Christina Reads YA

• Melissa Savage's LEMONS, debut about a girl who needs to rebuild her life with her estranged grandfather, and a quirky neighbor as they search for Bigfoot, and GREYS, about two boys hunting for the aliens who have crash-landed next to their Roswell, New Mexico farm, to Crown Children's for publication beginning in Summer 2017.
• Teresa Toten's YA psychological thriller, to Delacorte, and to Doubleday Canada, for publication in 2018.

 

Nothing from last time had GR links so giving up.

Ransom Riggs has a new book deal with Dutton. (“First up is Tales of the Peculiar, an illustrated collection of fairy tales set in the Peregrine universe that will publish in fall 2016, just ahead of the release of Tim Burton’s film adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children… Riggs’ second book under the deal will be an all-new YA story not connected to the Peregrine series.”). GOODREADS.

Laini Taylor’s new novel has been split into two -> Strange the Dreamer & The Muse of Nightmares. (“You may remember hearing about The Muse of Nightmares back in May—and friends, we have an update. The book is now two books, a duology! The first will be titled Strange the Dreamer and the second book in the series will be The Muse of Nightmares. So why two books instead of one? And why title the first one Strange the Dreamer instead of The Muse of Nightmares? Laini has the answers to all our questions. Take it away Laini!”) GOODREADS.

Veronica Roth discussed her new book: “My new book is a sci-fi fantasy story set in a time of extreme political unrest (hence the “Star Wars” comparisons you might have heard!). In it a boy named Akos, along with his brother, is kidnapped and brought to an enemy nation. When the dictator of that place threatens his brother’s life, Akos has no choice but to work with a girl named Cyra (the dictator’s sister), to save him. But Cyra’s trust—and her kindness!—are difficult to earn…to put it mildly. And the intense friendship Akos and Cyra form puts them in more danger than they could ever have imagined.” GOODREADS.

There will be a fourth Zodiac book from Romina Russell. GOODREADS.

Awards & Lists: Goodreads Choice Awards → Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction 2015, Best Young Adult (Contemporary) Fiction, Best Debut Goodreads Author. These were also announced: New York Times Notable Children’s Books of 2015, 2016 Morris Award finalists, YALSA BFYA Nominations, Boston Globe’s Best Books of 2015 (scroll to bottom for YA). Horn Book’s Fanfare Books of 2015, TAYSHAS reading list, NPR’s Best Books of 2015, Paste Magazine’s Best New YA in December 2015, Kirkus’s List of the Best MG Books of 2015 (Kirkus will announced its Best Teen Books of 2015 on the 14th), Refinery’s Best Diverse Books of 2015, Pop Crush’s 10 Best Young Adult Books of 2015, iBooks Best Fantasy Books of 2015, Wall Street Journal’s Best of the Best-Of YA Books of 2015, The Best Young Adult Books of 2015(from the Barnes & Noble team), Bookpage’s Best Kids and Teens books of 2015, Read Brightly’s List of Kidlit Books That Took Their Breath Away in 2015, Buzzfeed’s list of the 32 Best Fantasy Novels of 2015, Bustle’s 25 Best YA Books of 2015, Washington Post’s Best Children’s Books of 2015, Chicago Public Library’s Best Teen Fiction of 2015, Cleaver Magazine’sBest of 2015: YA Staff Picks, Latinos in Kidlit’s Favorite Kidlit Books of 2015. Waterstone’s Book of the Year. Tablet Magazine’s Best Jewish Children’s Books of 2015.

You can vote in Book Riot’s poll / nominate your favorites for the Best Books of 2015.

Authors: And I Darken - Kiersten White, All the Bright Places - Jennifer Niven, See How They Run - Ally Carter, Jerkbait - Mia Siegert, Curio - Evangeline Denmark, The BFF Bucket List - Dee Romito, Rules for 50/50 Chances - Kate McGovern,Even If The Sky Falls - Mia Garcia, Highly Illogical Behavior - John Corey Whaley, It Wasn’t Always Like This - Joy Preble,Not If I See You First - Eric Lindstrom, Robert Sabuda, Estelle Laure

Book Trailer: Golden (Heart of Dread) - Melissa de la Cruz & Michael Johnston, Passenger - Alexandra Bracken, Glass Sword - Red Queen (teaser trailer), Beyond the Pond - Joseph Kuefler

Excerpts: The Glittering Court - Richelle Mead, The Love That Split the World - Emily Henry, Half Lost - Sally Green, A Short Story from before The Jewel - Amy Ewing, Where Futures End - Parker Peevyhouse, The Time of the Clockmaker - Anna Caltabiano, It Wasn’t Always Like This - Joy Preble, The First Time She Drowned - Kerry Kletter, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan, Other Broken Things - C. Desir, Truthwitch - Susan Dennard, Fjord Blue - Nina Rossing, See How They Run - Ally Carter, Stars Above - Marissa Meyer

Amazon listed its Customer Favorites for Kids & YA (and other categories), which essentially tells you what the top-selling 20 kidlit titles (including picture books) were in 2015 via Amazon.

