Favorites of 2005–Older Readers: year-end picks from author Greg Leitich Smith. Greg is the author of Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo (Little Brown, 2003) and Tofu and T. rex (Little Brown, 2005).

The Goddess of YA Literature blogs of late about Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2005)(read excerpt); Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine (Disney Press, 2005)(read interview); M or F? by Lisa Papademetriou and Chris Tebbetts (Razorbill, 2005); Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money by Christopher Paul Curtis (Wendy Lamb/Random House, 2005); Rebel Angels by Libba Bray (Delacorte, 2005)(author interview); Wild Roses by Deb Caletti (Simon & Schuster, 2005); and more.

Greg and I gave signed copies of Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money to our critique group for the holidays. We spoke on a program also featuring Christopher Paul Curtis at Star-Lit: A Children’s Literary Festival in Dallas this past November.

Meet Marla Frazee from BookPage. Marla is the author-illustrator of Santa Claus: The World’s Number One Toy Expert (Harcourt, 2005).

Teen Comments on Books Eligible for 2006 Awards and the 2005 Teens’ Top Ten from Genrefluent. See also Teen Comments on Books Eligible for 2006 Awards. (Nominee authors, this is a great exercise, but please note that the teens are not always diplomatic).