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Though writing is usually a solitary activity, Shannon Hale --- author of FOREST BORN, ENNA BURNING and BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS --- often considers it to be a collaborative effort of sorts. Below, she reflects on the wholly unique and personal experience of reading, and shares her thoughts on the partnership formed between a reader and writer in order to tell a good story.


When I was in high school, I read THE STRANGER by Camus, and it turned me upside down. I remember feeling as if the world had fallen away from beneath me and I was floating in space. It was not a good feeling. I was terrified. What if the world meant nothing? What if all this was meaningless? Aaah!

In college, I had to read THE STRANGER again, and I was nervous, remembering my first encounter with existential horror. But this time...eh. It was just a story. And kind of a pointless one, I thought. I marveled at two such extremely different reactions to the same book. Between first and second reading, not one word of THE STRANGER changed. Only I did.

I've had this sort of experience many times --- a beloved childhood book reread, only to find it boring or poorly written; a despised book reread, only to love it. I’ve come to believe that when we read a book, 50% of the storytelling is the author’s part and 50% is the reader’s. I keep this in mind when I’m writing. I can’t control a reader’s reaction to my story, I can’t write something that will affect everyone the same way. We all come to books with vastly different experiences, beliefs, attitudes and questions, and so every reading experience is intensely unique.

I love this about books. I love how flexible they are, bending to each reader’s understanding and needs. I love being a reader, and doing my part to bring a book’s story to life. And I love being a writer, and offering up my own stories for others. As writer and readers, we’re a team, working together to tell a story. Let’s make it a good one!

-- Shannon Hale

So much to read, so little time! This week's roundup new releases offers 16 titles to top off your ever-growing TBR pile, from compelling historical fiction novels and coming-of-age tales to sci-fi/fantasy thrillers and school dramas. Also featured this week are Justine Larbalestier's buzzworthy LIAR, Ann Rinaldi's moving period piece LEIGH ANN'S CIVIL WAR and highly anticipated new installments of your favorite series, including The Demonata, Gossip Girl: The Carlyles, Skeleton Creek, and The Bloody Jack Adventures.


New Releases for September 28th

Hardcover

LEIGH ANN’S CIVIL WAR by Ann Rinaldi (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Leigh Ann Conners is spunky and determined. Although she often finds herself in trouble, she loves her two older brothers dearly and would do anything to make them proud.

When the Yankees arrive in Roswell, Georgia, Leigh Ann places a French flag upon the family’s mill. She hopes the Yankees will then spare the mill from destruction, but her actions have disastrous results. Sent north with the women and children who worked in the mill --- all branded traitors for making fabric for Confederate uniforms --- Leigh Ann embarks on a journey that requires her to find her own inner strength. Only then will she be able to rise above the war raging around her.


PANAMA by Shelby Hiatt (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
At fifteen, a girl moves from a small town in Ohio to Panama while her father takes part in building the Panama Canal. This trip comes just at the right time for her. She yearns to see more of the world than her small mid-western town has to offer. She wants to meet new people. Visit exciting places. Panama with its lush rainforests and myriad of people is the perfect place for her desires to be fulfilled. Then she meets Frederico, a Spanish aristocrat who is working as a digger, one of the masses who toils daily in the heat and the dust and the danger of the canal. He embodies everything she's looking for: he's exotic, exciting, intelligent and pushes her beyond the limits her sequestered life has set for her. They begin a romance and he awakens her body as well as her soul.

RAPTURE OF THE DEEP: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Soldier, Sailor, Mermaid, Spy, by L. A. Meyer (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
On the very day that Jacky Faber is to wed her true love, she is kidnapped by British Naval Intelligence and forced to embark on yet another daring mission --- this time to search for sunken Spanish gold. But when Jacky is involved, things don't always go as planned.

Jacky has survived battles on the high seas, the stifling propriety of a Boston finishing school, and even confinement in a dank French prison. But no adventure has quite matched her opportunistic street-urchin desires --- until now.


New Releases for September 29th

Hardcover

DUPLIKATE by Cherry Cheva (HarperTeen)

To Do List:

* Ace SATs
* Ace finals
* Ace AP physics project
* Avoid murdering lab partner
* Submit Yale application
* Resolve possibly evil twin situation

Due date: December 15th
Countdown: 11 days

By the time Kate Larson accidentally fell asleep at three a.m., she'd already done more work in one night than the average high school senior does in a week. Getting into Yale has been her dream for years --- and being generally overworked and totally under-rested is the price of admission. But when she opens her eyes the next day, she comes face-to-face with, well, her face --- which is attached to her body, which is standing across the room. Wait, what?

Meet Kate's computer-generated twin. Kate doesn't know why she's here or how to put her back where she belongs, but she's real. And she's the last thing Kate has time to deal with right now. Unless . . .

Could having a double be the answer to Kate's prayers? After all, two Kates can do more work than one. Or will keeping her twin a secret turn her dream future into a living nightmare?


LIAR by Justine Larbalestier (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books)
Micah will freely admit that she’s a compulsive liar, but that may be the one honest thing she’ll ever tell you. Over the years she’s duped her classmates, her teachers, and even her parents, and she’s always managed to stay one step ahead of her lies. That is, until her boyfriend dies under brutal circumstances and her dishonesty begins to catch up with her. But is it possible to tell the truth when lying comes as naturally as breathing? Taking readers deep into the psyche of a young woman who will say just about anything to convince them --- and herself --- that she’s finally come clean, LIAR is a bone-chilling thriller that will have readers see-sawing between truths and lies right up to the end. Honestly.

MY INVENTED LIFE by Lauren Bjorkman (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
With Roz and Eva everything becomes a contest --- who can snag the best role in the school play, have the cutest boyfriend, pull off the craziest prank. Still, they’re as close as sisters can be. Until Eva deletes Roz from her life like so much junk e-mail for no reason that Roz understands. Now Eva hangs out with the annoyingly petite cheerleaders, and Roz fantasizes about slipping bovine growth hormone into their Gatorade.

