What started off as a dream of going to a private school in Japan quickly turns to a nightmare. Kara Foster is an American who finds that her dreams are turning into nightmares and even more scary is that other kids at her school are having them too. Plus, students are showing up dead. Another student Sakura, claims it's the ghost of her dead sister. She thinks her sister is demanding payback from those who are responsible for her death. Add a lush Japanese countryside and a Japanese urban legend. The Waking: Dreams of the Dead is sure to keep readers turning the pages. Check out more of my review at YA Books Central.
Deb Caletti's The Secret Life of Prince Charmingtells the story of three sisters (two sisters and a half sister) on a quest to return the mementoes their dad kept of the women in his life to their rightful owners. Children of divorce, they need to understand what makes their dad tick and how he treated their mothers in order to understand about relationships and not make the same mistakes.
While it is the story of the sisters, it is also the story of several of their dad's girlfriends, why they fell for him, how he hurt them and how they recovered, if they did. Caletti pounds into the reader that girls/women must look at the inner being, both theirs and a man's, in order to find love. Looks and personality alone are not enough.
While The Secret Life of Prince Charming does get a little preachy, it provides a lesson that must be learned and does it in the form of an enjoyable and unique story. It's is definitely worth the read.
Two YABC folks, Little Willow and Kim Baccellia, are taking part in the blog tour for Thomas Randall, author of the phenomenal new YA thriller The Waking: Dreams of the Dead. We hope you'll check out the book and follow the tour as it travels from blog to blog!
Imagine waking up and finding out your life and country have changed. Now strict laws are in place. One such law forbids freedoms such as art, music, film, and entertainment,and any activity that is loved by kids and teens. That's what Whit and his sister Wisty Allgood find, along with the fact that they are wanted criminals. Their crime? Being witches. Witch and Wizard takes readers on a fast paced adventure filled ride where life in the new world is very strange and scary. Read more of my review at YA Books Central.
The book "chronicles the absurdist, dark comedic journey of Cameron Smith, a disaffected sixteen-year-old who, after being diagnosed with Creutzfeld Jakob's disease (commonly known as mad cow disease), sets off on a road trip to find a cure and possibly save the world."
Today, we invited Libba Bray to talk to us about allowing insanity to penetrate her writing world. We may have bitten off more than we could chew!
Thanks for joinging us, Libba!
Oh hello. How nice to see you. Sorry, I was just tinkering with an idea about vampires who want to run a musical theatre camp: “FANG! I want to live forever…I want to learn how to fly—high!” Anyway. I’ll just leave it there and see what happens when I get back.
So. I understand you would like to know “How I allow insanity to penetrate {my} writing world.” Uh-huh. Sure. Okay. That’s cool. Hmmm. Maybe the best way to explain it is for us to go on a little road trip together. You good with that? Awesome. If you could just slip on the blue-paper booties and the requisite protective goggles. Thanks. You can never be too safety-minded. Now. Just wiggle through those flashing free-association lights and step into my Writing Chamber of Awesomeness™. Oh, I wouldn’t touch that. That was a random thought I had about a serial killer charm school. Just go around it. Terrific.
Here’s my Insanity RV™. Buckle up and we’ll take a little cruise through the writing process. Let me encourage you to keep your hands in the car but keep your mind wide open to everything, even if your logical side says, “That is stone-cold crazy. You are tripping if you think that should end up in a book.” (Sometimes I find it is necessary to say to Logic, “Hey, look over there! Is that Radiohead? OMG! It is!” And Logic will say, “Where?” and stick his head out, and that’s when you kick Logic out and lock the door behind him. Just a tip.) So. To recap: mind wide open to everything from string theory to microwave popcorn to mad cow disease. Excellent.
Here we are on the road. As you can see, it’s a nice, clean, two-laner with a clear, linear thought—“dying teen goes on road trip to find meaning of life; hijinks ensue.” Easy, right? There’s no traffic from miscellaneous ideas. We should get where we’re going in no time.