Windows and mirrors: reading diverse books with children (“Books have the power to shape how a child views their world and even to deal with the stresses and anxiety they may face in their everyday lives. “). Diverse literature has the power tomake middle school a better time too.

We Need Diverse Books is launching a campaign called Drum It Up, trying to sell copies of Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music, by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Rafael López. Engle is the first Latin@ author to win the Newberry. (“From November 28 to January 1st, bookstores will be drumming up interest in the book by striving to sell as many copies as possible.”).

If you are serious about reading more diverse books and/or books by diverse authors, you can check out Read PoC 2016. It’s time to be transparent about the lack of diversity in kidlit; accept this, and strive to change it with Read PoC, Drum It Up, and more.

Can a Children’s Book Save the World? A great TED talk from Linda Sue Park.

A bunch of YA authors shared the books that impacted their childhood. Some of them I hadn’t heard of, and some seem to be the “classics” like Alice and Anne of Green Gables, etc.

Check out the PoC on YA Book Covers in 2015. Sadly, it seems like such a small percentage of what’s published in YA in a year.

Algonquin YR, specifically Workman, has announced a new campaign: I Love MG. On Twitter, they’ll be discussing it January 25-29.

Penguin has its First to Read program, Random House its First in Line program, and now Harper Collins has its Early Readers program.

Penguin Random House will be transitioning to a perceptual licensing model with libraries, which means “all adult and children’s frontlist and backlist e-books will be available for licensing without loan caps.”

And across the country, public libraries have been building spaces for teens.

A brief summary of this week’s industry and author events.

Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid book is still killing it in sales. Weeks 2 & 3, are they? Not sure, but still selling over 100,000 units a week.

Unsurprisingly, for holiday sales, picture books and MG titles are selling more than YA. Between coloring books, illustrated Harry Potter, and Wimpy Kid--yeah, definitely not surprised.

China might be buying more translated books from the U.S. (definitely simplifying that entire article; but here’s another tweet about the importance of the Chinese book market).

I’m hoping this article will become public access → the most checked out school library books. But even if not, see this article:School & Library Spotlight: Hot Topics for School Librarians.

Global Kids Connect was last week, a conference hosted by Publisher’s Weekly and the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Here’s a recap. I found this tweet from PW about Alloy discovering YA trends to be interesting: ”Alloy's YA trend spotting strategy: what adult media properties are working well that haven't been explored in YA yet?”

Publishing is investing in books that discuss coding for a new generation of readers, where coding and computers are inseparable from daily life.

New and Forthcoming African-American Titles for Young Readers, 2015-2016 (“The following is a list of African-American interest books for young readers; compiled from publisher responses to our October PW Call for Information; these titles are publishing between September 2015 and March 2016.”).

With all of the “Best Of” lists that I linked to above, here’s a round-up from Publisher’s Weekly about the 2015 Best Books List for Kids and Teens. There are a few that I think I’ve missed over the weeks - Quill and Quire, Bank Street.

An interesting discussion on how Emily Lindin translated her Wattpad project, The Unslut Project, into a memoir, Unslut.

So, a school was supposed to host a reading of I Am Jazz, a book about transgender teen activist Jazz Jennings, but then canceled because of lawsuit threats from “concerned parents.” However, a bunch of people still showed up to the reading (this time at the library instead of the school).

Pottermore wants to grow its digital footprint. (“Companies that don’t adapt to the rapidly shifting media environment risk losing their audience, according to Pottermore chief executive Susan Jurevics, who laid out the company’s shift towards mobile-friendly content at the FutureBook conference today (4th December)... Jurevics said the average Pottermore user is now a young woman who has grown up with J K Rowling's seven Harry Potter books. She is also a smartphone user who is engaged with social media.”)

Chimamanda, you are awesome. Sweden, you are awesome. Every 16-Year-Old In Sweden Will Read Chimamanda Adichie’s “We Should All Be Feminists.”