Roz has a suspicion about Eva. In turn, Eva taunts Roz with a dare, which leads to an act of total insanity. Drama geeks clamor for attention, Shakespearean insults fly, and Roz steals the show in Lauren Bjorkman’s hilarious debut novel.

PASTWORLD by Ian Beck (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books)
What if all of London were really an amusement park --- a whole city returned to Victorian times to entertain visitors from the twenty-first century? That's the wildly original premise of Ian Beck's PASTWORLD, a high-stakes mystery set in a simulated past.

Eve is a lifelong resident of Pastworld who doesn’t know she’s living in a theme park until a mysterious threat forces her to leave home. Caleb is a visiting tourist who finds the lawlessness of the past thrilling --- until he suddenly becomes a fugitive from an antiquated justice system. And in the midst of it all, in the thick London fog a dark and deadly figure prowls, claiming victim after victim. He’s the Fantom, a creature both of the past and of the present, in whose dark purpose Caleb and Eve will find their destinies combined.

Page-turning, complex, and haunting, PASTWORLD masterfully exposes the human experience of the past, of violence, of technology, and of entertainment.

SECRET SOCIETY by Tom Dolby (Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins)
Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone. . . .

An eccentric new girl. A brooding socialite. The scion of one of New York's wealthiest families. A promising filmmaker. As students at the exclusive Chadwick School, Phoebe, Lauren, Nick, and Patch already live in a world most teenagers only dream about.

They didn't ask to be Society members. But when three of them receive a mysterious text message promising success and fame beyond belief, they say yes to everything --- even to the harrowing initiation ceremony in a gritty warehouse downtown and to the ankh-shaped tattoo they're forced to get on the nape of their necks. Once they're part of the Society, things begin falling into place for them. Week after week, their ambitions are fulfilled. It's all perfect—until a body is found in Central Park with no distinguishing marks except for an ankh-shaped tattoo.

Tom Dolby makes his teen fiction debut with this riveting novel about a dangerous society so secret that once you get in, you can never get out.


Paperback

HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY by Justine Larbalestier (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books)
Everyone in New Avalon has a fairy. Though invisible, a personal fairy is vital to success. It might determine whether you pass a math class or find the perfect outfit. But all fourteen-year-old Charlie can do is find parking spaces --- and she doesn’t even drive. At first, teaming up with Fiorenza (who has an all-the-boys-like-you fairy) seems like a great idea. But when Charlie unexpectedly gets her heart’s desire, she’ll have to resort to extraordinary measures to ditch her fairy.


New Releases for October 1st

Hardcover

THE DOOM MACHINE by Mark Teague (The Blue Sky Press/Scholastic)
When a spaceship lands in Vern Hollow, Jack's hometown, he and his no-account inventor-uncle Bud are busy trying to fix a car driven by Dr. Shumway and her daughter, Isadora. Although Uncle Bud secretly knows the aliens are after one of his inventions, everyone is surprised when the space aliens capture seven of Vern Hollow's residents and take them into outer space on a wild adventure. . . .

After a series of twists and turns, all of them are taken to Skreepia, the aliens' planet, where they have to defeat the Skreep queen before she can use Uncle Bud's invention to take over planet Earth. Filled with wonderful detail, humor, inventive dialog, and irresistible black-and-white spot art, THE DOOM MACHINE is a tour de force by one of America's most beloved storytellers.

ONCE WAS LOST by Sara Zarr (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Samara Taylor used to believe in miracles. She used to believe in a lot of things. As a pastor's kid, it's hard not to buy in to the idea of the perfect family, a loving God, and amazing grace. But lately, Sam has a lot of reason to doubt. Her mother lands in rehab after a DUI and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. When a young girl in her small town is kidnapped, the local tragedy overlaps with Sam's personal one, and the already-worn thread of faith holding her together begins to unravel.

In her third novel, acclaimed author Sara Zarr examines the coexistence of affliction and hope, and what happens when everything you thought you believed --- about God, about your family, about yourself --- is transformed.

DARK CALLING: The Demonata, Book 9 by Darren Shan (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
I know it's ridiculous. Lights can't whisper. But I swear I heard a voice calling to me. It sounded like static to begin with, but then it came into focus, a single word repeated over and over. Softly, slyly, seductively, insistently.

"Come..."

The Disciples are being manipulated by beings older than time. Only Kernel Fleck knows that something is wrong. But he is in the grip of a creature who cares nothing for the fate of humanity. Voices are calling to him from the darkness and he's powerless to resist.

Kernel has already been to hell and back. Now he's about to go further...

The horrifying adventures continue with the ninth book in the gory and chilling Demonata series.

GOSSIP GIRL: THE CARLYLES #4: LOVE THE ONE YOU’RE WITH created by Cecily von Ziegesar (Poppy/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
It's Thanksgiving, and the Carlyle triplets are thankful to be escaping the New York City cold-they're jetting to the tropics and bringing all their friends along for the ride. The sun isn't the only thing that's sizzling on this vacation getaway --- I'm forecasting sultry poolside encounters, too. So, don't forget to pack the sunscreen...you don't want to get burned.

SKELETON CREEK #2: GHOST IN THE MACHINE by Patrick Carman (Scholastic Press)
Strange things are happening in Skeleton Creek...and Ryan and Sarah are trying to find out why. Ryan writes down everything in his journal, and Sarah records everything on her videocam. The two move deeper into the mystery they've uncovered, determined to discover the secrets buried in Skeleton Creek, in the conclusion to Patrick Carman's thrilling series.

In this groundbreaking format, the story is broken into two parts --- Ryan's text in the book, and Sarah's videos on a special website, with links and passwords given throughout the book.