This is how it always goes for me at this point on the book-writing road. I play the radio and sing along and enjoy the feel of the wind in my hair. I chat up the characters, get to know them (they are so lovely and well-mannered). It seems pretty straightforward. And then, out of the blue, somebody from the back seat says, “Hey, I hear there’s a weird happiness cult out there where they bowl and drink vanilla smoothies. Let’s go!” while jumping out of the RV.
“Get back in here RIGHT NOW! “ I scream. “There will not be weirdness with this book! I have an effing deadline, people!”
And suddenly, there is no more RV. I’m standing in the middle of the road, and when I slide my eyes to the right, I see the rabbit hole waiting in the trees. “Oh, crap,” I whisper. Because I know that rabbit hole. And it knows me. Mmm-hmm, it does.
I pretend not to see the rabbit hole. I keep my eyes on the road, but—I gotta confess—the road ahead doesn’t look nearly as enticing as that crazy, uncharted territory in the trees. What if there’s a pie plate full of awesomeness in there, I ask myself. If I stay on the road, I’ll get where I’m going faster, but maybe that’s not where I’m supposed to end up—kind of like having parents who want you to be a pre-med major when you know in your heart you were meant to study Lego architecture and dance.
No. I will resist. But it’s already too late. The rabbit’s here. A smiling rabbit in a pale-blue leisure suit and an Elvis pompadour. He blows me a kiss and wiggles his butt. (You see him, right? Please tell me you see him.)
“No, my little Rabbit Hole,” I say with a nervous laugh. “I have no time for you today. I have a deadline. See? I am driving to my destination at the Deadline Airport™ where my editor is waiting for my book. My finished book without any extra weird. I am going to stay on the nice safe road here.”
“The nice safe road does not have time-traveling Inuit rock bands,” the rabbit says without moving his lips, and honestly, it’s more than a little creepy.
“I don’t have time for…wait. Did you say Inuit rock bands? Oh wow. That is so—can they be kind of like Brian Wilson meets Wayne Coyne? Can they wear orange jumpsuits and eat sandwiches?”
“They can be anything you want, Libba. Just come down the rabbit hole with me.
There are talking yard gnomes here. And spray-painted angels. And maybe some drag queens. It’ll be fun…”
It is so, so tempting, because I was just reading about Norse mythology, and it turns out that all those strange, seemingly unconnected threads I had—the old woman in the hospital, the Fire Giants, the end of the world—they kind of work in the context of Norse myth. And Cameron’s mom teaches myth in the book. My brain is playing a multi-platform video game of weird, and we might make it to the next level. But only if I’m willing to step off the sure road and take the leap into the unknown.
Now, there’s a big, neon arrow pointing to the hole. It’s blinking “JUMP!” and sometimes, “VANILLA SMOOTHIES HERE!”
“Okay,” I say, walking into the forest. (You don’t have to follow me. You can head back if you want. But they might have snacks down there. Or pterodactyls. Or pterodactyl snacks. Just saying.) “But just for a little bit. I have to get back to linear thought in time for dinner.”
The rabbit giggles. “Of course, Libba. We love you, Libba. We would never lead you astray.”
“I’m holding onto my keys this time, though. ‘K? You no get keys.”
“Whatever you say. Wheeeee!” The rabbit slides down the hole, giggling the entire way.
Now it’s just me. (And you, if you’re still here.) I sit on the edge of the rabbit hole and put one foot in. I think about how easy it would be to just stay on the road and finish the book. But then I think about the crazy possibilities somewhere below my feet. Some of them might be wrong and frustrate me. Some of them might lead to other, more interesting associations or allusions. And it’s possible that end up on a journey that will forever change the way I see the world. I realize that I don’t want safe. I don’t want careful.Writing is my extreme sport, and I want to ride the half-pipe of it.Because here’s a little thing I wonder: How can you ask a reader to go on a journey you’re not willing to take yourself?
I remove my protective goggles, my little blue-paper booties. I leave my keys on the edge of the hole, and roll my eyes, sighing. “Man,” I say to the universe. “I am such an asshole.”
