotten clan; Millie is a Bigfoot. As it happens, though, Millie only feels at peace among people or, as they're known to her clan, "No-Furs," while Alice can only find solace in her friendship with Millie. Together, the publisher elaborated, the two go on a journey to "find a place where they both fit... but they don't know is that an evil is lurking... and it could mean the end of all they hold dear.""

One page a day in the journal of a high school artist and two years later, Kayla Cagan has a book deal with Chronicle: "The Pieces of Piper Perish, a diary of a Texas high school senior who dreams of living in New York City with her best friend and fellow artist, Kit, an Etsy entrepreneur. Both girls apply to a Manhattan art school. Piper is admitted, but without the necessary financial aid; Kit is not even accepted. What now?"

Woah, in its first week, Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine’s #3) was nearly the #1 bestseller in the country, selling over 39,000 units.

Sexism in awards for SFF novels: cold, hard data.

Netherlands readers! It looks like there’s an expansion of YALLFEST coming your way: YALFestNL.

Have you been participating in the 2015 YA Scavenger Hunt?

Every week, I am in awe of the articles WNDB links to and curates as well. This week: 7 Jewish Authors Get Personal about Anti-Semitism. The roundtable discussion is a must read.

It Will Take a Village to Raise Diversity in the Children’s Book Industry ← has especially good tips for what EVERYONE (authors, readers, publishers, schools, etc.) can do to help! (plus another article: how to make a difference in 8 practical steps).

And as always, here is another summary for why we need diverse books, especially in light of the disheartening CCBC results from last week.

If you are a librarian, perhaps you ought to consider what Angie Manfredi did: “One of my presentations was about the We Need Diverse Books Campaign - helping recommend titles for librarians to add to their libraries. But I also wanted to take this presentation to the next level and discuss what I feel is a fundamental duty for librarians and educators: demanding more from the literature we put on our shelves and asking hard questions about it….” even if it means that half the room walks out on your presentation.

Junot Diaz emphasizes the importance of reading work from authors of other backgrounds.

To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, WNDB hosted a twitter chat last week & here is the Storify if you are interested!

Another touching personal story: Dahlia Adler shares how writing one of her books led her to question her identity andbecome her own audience.

More personal stories!! aka #YAOpenMic: 10 YA authors sharing all sorts of personal stories.

Check out the illustration of Snape in Jim Kay’s illustrated version of HP #1. Man, I want the book so badly, but I already ordered the new box set for unknown reasons and now it just seems wasteful to get a THIRD copy… but so, so PRETTY ALL THE ILLUSTRATIONS. (though I have to say - with all the diverse books links above… we’ve seen a lot of “racebent” Harry Potter characters. It’s been explicitly pointed out how the characters aren’t really *described* enough to rule other races out. So why didn’t they try something new? Draw Hermione as black?)

You’ve probably already heard the news by now, but Stephenie Meyer released a genderbent version of Twilight yesterday called, Life and Death. As Meyer explains on Good Morning America, this was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Twilight. The story with Bella as “Beau” the human boy and Edward as “Edythe” the vampire girl is likely to be the only one she will release. You can see the cover in the round-ups below.

And since we’re on special editions, look at the Collector’s Edition for Allegiant by Veronica Roth.

Check out how kids responded when Pharrell asked them why they love reading. He, Penguin, and First Book are teaming up for the #ReadHAPPYInitiative.

I love that J.K. Rowling, with over 5 million fans, still manages to surprise people by answering questions about HP theories.

Did you know that these books were banned? Hahaha, Angels and Demons was banned in Lebanon? Somehow not surprised. Either a relative told me or I read somewhere that Harry Potter had been banned there before… unless I’m mistaken? But also funny that the Bible has been banned? ESP since Christians in the U.S. are often the ones banning so many books here.

David Handler has also signed up for personalized books with Sourcebooks.

Check out pictures from the Texas Teen Book Festival and the 2015 Tween Reads Festival. Also here’s a brief summary of last week’s author & industry news (not including SIBA, mentioned here).

If you’re going to New York Comic Con, a.) you’re lucky and b.) you can meet Epic Reads here.

If you want a laugh from Libba Bray...

Also, if you didn’t already know, Maggie Stiefvater and John Green will be racing each other for charity.

Cover Reveals:

There is a serious lack of interracial couples on YA books. See the full post at Stacked Books.

Discussion/Other Book Blogger Posts:

What are the 43 books the Buzzfeed community can’t stop talking about? And yeah -- there are some YA titles on the list!

Quite a few YA books on Bookriot’s round-up of the Best Books They Read in September.

And here are 20 more YA books to anticipate for October.

YA with amazing adults - another amazing infographic from Epic Reads!

Have you ever had to hold a Booktervention? I have, with my brother. It was not pretty lol.

Book-Loving Pyros: CANDLES made for us!

One day, you should check out these bookstores.

Do you think that villains are better than heroes?