Paperback

LET IT SNOW: THREE HOLIDAY ROMANCES by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle (Speak)
The weather outside is frightful, but these stories are delightful! When a huge blizzard (that doesn’t show signs of stopping) hits, Gracetown is completely snowed in. But even though it’s cold outside, things are heating up inside, proving that the holiday season is magical when it comes to love. In three wonderfully (and hilariously!) interconnected tales, YA stars John Green, Lauren Myracle, and Maureen Johnson create a must-have collection that captures all the spirit of the holiday season.
- Click here to read our review of LET IT SNOW.

THE GOOD NEIGHBORS: BOOK ONE: KIN by Holy Black (GRAPHIX)
The human realm and the faerie realm have always been good neighbors. But all that is about to change…

Rue Silver’s life isn’t at all what it appears to be; her mother has disappeared --- and her father is being blamed for her murder. Is he guilty, or is there another truth behind it all? Rue digs deeper into her family’s past and makes a startling discovery: her mother is a faerie, and she’s vanished back into the faerie realm because of a broken promise. In order to save her, Rue must defeat a dark faerie --- who threatens our very mortal world.
- Click here to read our review of KIN.

Labels: New Releases

Though now the author of two books, I KNOW IT'S OVER and ONE LONELY DEGREE, writing teen fiction hasn't always come easily to today's guest blogger, C. K. Kelly Martin. Below, she describes her rocky start in penning her first YA novel and shares a poignant scene from Alice Sebold's THE LOVELY BONES that completely changed her approach to creating characters.


When I started writing my first YA novel ten years ago (an as yet unpublished book then titled The Start of Something) I didn’t think it would be difficult. It’s not that I believed it would be especially easy either --- obviously it would be time-consuming and require discipline --- but I didn’t have a clear idea of what I was trying to accomplish, aside from getting words down on the page. With such an unambitious goal in mind, no wonder I didn’t feel daunted.

Having just become hooked on reruns of "Party of Five," the idea of writing about young people (something I’d never considered before) suddenly seemed immensely appealing. I came up with a storyline and teenage characters to go along with it and eventually The Start of Something was 51,000 words. I sent query letters out and tried to find an agent to represent it, but somewhere along the line I discovered the book wasn’t what I wanted it to be. In fact, it was just a skeleton, a bare-bones telling of events about people who weren’t anyone in particular.

I said jump and the characters obeyed. Blindly and blandly. They had no personalities of their own and therefore no way of fighting me and trying to exert their own influence. They would’ve done anything I’d suggested, whenever I’d wanted it and in exactly the manner I’d planned, and that, I came to realize, was not what I wanted after all.

How did I come to this realization? By becoming conscious of what impressed me as a reader. I read a ton of contemporary YA and adult literary novels and noticed that the books I liked best featured three-dimensional characters who helped shaped the course of events in the book and were not simply jogged through them with the author cracking a whip behind them. In particular, I remember an example from THE LOVELY BONES that helped wake me up. Halfway through chapter three there’s a flashback during which main character Susie remembers seeing her mother, early one morning, sitting quietly alone in the backyard. Susie thinks, “She had a stare that stretched to infinity. She was, in that moment, not my mother but something separate from me.” Susie snaps a covert picture and sure enough, when the roll’s developed, she finds a different person in that first image to the subsequent ones where she had become aware of Susie’s presence and changed back into her mother. As Susie examines the first photograph she thinks, “My mother’s eyes were oceans, and inside them was loss.”

I was startled by the truthfulness of this scene that had so much to say, not just about Susie’s mother, but Susie herself (not everyone would be as observant as she is here) and the complicated nature of life. I realized --- not in just the moment when I read this scene but in a lot of other similar "aha!" moments reading books with well-drawn, lifelike characters --- that I wanted to write novels where the characters were king; I wanted to find the deep end of the ocean in all of them. I realized that even the simplest things the characters would do or say should be guided by their experiences and personalities, and that most of the things I’d had in mind for the characters in The Start of Something, once I’d truly filled in their personalities so that they weren’t just my puppets anymore, wouldn’t happen the way I’d planned, if they’d even happen at all.

I kept the character names and the fact that I wanted it to be a book about first love, and tried to let the characters themselves take care of everything else. At first they were reluctant to take the reins and let me push them around a little, but the more I worked on their personalities (uncovering details about what makes them uniquely themselves), the more confident they became until they were clearly in charge and it almost seemed that they only needed me to transcribe their story.

These days, when I’m writing a book and feel a character actively resist something in the plot, I know I’ve steered them wrong and that I should stop and listen to what they’re telling me. Just because I want a character to run away from home, for example, doesn’t mean this is what they would actually do. They know best how they would react to situations and it’s my job to find out. That’s more difficult than just pushing a given character through a course of events you’ve decided upon, but ultimately so much more rewarding.

-- C. K. Kelly Martin

Labels: C. K. Kelly Martin, One Lonely Degree

In today's guest blog, Libba Bray --- author of the bestselling Gemma Doyle Trilogy --- recalls a surprisingly memorable family vacation that made its way into the plot of her new book, GOING BOVINE (out in stores this week), and shares some of the poignant questions she grappled with while penning this deceptively quirky story.

Labels: Going Bovine, Libba Bray

Summer may officially be over, but that can't stop us from revisiting our favorite time of year through the pages of a great book. Today, Kathryn Williams --- author of THE LOST SUMMER --- reminisces about her childhood vacations spent at sleep-away camp and muses on just what makes those camp romances so special.


When I decided to write a book set at summer camp, there was one element I knew I had to include: a camp romance.

I went to an all-girls sleep-away camp for ten years, six as a camper and four as a counselor. Those three weeks each summer were some of the most carefree, side-splittingly funny, and exciting of my whole year, as evidenced by the fact that I started packing eight weeks before camp started (à la Field of Dreams, I thought “if I build it, it will come”).

A big part of the exhilaration my friends and I felt returning to camp each year was the promise of camp crushes. A boys’ camp preceded our girls’ camp, and a handful of male counselors would stay on in two capacities: 1) as manual laborers and 2) as the objects of affection of one hundred girls aged 8 to 19. (Talk about an ego trip.) We called them “Buzzards,” and despite the unpleasantness of that nickname, we crushed on them hard.