And then, I’m sliding down into the weird, past fears and doubts, wonders and delights, pain and rebirth, screaming the whole way, a smile big as Elvis on my face.
Thanks for that trippy trip down the rabbit hole, Libba!
Tighten your seat belts! Next stops on this wild blog tour:
Ever wanted to know more about our own YA Book Goddess Kimberly Pauley? I recently had the chance to interview Kim over at my other blog. Check out the full interview to learn more.
Chloe loves Lolita her Harley-Davidson 1200 Sportster motorcycle that she inherited from her late uncle, Seth. She loves how she can jump on it and ride off. But her adoptive father tells her unless she gets her chemistry grade up, she'll lose Lolita. Enter a cute tutor and a new course in her life. Things wouldn't be so bumpy if her BFF Rock wasn't so cold with the new things in her life. But life isn't always a smooth ride. Read more of my review of Riding The Universe at YA Books Central.
What exactly is crazy? Sixteen-year-old Hanna escapes being placed in a mental institution and goes to Portero, Texas where she hopes to reconnect with the mother who left her long ago. Hanna finds out that maybe she's not as crazy as she thought when strange things start happening around her. Bleeding Violet is a tale that is sure to stand out among other paranormals. Read more of my review at YA Books Central.
Magic is outlawed in the Great and Glorious City of Dunce. So how does a six year old Bran Hambric end up in a secure vault in the middle of the night? Not even Bran himself knows. Eight years later, sitting on his rooftop and waiting for a burglar, Bran finds himself face to face with most hideous creature he has ever seen. A creature that is somehow connected with the mother Bran never knew. Suddenly Bran is thrown into a whole new world, filled with magic, wonder, and terror. Now Bran must take a stand against evil and discover who he truly is.
Excellent book for Potter fans! See my review at YA Books Central.
Hey! Just noticed we're up to 246 followers here on the YABC blog! You know what that means! Four more followers and another giveaway! What'll I be giving away this time...hmmmm....you'll just have to wait and see!
I'm also up to 191 followers over on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KimberlyRPauley -- Nine more followers there and I'll be giving away a signed hardback of Sucks to Be Me or a t-shirt. :-)
Boy, I'm in a giving mood, eh?
And some of you are as well -- Tu Publishing's pledge drive is up to $740 dollars, but she's got a long way to go to get to $10,000. My challenge is still in effect -- donate $50 or more and I'll send you a signed copy of my book plus some other goodies. Remember: you will need to email me at kim@yabookscentral.com to let me know that you saw this here & send me your address! Only one person has claimed the book so far, though it looks like more have donated and quite a few have clicked through.
And lastly in the giveaway-ish kind of news, I've extended the Book Trailer Envy contest over at my website www.kimberlypauley.com to the end of September since some people asked for additional time to get their video submissions in order. Check it out and get your submissions in -- you could win an AWESOME prize pack. And hey, every entry gets you somethin' (just for submitting one you're gonna get some kind of prize).
In other news, check out this great interview with Paula Chase Hyman over at The Reading and Writing Sistaz. I think it highlights why we need more multicultural books!
Once upon a time, a handsome prince rode to a thicket of thorns on his magnificent horse and woke Sleeping Beauty with a kiss. Books and movies tell Aurora’s story, but little is chronicled of the prince who reached her side just in time to save her from an endless sleep. Prince Sigismund's mission was no easy task ....
Okay, everyone, have I got a worthwhile project for you to get involved in! Stacy Whitman (freelance editor and all-around awesome person) is trying to start up a new press called Tu Publishing. It's intended to be a small, independently run multicultural press with a focus on fantasy and science fiction books for both children and young adults. You can learn more about it at the Tu Publishing website and also be sure to check out Stacy's blog for a video on why she's starting this up. She's also got a video challege for you there that you should check out.
Right now, she's in the fundraising stage. She needs to raise $10,000 by December 14th (that's just 89 days, people!). I've pledged $100 to help get her started. I really believe in the mission of her press (in fact, the new novel I'm working on has a multi-cultural main character). Please consider making a pledge -- it can be as small as $5 (and no money is deducted from your account unless the entire $10,000 goal is met). Check out the KickStarter campaign and help make this dream a reality!
