Christina Reads YA

Christina Makes the Bookish Rounds is a feature that will let you know about recent MG/YA/NA book related news. I'll post about articles from the publishing industry, cover reveals, discussions from fellow bloggers, the latest tv/movie news, and giveaways that you're hosting. If you would like to follow along with cover reveals during the week, see my Pinterest. (If you're interested in how I make these posts, here's your guide.)

This week probably has fewer links than usual because last week, I posted towards the end of the week and that was two weeks worth of news. But should still be a good showing!

Publishing:
Rights Report

• Replica - Lauren Oliver (The first of the two books, Replica tells the story of Lyra, known by the number 24, a replica – human model – who was born, raised, and observed in a clandestine research facility called the Haven Institute. When Lyra escapes from Haven and meets Gemma, a stranger on a quest of her own, earth-shattering secrets are revealed. Publication is slated for September 2016; HarperCollins).
• The Excavation of Lincoln Malone - Cordelia Jensen (The novel-in-verse tells the story of “virtual” twins: Holly, adopted from Ghana, who fits in perfectly at the sisters' competitive school and at home; and Linc, who struggles to fit in despite her biological connection, and the choices each girl makes, leading them on journeys of self-discovery and identity through a lens of photography, New York City history, and West African culture. Publication is scheduled for spring 2018; Philomel).
• The Real Marvelous - Samantha Mabry (In it, a young couple working the maguey plantations of the Southwest in a world plagued by water shortages, injustice, and dark superstition, must flee their old home for a new one that may or may not be cursed. Publication is set for fall 2017; Algonquin Young Readers).

Publisher’s Lunch:

• Vesper Stamper's debut THE ORANGE TREE, about two teenage Holocaust survivors who meet in a Displaced Persons Camp in the aftermath of WWII, to Knopf Children's for publication in Spring 2018.

Nothing from last week which didn’t already have a GR link had one this week, so I’m giving up on them :/.

Excerpts: The Winner’s Kiss - Marie Rutkoski, Morning Star - Pierce Brown, Lady Midnight - Cassandra Clare, The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle - Rick Riordan, The Hunter’s Moon - Beth Trissel

Awards/Lists: You can check out all of last week’s lists. The NAACP Image Award nominees were announced. So were Book Riot’s Best Books of 2015, NYPL Best Teen Books of 2015, Audible Best YA Book of 2015, Huffington Post’s Best YA Books of 2015, The Guardian’s Best Children’s Books of 2015, The Star’s Best Kid Books of 2015, Booklist’s Editor’s Choice: Books for Youth, 2015, Brain Picking’s Best Children’s Books of 2015, EW’s Gift Guide: 7 Amazing Books for Teens, and Kirkus’s Best Teen Books of 2015.

You can nominate your favorite books for the 2015 Book Shimmy Awards until this Friday, December 18th. You can also nominate your favorite teen reads for the Teen Choice Book of the Year Award until February 2, 2016.

Book Trailers: Embassy Row series trailer - Ally Carter.

Authors/Interviews: The Dreamsnatcher - Abi Ephinstone, Lizzie and the Lost Baby - Cheryl Blackford, I Woke Up Dead at the Mall - Judy Sheehan, Nicola Yoon on how illustrations came to be in Everything, Everything. Nimona - Noelle Stevenson.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas is being made into a coloring book, to be published in 2016, coordinating with the release of book 5. If you’re really into coloring books, here are 13 others with stunning art.

Forget all the best-of lists: what were the favorite reads of children’s publishers in 2015? I remember the repeated title last year being Grasshopper by Andrew Smith. This year, it seems to be Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli.

The Guardian also asked their authors and editors what they thought their favorite children’s books were from 2015.

Publisher’s Weekly named their seven Flying Starts: Alex Gino (George), Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything), Kevin Sands(The Blackthorn Key), Stephanie Tromly (Trouble Is a Friend of Mine), Ali Benjamin (The Thing about Jellyfish), Nicholas Gannon (The Doldrums), and Guojing.

Courtney Summers is nailing it, as usual, with a discussion on a double standard for girls. (“I will never use my books to perpetuate the idea that a girl’s pain isn’t worthy of anyone’s patience, time, understanding, empathy or love. Ever. Because girls: if you go through awful shit, you do not and should not have to hide your pain to be worthy and deserving of all good things. You are.”).

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.”).

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

Victoria Schwab, Ashley Hope Perez, and Stephanie Kuehn discussed the state of the YA Novel: 2015. Stephanie Kuehn’s description of “literary ambition” being gendered, and Victoria Schwab’s discussion of expectations for adult vs. YA literature? Love ‘em.

This week in general seems to have a lot of great discussions flowing in the community. Here are two interesting Storifys: first from Tess Sharpe on QUILTBAG YA and the second from Dahlia Adler on m/m Fetishization, the Dearth of f/f Support, and Other Complicated Things in LGBTQIAP+ YA.

I also really enjoyed looking through some of the advice 2015 debut authors (#15eradvice) had for authors debuting in 2016. Plus reading the blog post on what said authors learned in their debut year.

Also true is that we’ve seen a lot of articles on diversity focused on US markets. This Guardian article asks of UK publishing:how do we stop UK publishing from being so posh and white?

The Rumpus also interviewed Jennifer Baker, who works with WNDB and runs her own podcast, Minorities in Publishing. Interesting thoughts on diversity as a buzzword, marginalized voices, etc.

We Need Diverse Books Team Members shared their holiday recommendations.

Remember what I just said about great discussion? Here was a Native Voices roundtable: sharing stories & talking back, andpart 2 of that same discussion.

Neil Gaiman started writing out his novels with Stardust - check out what the notebooks look like.

Oh, boys. Apparently ebooks boost boys’ reading ability because they think that reading on a tablet is cool and are more likely to continue reading there vs. a physical.

A lot of people are gifting the illustrated Harry Potter, it seems, and Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid is still going strong.

Cover Reveals:

Discussions & Other Blogger Posts:

Tell these lies, and you can stay home and read, just like you planned.

12 Books With Badass Females: a mix of both YA and adult fiction, and some of the adult is definitely crossover.

16 YA authors recommend their favorite books of 2015 (it’s interesting if you compare this list to the publishing industry list to the best-of lists -- the overlap there). Plus the favorites from the B&N Teen Bloggers as well.

15 anticipated debuts from the first half of 2016 from the B&N team (The Smell of Other People’s Houses looks so good and I hadn’t heard of it before!).

Reading books can do a lot for a child’s reading level.

Donald Trump is worse than Voldemort, according to J.K. Rowling.

5 Romances to Read on your Next Snow Day (yaasss to Grave Mercy!).

Regardless of JKR’s reveals about Harry Potter, I love that you can still get theories about the books years and years later. This one might just blow your mind: Remus Lupin was James Potter in disguise?

If you’re having a hard time choosing 2016 books, let the kittens decide!

For the mystery lover in your life, these books might prove to be a good gift.

Are these children’s books scarier than you remember?

These children’s books have diverse characters.

Sometimes authors take too long between one book and the next.

If you’re eagerly anticipating Glass Sword, here are some quotes from the Red Queen series (not just book 1!).

Gift suggestions for fangirls and fanboys.

Parent-Child book club picks - pair them together for great discussion at home!.

And here are ways to get your kid to read the book before it becomes a movie.