I still remember lying on my top bunk at Rest Hour and imagining the end-of-the-world scenario that would bring my 11-year-old self and a Buzzard named Cole together on a tropical deserted island. I thought he looked like Tom Cruise (pre-couch-jumping crazy, of course). There was a lot of hazy light and slow motion in this daydream. (Note: He was at least ten years older than me and oblivious to my existence.)

In THE LOST SUMMER, my character Helena has a serious crush on an older male counselor named Ransome. (No, it’s not a coincidence that his name rhymes with “handsome” and looks an awful lot like “ransom.”) She compares the counselors from the boys’ camp across the lake to the guys she knows in her everyday life back at home: “They were like a lost tribe of boys who were much cooler, much hotter, and much more elusive than the ones who roamed the real world.”

What is it about camp guys? Is it the tan? The idyllic setting? The intoxicating scent of Gold Bond? Or just the novelty of boys you don’t see every day in Chem class?

I thought a lot about what makes camp romances special as I wrote about the budding relationship between Helena and Ransome, and I came to the conclusion it’s the heady combination of freedom and safety that camp brings. Where else are you able to walk the tightrope between childhood and adulthood with such a safety net? Of course, as Helena learns, you can still fall, but there’s a wide net of love and acceptance to catch you.

If you loved camp (and camp crushes) the way I did, or if you’re just curious what the whole camp hullabaloo is about, then I hope you’ll enjoy THE LOST SUMMER. I certainly enjoyed writing it.

-- Kathryn Williams

Labels: Kathryn Williams, The Lost Summer

There's a little something for everyone this week, as the gems in today's roundup of new releases include Libba Bray's much anticipated quirky "road-trip" novel, GOING BOVINE, and the family drama ELI THE GOOD by Silas House, as well as the paperback releases of the philosophical fantasy NATION and John Green's bestseller PAPER TOWNS. Perfect for your sci-fi/fantasy fix --- replete with monsters, vamps and faeries --- are PRETTY DEAD by Francesca Lia Block, Rick Yancey's THE MUNSTRUMOLOGIST and the fantastical fairy tale WONDROUS STRANGE by Lesley Livingston.


New Releases for September 22nd

Hardcover

ELI THE GOOD by Silas House (Candlewick Press)
Bicentennial fireworks burn the sky. Bob Seger growls from a transistor radio. And down by the river, girls line up on lawn chairs in pursuit of the perfect tan. Yet for ten-year-old Eli Book, the summer of 1976 is the one that threatened to tear his family apart. There is his distant mother; his traumatized Vietnam vet dad; his wild sister; his former war-protester aunt; and his tough yet troubled best friend, Edie, the only person with whom he can be himself. As tempers flare and his father’s nightmares rage, Eli watches from the sidelines, but soon even he cannot escape the current of conflict. From Silas House comes a tender look at the complexities of childhood and the realities of war --- a quintessentially Southern novel filled with music, nostalgic detail, a deep respect for nature, and a powerful sense of place.

GOING BOVINE by Libba Bray (Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
All 16-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school --- and life in general --- with a minimum of effort. It’s not a lot to ask. But that’s before he’s given some bad news: he’s sick and he’s going to die. Which totally sucks. Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there is a cure --- if he’s willing to go in search of it. With the help of a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf and a yard gnome, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America into the heart of what matters most.

HOMESTRETCH by Paul Volponi (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster)
A runaway boy with nothing finds everything he needs, including a family, in the most unlikely of places --- at a racetrack.

PRETTY DEAD by Francesca Lia Block (HarperTeen)
People pity me, but mostly they feel envy. I have all the luxury and freedom a girl my age could want.

Something is happening to Charlotte Emerson. Like the fires that are ravaging the hills of Los Angeles, it consumes her from the inside out. But whether it is her eternal loneliness, the memory of her brother, the return of her first love, or the brooding, magnetic Jared --- she cannot say. What if it's something more . . .

Something to do with the sudden tear in her perfect nails. The heat she feels when she's with Jared. The blood rushing once again to her cheeks and throughout her veins.

For Charlotte is a vampire, witness to almost a century's worth of death and destruction. But not since she was a human girl has mortality touched her.

In what way will you be transformed?

Until now.

Z. REX: The Hunting, Book 1 by Steve Cole (Philomel Books)
You’re 14 and find yourself on your own. Your father, who has developed the world’s cutting-edge research on virtual electronic game-playing, has been missing for weeks. And suddenly you’re being hunted by men with guns, your picture is on the news, and, worst of all, something seemingly impossible is chasing you --- a savage, man-eating dinosaur. How can that be? Why is everyone trying to capture you? And what is your strange connection with this 21st-century prehistoric monster?

THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST by Rick Yancey (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing)
These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for more than forty years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me...and the one who cursed me.

So begins the journal of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore War throp, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real. But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a gruesome find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet.

Critically acclaimed author Rick Yancey has written a gothic tour de force that explores the darkest heart of man and monster and asks the question: When does a man become the very thing he hunts?


Paperback

NATION by Terry Pratchett (HarperCollins)
When a giant wave destroys his village, Mau is the only one left. Daphne --- a traveler from the other side of the globe --- is the sole survivor of a shipwreck. Separated by language and customs, the two are united by catastrophe. Slowly, they are joined by other refugees. And as they struggle to protect the small band, Mau and Daphne defy ancestral spirits, challenge death himself, and uncover a long-hidden secret that literally turns the world upside down.
- Click here to read our review of and an excerpt from NATION.

PAPER TOWNS by John Green (Speak)
Likable Quentin Jacobsen has yearned for his vibrant neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman, since they were kids. So imagine his ecstasy when she lures him into a middle-of-the night adventure…and his pain when she vanishes. Finding Margo becomes Q's quest in an irresistible plot combining a friendship tale, a road trip and a mystery.
Click here to read our review of and an excerpt from PAPER TOWNS.