Really interesting discussion → what would the YA Canon look like? (“Because YA is such a young category and a distinction that is in and of itself up for grabs (what does “YA” really mean anyway?), there’s not a clear canon of essential reads. There are, of course, bestsellers and books that made a huge impact, but you can’t point to something and call it YA Canon in the same way you can point to books like The Scarlet Letter or Ethan Frome or Moby Dick or The Red Badge of Courage and say those are part of the Western Canon.”) -- although maybe you can debate those books? I also object in part because “YA Canon” seems to imply it’s all one genre, when “Western Canon” is at least a specific geographical region. The Outsiders would probably make the list.

Have you joined a YA virtual book club yet? You should!

8 YAs That Get Subcultures Right -- and you probably guessed it, but Rainbow Rowell is there twice. P.S.: Quotes from the 80s.

Fairy tale lovers! 7 Awesome YAs Based on Lesser Known Fairy Tales.

It could be argued that the Bechdel Test doesn’t always cover what you want, but if you do follow its guidelines for book recommendations, check out these 6 YA romances that slay the Bechdel Test.

In light of the genderbent Twilight novel… well, what would these six classic books look like if they were genderbent too? (Me: I’m interested in The Handmaid’s Tale. Love that book, and I’d be interested in seeing where an author took a genderbent version…)

15 Diverse Magical Fantasy Novels per Bustle’s recommendations - and some YA are indeed there!

Savorism in YA: “Advocate for young readers by treating them like readers. Respect their ability to empower themselves. Young readers don’t need saviors. They need books. “ This was a really interesting piece to read, and got me thinking again about “The Hidden Adult” in children’s literature (adults are the ones writing about teens. Are they actually writing about the experiences of current teens or a nostalgic version of what they think teens should be? etc. etc.).

According to Bustle, these are 18 October YA novels that you can enjoy with pumpkin spice latte.

Reading for pleasure may not always be as easy as it sounds.

Movies & TV Shows:

Patrick Ness is writing a YA spin off of Doctor Who, ‘Class,’ for the BBC.

The final poster for Mockingjay, Part 2 was released. And the final THG: Mockingjay Part 2 trailer was released.

Joey King & Charlie Plummer will be starring in Catherine Hardwicke’s adaptation of Stargirl.

Mike Vukadinovich is writing the adaptation of Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick. Can’t wait! Loved that book on audio...

Nancy Drew is being adapted for TV: The CBS project would be a contemporary reimagining of her character as a super-sleuth NYPD detective in her 30s. (But is somehow no longer YA? Huh???).

This is not YA, but I imagine will be of interest to YA or crossover readers: Wow, check out this movie deal for the Kingkiller Chronicles (The complex deal will see the epic fantasy book series developed simultaneously into movies, television series and video games.).

Giveaways:

ARCs & Hardcovers, INT, ends 11/01.

Adventures in Children's Publishing giveaways: Win THAT TIME I JOINED THE CIRCUS by J.J. Howard. Enter by 10/29/15.; Win BLOOD AND SALT by Kim Liggett. Enter by 10/20/15; New Releases 10/05/15! Win TEN great new YA novels that release this week, plus read interviews and a round-up of all this week's new YA novels. Giveaway ends 10/11/15;Win one of SEVEN packs of FIVE popular or recent YA titles, plus swag to help reward readers, for underfunded classrooms, schools, or libraries. Know a school or library who needs books? Nominate them! This month's donations from Martina Boone, Maggie Stiefvater,Danielle Paige, Laurie Halse Anderson and Maria Dahvana Headley. Ends 11/1/15.

Giveaways listed at Saturday Situation by Lori of Pure Imagination and Candace of Candace's Book Blog.

Don't forget to enter YABC's giveaways for the month.

Sci-fi and Fantasy Friday {SF/F Reviews and Giveaways}.

You have until January 1st to complete your Storyboard Sprites board and win a book up to $15.

If you have a giveaway, you should let me know.

Other:

New Releases: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell; Spinning Starlight by R. C. Lewis; A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston;Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith; A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis; The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness;Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt; Romancing the Dark in the City of Light by Ann Jacobus; The White Rose (The Jewel #2) by Amy Ewing; A Step Toward Falling by Cammie McGovern; The Detour by S. A. Bodeen; Future Perfect by Jen Larsen;An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet; We'll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean; The Chess Queen Enigma by Colleen Gleason;Gathering Deep by Lisa Maxwell; My Secret to Tell by Natalie D. Richards; The Edge (Peak #2) by Roland Smith; Illuminate (Light Key #3) by Tracy Clark; The Storm (H20 #2) by Virginia Bergin; If You Wrong Us by Dawn Klehr

Recent Recommended Reads: I’ve been reading a lot of things without reviewing them. I read some excellent Persian poetry. I read the Mirror King by Jodi Meadows, a sequel that definitely ups the stakes for characters - now that their identities are exposed, they have to deal with some tough consequences. I also read the Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. I mentioned reading in my last post + recs of adult fiction for YA readers the first book for the Sevenwaters trilogy - but I read all three(none of the spin-off//later books?). I read Humans of New York. I’m currently reading cultural critique on the myths of our time and listening to a fascinating account on Alexandre Dumas. This were definitely not all read this past week, but I seem to forget to write these things down, hahaha. Latent recommendations, I guess.

Which articles did you like best? Did I miss any news? Did you host a cover reveal or discussion that I should have posted about? A giveaway? Leave the links, and I'll either edit this post or post about 'em next week.