A fundraiser for an anthology on race and immigration in the UK reached its target goal in a few days thanks to the help of its donors and prominent authors like JK Rowling helping to spread the word. Sounds like a great anthology!

There are a lot of new Star Wars products coming soon to tie in with the new movie, and it’s helping to drive the book market.

Cover Reveals:

Discussions/Other Blogger Posts:

10 YA books worthy of adult readers.

Some YA novels to get you into the holiday spirit (I am def a fan of the My True Love Gave to Me anthology recommendation.). Similarly the LA Times recommended 24 wonderful new books for kids for the holidays.

8 Overlooked Yet Awesome YA Series (“with over 30,000 books published for juveniles every year, it’s no wonder that the majority of them go unnoticed and overlooked.”). Along that note, I actually hadn’t heard of some of those series. And sadly, these 21 amazing YA series ended in 2015.

The 30 Best YA Book Covers of 2015 - do you agree? I hadn’t even SEEN some of these! And similarly, the Epic Reads Design Team judged what they thought were the Best YA Book Covers of 2015.

Do we honor girls’ stories in YA lit? (“We’ve all read claim after claim about how women “dominate” young adult fiction. But rarely do we reward and celebrate girls’ stories written by women in the same capacity that we do boys’ narratives, or men who write girls’ stories.”). According to this reader, these historical YA novels put girls’ stories at the front. And here are some morehistorical YA fiction recommendations.

Lots of recommendation articles! 11 Books We’re Thankful For (love seeing how these different books impact other readers!),15 YA Authors Share Their Bookish Gift Lists, 10 Best New Books to Give Your Fantasy YA Addict, 5 Must-Reads for Jessica Jones Fans Suffering from Post-Binge Withdrawal (okay, I need to watch Jessica Jones at some point…), 6 Chanukah Gifts for Teens, The We Need Diverse Books Team Picks 10 2015 Must-Reads (“Of course, one of the most important ways you can help increase the number of diverse books on shelves is by buying diverse books.”), 10 Authors Discuss Asexuality, Immigration, and More on December’s YA Open Mic (“YA Open Mic is a monthly series in which YA authors share personal stories on topics of their choice.”), 16 of Our Most Anticipated December YAs (“This month’s must-reads include heroines shouldering their families’ burdens, a proud band geek who will NOT go down quietly, an epic battle between evil and the damned, and the follow-up to a dishy political thriller”), YA Recs for the Gang at Sweet Valley High (Another thing to watch at some point…), 8 Books To Give the Adventure Seeker in Your Life, 7 Books to Give the Romantic in Your Life (as a romantic, I can definitely agree with most of those!), 5 Books about Second Chances as recommended by Lauren Oliver, The ESSENTIAL 2015 YA Book Buying Guide (Epic Reads, always killing it with their infographics!), 3 YA Books to Read if You Loved The Handmaid’s Tale, 17 YA Novels You Should Read Based on Your Favorite Classics (Jane Eyre → An Ember in the Ashes), 7 YA Book Recs for Netflix Fans, 25 Best Ever Sci-fis for YA (It’s strange to me that Twilight is considered Sci-fi? Speculative Fic, yeah, but not sci fi??).

Some serious book nerd problems ahead: when there’s no one you can discuss a book with (!!!) and when you’re waiting for your new book to be delivered.

I want more disabled characters in books. And more books that break the gender binary.

Katniss is a hero for boys too.

Wow, did you know the word taser came from a young adult sci fi novel?

Reading the same book repeatedly is supposedly good for your kids. (“The more a child reads, the larger their vocabulary becomes. When a child reads or hears the same book multiple times, they become familiar and comfortable with a greater number of words…”)

Do you think that J.K. Rowling is ruining Harry Potter with her various reveals? Here are 19 new things JKR taught her readers about Harry Potter in 2015.

You can start a lot of Harry Potter holiday traditions this year, and make a very Harry (Potter) Christmas tree, because Harry Potter is so much more than an average children’s book.

Book series that parents and teens should binge read.

The time is now for YA speculative fiction.

The best opening lines in YA fiction vs. the best closing lines. I think that I personally pay a lot more attention to opening lines than closing lines. How about you?

Every bookworm needs a bookwormy scarf among many other, wonderful gift ideas.

Do you like it when characters in books love reading as much as you do?

If you’ve ever wanted to read a Madeleine L’Engle book, here is her canon ranked (“from “you absolutely must read it if you missed it” to “read it only if you’re obsessed with the author’s work.””). After all, L’Engle’s books are for “the oddball in everyone.”