WONDROUS STRANGE by Lesley Livingston (HarperTeen)
Since the dawn of time, the Faerie have taken. . . .

Seventeen-year-old actress Kelley Winslow always thought faeries were just something from childhood stories. Then she meets Sonny Flannery. He's a changeling --- a mortal taken as an infant and raised among Faerie --- and within short order he's turned Kelley's heart inside out and her life upside down.

For Kelley's beloved Central Park isn't just a park --- it's a gateway between her ordinary city and the Faerie's dangerous, bewitching Otherworld. Now Kelley's eyes are opening not just to the Faerie that surround her, but to the heritage that awaits her . . . a destiny both wondrous and strange.

Labels: New Releases

Today's guest blogger is Malinda Lo, whose debut novel, ASH, puts a unique twist on the classic Cinderella fable. Below, she shares her thoughts on keeping an open mind when it comes to reading outside of our comfort zones.


Recently, an author friend of mine was discouraged to find out that a book blogger had refused to review her book because it included LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) characters. At first, I advised her to forget about it and move on --- you can't please everyone.

But her experience stuck with me. I found myself thinking about it several times, and I realized that what disturbed me wasn't the idea that some people might be homophobic (this is just basic reality), but the idea that someone would attempt to avoid an entire group of people in their reading material. I mean, would it be OK if I said that I never liked to read books about Christians? Or would it be, I don't know ... a little bit close-minded?

Obviously, I have a personal interest in this issue. ASH, my novel, is a retelling of Cinderella in which the Cinderella character falls in love with a girl --- not a male Prince Charming. I'm certainly hoping that readers who aren't LGBT themselves can still find something to enjoy in my book.

But I know that some folks probably will choose not to read ASH because of the LGBT story line. And yes, every reader has a right to make his or her own decisions based on his or her particular interests. Some people prefer to read romantic stories; others would never touch the stuff and only read mysteries. Even I admit that some genres appeal to me more than others.

Nevertheless, I would stop short of eliminating an entire group of people from my reading material. For example, I am not an evangelical Christian, but I really enjoyed Lara Zielin's funny and thoughtful DONUT DAYS, about the daughter of evangelical Christian parents. The people were not caricatures or stereotypes, and I appreciated that.

I am not a straight white girl, but I was totally hooked by Diana Peterfreund's RAMPANT, about a straight white girl who happens to be a unicorn hunter (killer unicorns, of course) and also falls for a cute Italian guy. The hunting was awesome, and I totally got why she liked the guy --- I didn't have to be straight to understand it.

I am not a boy, but let me tell you, I have devoured every one of the Harry Potter novels more than once.

The point is, we don't have to be the same gender, race or sexual orientation as a book's main character to get wrapped up in their story --- or even to identify with them. We, as humans, all face common experiences: dealing with our parents, facing up to our own personal fears, falling in love for the first time.

So I do hope that readers who are not lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender will still give books with those characters a chance. It's important for us to read about people who are different from us because it helps us to see how we are similar. It's important for us to make space in our worlds --- both real and fictional --- for diversity of all kinds.

-- Malinda Lo

Labels: Ash, Malinda Lo

To coincide with the recent release of RANGER'S APPRENTICE: THE SIEGE OF MACINDAW --- the 6th book in John Flanagan's bestselling medieval fantasy about a lively 15-year-old boy living in Castle Redmont --- Penguin Young Readers Group has launched a theatrical bus tour entitled “Escape to Araluen.”

Hitting 22 cities nationwide, “Escape to Araluen” features three actors who are traveling across the country in the Rangers Apprentice tour bus to act out scenes from the first installment of the series. You can follow their adventures online at Rangersapprentice.com, where you'll find an interactive map that showcases videos from the road. Performances will include music, sound effects, prizes, an interactive apprentice selection ceremony, and an eight-foot tall villain. Each show will be followed by a book signing with the actors, where you can receive a special “Escape from Araluen” stamp and Ranger pin.

You can also check out the trio's behind-the-scenes videos and performances directly, here. Be sure to visit the series' official site for more information on the books, and to see if they’ll be traveling to your city!

Labels: Fun Stuff, John Flanagan, Ranger's Apprentice, Tour

Author Michelle Moran certainly put her case of wanderlust to good use, relying on her experiences traveling the world to pen three works of historical fiction. In today's guest blog, she shares memories of an unforgettable vacation that inspired her latest novel, CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER, and sparked her obsession with this enigmatic ancient queen.


It began with a dive. Not the kind that people take into swimming pools, but the kind where you squeeze yourself into a wetsuit and wonder just how tasty your rump must appear to passing sharks now that it looks exactly like an elephant seal. My husband and I had taken a trip to Egypt, and at the suggestion of a friend, we decided to visit Alexandria and go on a dive to see the remains of Cleopatra’s underwater city. Let it be known that I had never done anything like this before, so after four days with an instructor (and countless questions: Will there be sharks? How about jellyfish? If there is an earthquake, what happens underwater?) we were ready for the real thing.

We drove to the Eastern Harbor in Alexandria. Dozens of other divers were already there, waiting to see what sort of magic lay beneath the waves. I wondered if the real thing could possibly live up to all of the guides and brochures selling this underwater city, lost for thousands of years until now. Then we did the dive, and it was every bit as magical as everyone had promised. You can see the rocks that once formed Marc Antony’s summer palace, come face to face with Cleopatra’s towering sphinx, and take your time floating above ten thousand ancient artifacts, including obelisks, statues, and countless amphorae. By the time we had surfaced, I was Cleopatra-obsessed. I wanted to know what had happened to her city once she and Marc Antony had committed suicide. Where did all of its people go? Were they allowed to remain, or were they killed by the Romans? What about her four children?