Please pass this news around! We need more great multicultural books out there!
And hey: My Challenge to You -- for the first 10 people that see this here and pledge $50 or more, I will send you a signed copy of my book (plus assorted goodies). You'll need to send me an email letting me know you did so I can confirm it with Stacy, that's it!
Okay, so, in my continuing efforts to make maintaining the YABC site more manageable (so I don't have to shut it down), I have made the following changes today:
1) Reader reviews now go live on the site as soon as they are submitted. 2) I've added a "Report this review for inappropriate content" link on every review.
What does this mean? Well, it means that reviews immeditely show up on the site without being looked at by anyone on the admin staff. This is good in that it cuts down A LOT on our workload and in that you can see your review immediately. It's bad in that there are always some people who find it funny to submit either junk or profanity-laced reviews. *sigh* But, at least that percentage of people is fairly low. Most YABC site visitors are AWESOME. And I'm relying on you to help me keep the site junk & profanity free. If you see a "bad" review, please click the link to report it. Simple as that.
I'll get an email with the URL of the "bad" review in it and I can then either delete it or edit it as the case may be. I'm hoping this will take up less time than looking at each review that comes in. It's not perfect, but hey, we're all volunteers and we don't get paid. :-)
UPDATE: Well, hmmmm. The new code has been live for just a couple of hours. In that time I've had over 50 "Bad Review" reports. None of which actually contained inappropriate content. Not a single one.
I've added a prompt to make sure people really do mean to report it and didn't just click by accident and I've also linked to this post (for now) on the review pages so they can read WHY the reporting thingy is there. I've also changed it to say "Request Deletion" rather than "Report this Review" in the hopes that it would keep false clicks down as well. We'll see if that helps.
Because...so far, if this keeps up, it means it will take MORE time, not less time to manage the reader review submissions. If that is the case, I will have only one option (unless you, O dear site visitors have another suggestion) : shut down reader review submissions and make YA Books Central like other review sites where the only reviews you see are the ones by the official reviewers. I don't *want* to do that, but I also am no longer willing to spend hours every day sorting through reviews. I just can't do it. Anyone have any thoughts?
FURTHER UPDATE: I've modified the reporting option so that now a form has to be filled out, rather than it just auto-generating the report after you click on the link. Hopefully that will deter people from submitting false reports.
The hero of the hilarious graphic novel Julian Rodriguez: Episode Two: Invasion of the Relatives is not really the eight-year-old Earthling he appears to be. He is actually a member of the Space Federation, reporting to the Mothership about this strange celebration known as "Thanksgiving," complete with a dreadful influx of "genetically linked mini-minds" (or, as we Earthlings might say "relatives visiting") who take over his sleep chamber, and many more indignities.
Julian Carter-Li’s mother left him with his uncle’s family while she travels for a job in China. He hardly knows the wealthy, self-centered aunt and uncle who barely tolerate his presence. He does enjoy his younger cousin Preston, but wishes his mom would hurry home. Julian feels unhappy, but his real troubles begin when he intercepts an e-mail intended for his uncle. He learns that Uncle Sibley’s company plans to cut down a stand of old-growth redwoods. Continue reading this review.
First off, one of the lovely YABC reviewers, Julie Prince, is officially going "infrequent." While we'll definitely miss seeing her around on a regular basis, a big congrats should go out to her on her brand new baby boy! Julie will still be contributing reviews every now and then as she has time, so keep an eye out.
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And please welcome Kristin Alvarado and Melanie Foust as the brand spankin' new Interview Mavens! You might recognize Melanie's name as the runner up Teen Demi-Goddess. She's going to be providing the teen perspective with upcoming interviews and Kristin, a former librarian, will be providing the adult side of things.
Kristin and Melanie can be contacted via interviews@yabookscentral.com and will be both conducting new interviews AND posting the backlog of interviews that I discovered in my e-mail. I can't wait to see what they come up with!