Literary "ugly" sweaters: whaaa-- if I knew these existed, I would’ve gotten one to win those annual holiday “best ugly sweater” contests.

NYPL’s 12 YA Books “I Can’t Wait to Read in 2016.” (Currently, I kinda love lists like these because I feel like I don’t know much about what’s coming out in 2016.)

Like YA Genre Benders? This one’s for you.

If you don’t know what happened in the Scott Bergstrom affair (an excerpt from a different interview, another interview, etc.),The Daily Dot wrote a summary of various reactions & excerpts.

The Obamas have great taste in books. I love features that show high profile people buying kidlit. Yes please!

Unlikely friendships in children’s literature (from John Boyne).

A book gift guide from Parade for tweens.

Have you read any of these popular YA books releasing in December? Or perhaps one of the 12 most anticipated books releasing in December?

I wrote a discussion post with some of my random thoughts on Mockingjay Part II, if you’re interested.

Movies & TV Shows:

The 5 Stages of Watching a YA Movie. Lol, yes.

I compiled 6-7 months worth of news from THIS SECTION in my bookish rounds here → YA Adaptation (Movies & TV Shows) Round-up. It doesn’t include what I’ll mention now, but it’s a running list of things optioned, things with actors attached, things released next year, etc.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will be a Broadway play.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is going to be awesome.

The Between Shades of Gray movie looks to be moving up → checking out and planning for the Siberian sets.

The Little Prince has a new trailer.

If you want a round-up of Shadowhunters TV stills from episode one, promotional photos, and more, check out that link (Harry Shum Jr. looks awesomeeee!!) plus here’s one for the character posters. You can also now officially watch the Beyond the Shadowhunters: the Making of the TV Show video. You can also see the new art and Clary+Jace together.

The Disney teaser trailer for The BFG (by Roald Dahl) was released.

TOTALLY UNRELATED TO YA but did ya see the Outlander teaser trailer for season two? Ahhhhh, I need to watch the last three episodes soon.

Some promotional images for the 5th Wave: Ringer & Sammy. And some coverage of the movie from Publisher’s Weekly.

So, whoops. I seem to have missed any news related to The Shannara Chronicles, which looks to be a series that was published ~2000 and is now an MTV show (most of the genre labels seem to be SFF, with only a few YA & it is pubbed by Orbit, so keep that in mind)! Here’s the opening MTV title sequence and the official trailer that had been shown at NYCC.

So, it was once reported that Lionsgate was looking to keep The Hunger Games franchise open with prequels. That has come about again, especially in light of the release of Mockingjay Part 2.

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman was acquired by Chernin Entertainment. (“Shusterman will adapt his own novel and co-produce the film, with Chernin and Underground's Trevor Engelson producing.”).

Oops, another YA adaptation that I hadn’t heard much about / covered here: Cecilia Ahern’s Flawed and Perfect, which is apparently coming out in March.

!!! Look at Daniel Radcliffe’s audition for Harry Potter. So adorable!

The ABC Family/Freeform TV show for Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle has cast more people: Georgie Flores (playing Cassandra), Perrey Reeves (playing Nina, Rainer’s mother), Pepi Sonuga (playing Tangey) and Mark Valley (playing Grant Devon, Rainer’s father).

Giveaways:

Adventures in Children's Publishing giveaways: New Releases 12/07/15! Win TWO of the 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 12/13/15; Win a book pack of 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!. Ends 1/1/16.

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:

November 29 - December 5: Their Fractured Light (Starbound #3) by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, Not If I See You First by Eric Windstorm, All We Left Behind by Ingrid Sandberg, Hawthorn (Blythewood #3) by Carol Goodman, Gateway to Fourline by Pam Brondos, Nexus by A. L. Davroe, Tarnished (Perfected #2) by Kate Jarvik Birch, Hellraisers by Alexander Gordon Smith, Forbidden by Eve Bunting, Did I Mention I Love You? by Estelle Maskame.

December 6 - 12: Wandering Star (Zodiac #2) by Romina Russell, The Trouble With Destiny by Lauren Morrill, Instructions for the End of the World by Jamie Cain, Come Back to Me by Mila Gray.

Recent Recommended Reads: You can read my review of Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith. I also discussed what I was currently reading: Eon by Alison Goodman and The Golden Specific by S.E. Grove, though I actually finished Eon & ended up mostly reviewing it in the post.

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.