It was this last question that surprised me the most. I had always believed that all of Cleopatra’s children had been murdered. But, the Roman conqueror Octavian had actually spared the three she bore to Marc Antony: her six-year-old son, Ptolemy, and her ten-year-old twins, Alexander and Selene. As soon as I learned that Octavian had taken the three of them for his Triumph in Rome, I knew at once I had my next book. This is how all of my novels seem to begin --- with a journey, then an adventure, and finally, enormous amounts of research for what I hope is an exciting story.

-- Michelle Moran

Labels: Cleopatra's Daughter, Michelle Moran

We all need an escape from the real world every now and then and this week's roundup of new releases offers just that, promising to transport us to different centuries, dimensions and even alternate realities. These fourteen titles serve up a healthy dose fantasy ---- like ONE WITCH by Carolyn MacCullough and FOREST BORN by Shannon Hale --- not to mention a few supernatural and paranormal tales --- LILLY DALE: CONNECTING by Wendy Corsi Staub and DEMON CHICK by Marilyn Kaye --- plus some juicy works historical fiction, such as THE SILVER BLADE by Sally Gardner and TIME OF THE WITCHES by Anna Myers. Sarah Miller's THE OTHER GIRL will give you the opportunity to get inside someone else's head --- literally! --- while THE CUPCAKE QUEEN by Heather Hepler and RUNNING ON THE CRACKS by Julia Donaldson provide more of a grounded, but equally entertaining getaway.

New Releases for September 14th

Hardcover

ONCE A WITCH by Carolyn MacCullough (Clarion Books)
Tamsin Greene comes from a long line of witches, and she was supposed to be one of the most Talented among them. But Tamsin's magic never showed up. Now seventeen, Tamsin attends boarding school in Manhattan, far from her family. But when a handsome young professor mistakes her for her very Talented sister, Tamsin agrees to find a lost family heirloom for him. The search --- and the stranger --- will prove to be more sinister than they first appeared, ultimately sending Tamsin on a treasure hunt through time that will unlock the secret of her true identity, unearth the sins of her family, and unleash a power so vengeful that it could destroy them all. This is a spellbinding display of storytelling that will exhilarate, enthrall, and thoroughly enchant.


New Releases for September 15th

Hardcover

CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER by Michelle Moran (Crown)
The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. Feared and hunted by the powers in Rome, the lovers choose to die by their own hands as the triumphant armies of Antony’s revengeful rival, Octavian, sweep into Egypt. Their three orphaned children are taken in chains to Rome; only two --- the ten-year-old twins Selene and Alexander --– survive the journey. Delivered to the household of Octavian’s sister, the siblings cling to each other and to the hope that they will return one day to their rightful place on the throne of Egypt. As they come of age, they are buffeted by the personal ambitions of Octavian’s family and court, by the ever-present threat of slave rebellion, and by the longings and desires deep within their own hearts.

Selene’s narrative is animated by the concerns of a young girl in any time and place --– the possibility of finding love, the pull of friendship and family, and the pursuit of her unique interests and talents. While coping with the loss of both her family and her ancestral kingdom, Selene must find a path around the dangers of a foreign land. Her accounts of life in Rome are filled with historical details that vividly capture both the glories and horrors of the times. She dines with the empire’s most illustrious poets and politicians, witnesses the creation of the Pantheon, and navigates the colorful, crowded marketplaces of the city where Roman-style justice is meted out with merciless authority.

DEMON CHICK by Marilyn Kaye (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
Jessica may not have the warmest relationship with her mother, aspiring presidential candidate Margaret Hunsucker, but it still comes as a shock when she discovers that her mother has sold her to the devil. Will she have to spend eternity in hell with one of Satan’s minions, a demon named Brad? Brad takes pains to explain that they live in one of hell’s better neighborhoods, and he seems like a nice enough guy --- but still! And things only get worse when Jessica learns the full extent of her mother’s evil plans. Can she and Brad come up with a plan to save the world?

GIVE UP THE GHOST by Megan Crewe (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
Cass McKenna much prefers ghosts over “breathers.” Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable, and they know the dirt on everybody…and Cass loves dirt. She’s on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in her school.

But when the vice president of the student council discovers her secret, Cass’s whole scheme hangs in the balance. Tim wants her to help him contact his recently deceased mother, and Cass reluctantly agrees.

As Cass becomes increasingly entwined in Tim’s life, she’s surprised to realize he’s not so bad --- and he needs help more desperately than anyone else suspects. Maybe it’s time to give the living another chance….

RUNNING ON THE CRACKS by Julia Donaldson (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers)
Leo’s running from her past. Finlay’s running into trouble. Together, they stumble into a crazy new world of secrets, lies, and Chinese food.

But someone is on Leo’s trail . . . Eccentric, unforgettable characters and genuine, heart-pounding suspense make for a stunning combination as celebrated author Julia Donaldson expands her talents in her first novel for young adults.

TIME OF THE WITCHES by Anna Myers (Walker Books for Young Readers)
An orphan named Drucilla has finally has a place to call home with the Putnam family in Salem. Although her adopted mother is strange --- haunted by a troubled past --- Dru feels drawn to her as the mother she never had. When a new reverend and his family move into town with their servant Tituba, life takes a strange turn as young girls begin to fall ill and accusations of witchcraft begin to swirl. Reluctant to turn her back on the Putnams or her peers and overwhelmed by the power of groupthink among the other girls in town, Dru becomes one of the accusers herself. But when her best friend Gabe is accused, she must find a way to end the hysteria, or risk losing him forever.

THE BOOKS OF BAYERN: FOREST BORN by Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books)
Rin is sure that something is wrong with her…something really bad. Something that is keeping her from feeling at home in the Forest homestead where she’s lived all her life. Something that is keeping her from trusting herself with anyone at all. When her brother Razo returns from the city for a visit, she accompanies him to the palace, hoping that she can find peace away from home. But war has come to Bayern again, and Rin is compelled to join the queen and her closest allies --- magical girls Rin thinks of as the Fire Sisters --- as they venture into the Forest toward Kel, the land where someone seems to want them all dead. Many beloved Bayern characters reappear in this story, but it is Rin’s own journey of discovering how to balance the good and the bad in herself that drives this compelling adventure.