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Lastly, it was a tight race, but the official YABC Tween Demi-Goddess is...Maya McQueen! Stay tuned for more on Maya soon (I'm waiting on her official bio now). Her new email address will be tweenreviewer@yabookscentral.com ! Congrats, Maya!
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I'll be making site updates to go along with all of these (and other) changes. Check out the About This Site page for all current reviewer/staff info.
Just a reminder that this is the LAST MONTH for the Prize Bucket. Get your reviews in! I've added a BUNCH more books to the Prize Bucket and am trying to keep up with the redemptions as they come in. You've got up until the end of the month to get those reviews in!!
Emily's the sick one. She's looking forward to her senior year in high school hoping that she'll be well. Instead her illness comes back even worse. Emily (Louder Than Words) is Emily's story, told in her unique voice about how she deals with her illness and how her faith helps her. Read more of my review at YA Books Central.
For the next four months, Beth Kephart, our first author-in-residence at readergirlz, will be posting monthly video blogs in which she discusses the art (and the joys, and the frustrations) of writing. Each vlog entry will also serve as a prompt for writing contests.
Here is the first of Beth's vlog entries, with her written introduction:
"I believe that the stories that touch us are written by authors who remain vulnerable to the world - who leave themselves open to the raw wounds and the glorious possibilities of yearning, outreach, and hope. Watch the video, then write no more than ten lines of poetry or prose expressing a fully lived emotion. Send your entry to kephartblog AT comcast DOT net by September 25th, 2009. The author of the winning ten lines will receive a signed copy of Undercover, a novel about a young, aspiring poet who discovers the beauty that lives within her."
Anne just wants her family to be normal again. She wants to move past tragedy, continue her life, and find a good college. But then the dreams start, and her world is turned upside down. Ethan wants more than anything to find the girl from the prophecy. The girl who can help him rescue the Grand Duchess Anastasia and free him of his curse. Falling in love was never on the agenda, but who ever said love only comes at the most opportune moments? As for the Grand Duchess...Anastasia just wants to die.
Dreaming Anastasia in an enchanting, splendid novel that lovers of fantasty should definitely give a try. Read my review at YA Books Central.
A week before her fourteenth birthday, the unthinkable happens. Chelsey loses her only remaining parent to gun violence. Chelsey Louder Than Words is her story of how she deals with this personal tragedy and ends up beating the odds. Read more of my review at YA Books Central.
Okay, I've got one more super awesome giveaway for you this month. Do you not love me? No? Well, you should. ;-) Not only can you enter to win copies of The Devouring, The Forest of Hands and Teeth and Ballads of Suburbia this month, you can also enter to win in this Special Catching Fire Giveaway! (BTW, check out more about the book at the official site: http://www.scholastic.com/thehungergames/)
So, what can you win you ask? Just take a look-see:
TEN (10) lucky winners will receive:
limited edition promotional T-shirt
collectible mocking jay button
a copy of Catching Fire
To enter to win, send an email to me at kim@yabookscentral.com with the subject line "Catching Fire Giveaway". In the body of the e-mail tell me why *YOU* should win.
COULD YOU SURVIVE ON YOUR OWN, IN THE WILD, WITH EVERYONE FIGHTING AGAINST YOU?
Twenty- four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives.
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death – televised for all of Panem to see.
Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
Sometimes the dead don't leave us. After a terrible accident, Derek finds out more than he wants to know. Could it be possible that the white light might not be so friendly after all? City of the Dead opens up questions about the dead that might be better left alone. Read more of my review at YA Books Central.
Our wait is over . . .finally! With a sequel as full of thrills as the legendary THE HUNGER GAMES, Suzanne Collins gives us another addictive read with Catching Fire. WARNING: Do not read this review if you haven't read the first book in the series!
Imagine if the world in the classic tale Alice In Wonderland really existed. A bloody war has caused Alice and other survivors to flee. Only Alice falls into our world and her bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, searches for her. Hatter M: Mad with Wonder is the graphic novel adaptation of the Looking Glass War books. Check out more of my review at YA Books Central.