MIDVALE ACADEMY: THE OTHER GIRL: A Midvale Academy Novel, by Sarah Miller (St. Martin's Press)
Molly McGarry is about to learn that the only thing more traumatizing than spending six months trapped in your boyfriend’s head is being stuck inside your ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend’s head. After Molly dumps Gideon because she thinks he’s lusting after some one else, a game of spin the bottle leads to a kiss between Gideon and the beautiful, sexy Pilar Benitez-Jones. Somehow, the kiss knocks Molly out of Gideon’s head --- and right into Pilar’s. Now she’s desperate to get Gid back. She uses all her “superpower” to try come between Pilar and Gid, but instead of breaking them up, she seems to be bringing them closer together. Can she stand to be at school with Gid and at the same time be inside the mind of the girl he moved on with? How does Molly win back Gid without letting him know what’s going on? And how on earth is she ever going to get out of Pilar’s head...?

Paperback

BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS by Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books)
When Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven years for Saren’s refusal to marry a man she despises, the two prepare for a very long and dark imprisonment.

As food runs low and the days go from broiling hot to freezing cold, it is all Dashti can do to keep them fed and comfortable. But the arrival outside the tower of Saren’s two suitors --- one welcome, and the other decidedly less so --- brings both hope and great danger, and Dashti must make the desperate choices of a girl whose life is worth more than she knows.

With Shannon Hale’s lyrical language, this forgotten but classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm is reimagined and reset on the central Asian steppes; it is a completely unique retelling filled with adventure and romance, drama and disguise.
- Click here to read our review of BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS.

LILY DALE CONNECTING by Wendy Corsi Staub (Walker Books for Young Readers)
Now that Calla has accepted her ability to communicate with the Other Side, she’s desperate to connect with the one spirit whose energy she can’t seem to feel anywhere: her late mother. As ominous supernatural signs imply that the devastating loss might not have been an accident, Calla sets out to uncover the truth, convinced that a shadowy stranger may hold the key. But she gets more than she bargained for when she stumbles across a shocking secret about her mom’s past --- one that will change Calla’s own future forever.
- Click here to read our review of LILY DALE


New Releases for September 17th

Hardcover

THE CUPCAKE QUEEN by Heather Hepler (Dutton Juvenile)
A confection of a novel, combining big city sophistication with small-town charm.

When her mother moves them from the city to a small town to open up a cupcake bakery, Penny’s life isn’t what she expected. Her father has stayed behind, and Mom isn’t talking about what the future holds for their family. And then there’s Charity, the girl who plays mean pranks almost daily. There are also bright spots in Hog’s Hollowlike Tally, an expert in Rock Paper Scissors, and Marcus, the boy who is always running on the beach. But just when it looks as though Penny is settling in, her parents ask her to make a choice that will turn everything upside down again. A sweet novel about love, creativity, and accepting life’s unexpected turns.

THE SILVER BLADE by Sally Gardner (Dial Books for Young Readers)
A stirring tale of magic and revolution --- fans of THE RED NECKLACE won't want to miss it.

The year is 1794. With his beloved Sido safely in England and the Reign of Terror at its height, mysterious Yann returns to revolutionary France to smuggle out aristocratic refugees who will otherwise face the guillotine. But while the two are apart, Yann’s Gypsy origins prejudice Sido’s guardian against their marriage, thwarting their longed-for reunion. When Sido is kidnapped under strange circumstances, however, Yann must use all his strength and courage to outwit the evil Count Kalliovski, rescue Sido, and help save all of France.

As she did in THE RED NECKLACE and the award-winning I, CORIANDER, Sally Gardner spins an epic tale that combines a vivid sense of history, characters full of Dickensian drama and fascination, and a sizzling adventure with touches of magic and romance.

Paperback

MARCH TOWARD THE THUNDER by Joseph Bruchac (Speak)
Louis Nolette, a fifteen-year-old Abenaki Indian from Canada, is recruited to fight in the northern Irish Brigade in the Civil War. Though he is too young, and neither American nor Irish, he finds the promise of good wages and the fight to end slavery persuasive enough to join up. But war is never what you expect, and as Louis fights his way through battles, he encounters prejudice and acceptance, courage and cowardice, and strong and weak leadership in the most unexpected places.

THE RED NECKLACE by Sally Gardner (Speak)
A mysterious gypsy boy, Yann Margoza, and his guardian, a dwarf, work for the magician Topolain in 1789. On the night of Topolain’s death, Yann’s life truly begins. That’s when he meets Sido, an heiress with a horrible father. An attachment is born that will determine both their paths. Revolution is afoot in France, and Sido is being used as a pawn. Only Yann will dare to rescue her from a fearful villain named Count Kalliovski. It will take all of Yann’s newly discovered talent to unravel the mysteries of Sido’s past and his own and to fight the devilish count.

Labels: New Releases

Labels: Hate List, Jennifer Brown

With hot titles like Twilight, The Blue Bloods, The House of Night and Vampire Academy series gracing store shelves, it seems like we just can't get enough vampire stories these days; but, today's guest blogger, Max Turner, reminds us that readers have devoured them for centuries. Below, he shares a bit of back story about his debut novel, NIGHT RUNNER, and muses on the enduring popularity of these enigmatic fanged figures.

Are you a vampire? Click here to take a NIGHT RUNNER-inspired personality quiz.

With three young kids and a day job teaching high school science and computer technology, I don't have much time to write while the sun is shining. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I'm an insomniac, and so I do most of my work in the wee hours between midnight and two or three in the morning. So it was only natural that when I started mentally planning out my debut novel, NIGHT RUNNER, I had vampires on the brain. Diet aside, I was practically living like one.

When people find out NIGHT RUNNER is chock-full of vampires, the usual response I get is "Oh, they're hot these days." True enough. But when was this not the case? I can't remember a time when they weren't popular --- in books, comics, video games and movies. If the Internet had existed when I was a teenager, a Google search for vampires probably would have melted my computer.

I'm a history buff, and one of the most fascinating figures I've come across in my readings is Vlad the Impaler. During the mid-fifteenth century, he ruled the southern region of modern-day Romania, (a territory then called Wallachia). Tales of his atrocities were greatly exaggerated by his Transylvanian enemies --- and this may have been the reason why they became popular reading all over Europe. He was rumoured to be a living vampire, a man who ate the flesh and drank the blood of his victims. People were fascinated. Even decades after his death, private press owners were guaranteed to make money reprinting stories of Dracula. When Bram Stoker resurrected the character in his 1897 novel, he had an instant best seller. In over a hundred years, the book has never been out of print, and for good reason --- it's a great read, and whether they're cast as heroes or villains, vampires are just plain cool. So, when I was looking for the perfect bad guy, an ancient vampire lord was the obvious, best choice.

I'm now polishing up a sequel to NIGHT RUNNER, (my fifth version). It's been a tough grind. In the battle between good and evil, it's often very difficult to find a place for understanding and forgiveness --- the two most important themes in the original story. Balancing the action, romance, and mystery in the story is also a tough juggle. I love a novel with pace, and so I have to remind myself often to create scenes that let you slow down and catch your breath. I sometimes feel like I'm trying to direct traffic at a formula one race. Fortunately, I like Zack and his best friend Charlie. Writing about them is fun, and I'm experimenting with some new villain archetypes to keep everyone on their toes. Keep your eyes open for the sequel. It should be out in the spring. And please enjoy NIGHT RUNNER. It's a fun read.

-- Max Turner

Labels: Max Turner, Night Runner

We read this cartoon from Foxtrot over the weekend about required summer reading and it totally amused us. Take a look here and see if it describes what happens in your classroom when you discuss summer reading!

Labels: Foxtrot, Fun Stuff, Summer Reading

Today's guest blogger is David Levithan, author and co-author of YA faves like BOY MEETS BOY, ARE WE THERE YET, and NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST. Below, he interviews... well... himself... about his latest solo effort, LOVE IS THE HIGHER LAW, which revolves around three teens in the wake of 9/11.

We're offering a copy of LOVE IS THE HIGHER LAW in this month's Word of Mouth Drawing, which you can enter here. For more info on David and another chance to win a copy of the new book, visit Random House's Random Buzz, and the Book Divas Blog.


Even though this isn’t really an interview, I’ve decided to write this in Q&A format --– based on some questions I’ve been hearing lately, and some that I guess I’m ready to ask myself.

Q: So, your new book is about 9/11 and being in New York at that time.

A: Yes.

Q: That sounds depressing.

A: You would think so, but one of the reasons I wrote the book was to explore the fact that the time around 9/11 was both deeply upsetting and also remarkably inspirational.

Q: Inspirational?

A: Because millions of people came together in a way that was almost magical –-- after such a tragic event, we could have spiraled into chaos, both as a country and as individuals. But the opposite happened. Even though we were in shock, and even though we were in uncharted territory, we managed to maintain our better selves. In LOVE IS THE HIGHER LAW, the three main characters are all struggling both to get to the core of their reactions and then to figure out how life can go on.

Q: Was it hard to write?

A: It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever written, mostly because it was such a personal story to me. And I really didn’t want to screw it up. It’s one thing to write about small, personal events, and it’s quite another to write about an event that everyone in our society shares. There’s much more responsibility.

Q: Where did the title come from?

A: It’s from the U2 song “One” –-- sometimes I have titles from the start of writing a book, and other times I just wait for one to come to me out of the ether. I knew that a U2 concert would play a part in the book, but it wasn’t until I was listening to the Mary J. Blige version of this song that the lyric hit me over the head and demanded to be the book’s title. Because I do truly believe that love is the highest law, and that even when hate interferes (as it did on 9/11), love ultimately reinstates itself (as it did on 9/11).

Q: LOVE IS THE HIGHER LAW sounds like it’s very different from NICK & NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST. Is that true?

A: Yes and no. Certainly, the stakes are higher, the depression deeper, the feelings of confusion much more existential in LOVE IS THE HIGHER LAW. But it does share a lot of things with NICK & NORAH. Like N&N, it’s a love story on two levels. The first is a love story between the characters --- both in terms of romance and friendship. The second is a love story between the characters and New York City. When Rachel and I wrote NICK & NORAH, 9/11 was still very real to us and to all New Yorkers, and I think we wanted to represent the unthreatened magic of the city within our book. In the new book, the characters need to rediscover that joy in the city . . . and that’s part of how they know they’re healing.

(Incidentally, for another book that was written shortly after 9/11 which captures New York City in all of its glory, check out Tanuja Desai Hidier’s BORN CONFUSED. It, too, is a love story for the city, and a great love story for its characters, too.)

Q: When you and Rachel aren’t writing a book together, do you read each other’s work?

A: Yes. Rachel was one of the first readers of LOVE IS THE HIGHER LAW. And I was lucky to read an early version of her new book, VERY LE FREAK, which comes out next spring. I know you’ll think I’m biased, but it’s a total blast.

Q: Any other book recommendations?

A: By all means, read Blake Nelson’s DESTROY ALL CARS. And, come October 1st, Natalie Standiford’s HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT will be in stores. Both books are funny, moving, and wonderful. I can’t urge you enough to read them.

Q: I’m a teen, and I’m an aspiring writer. I know you’re an editor as well as an author. How do I get published?

A: Check out the PUSH Novel Contest at www.thisispush.com, which will start up again in November. We read every single entry that comes in. And some of the best books we’ve published in PUSH have come from winners of that contest.

-- David Levithan

Labels: Blog Tour, David Levithan, Love Is The Higher Law