Congratulations to acclaimed middle grade-YA author Laura Ruby on the release of her first novel for adults, I’m Not Julia Roberts (Warner, 2007)!

Laura says: “…each story dictates the age group for which it’s written. For example, I could have written Good Girls (HarperCollins, 2006) as an adult novel with a narrator looking back on her high school experiences, but I had no interest in speaking directly to adults about this subject. The story demanded that I tell it for older teen girls. So that’s what I did.

“On the other hand, my short stories about stepmoms demanded I speak to adults, because, frankly, kids could not care less about the stresses their divorced parents feel because they are feeling their own terrible stresses (and I know this because I was one of those kids!). So, to explore the weird, complex world of stepfamilies, I chose to use an adult point-of-view. It just seemed to make sense.” Read a Cynsations interview with Laura.

Then surf over to “Heirs to Judy Blume” by Colleen Mondor at Bookslut in Training. The article highlights Laura’s Good Girls (HarperCollins, 2006) as well as Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr (Little Brown, 2007)(author interview), Angel’s Choice by Laura Baratz-Logsted (Simon & Schuster, 2006), Pop! by Aury Wallington (Razorbill, 2006), and She’s Such a Geek! Women Write About Science, Technology and Other Nerdy Stuff by Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders (Seal, 2006).

Look for more news of I’m Not Julia Roberts and Laura in the current issue of People magazine. Visit Laura’s MySpace.

More News & Links

2007-2008 Mark Twain Award Nominations from the Missouri Association of School Libraries. Read Cynsations interviews with nominees Elise Broach, Kerry Madden, Linda Sue Park, and Rick Riordan.

Teen Books About Body Image: a bibliography compiled by Marlene Perez. Marlene is the author of Unexpected Development (Roaring Brook, 2004)(recommendation). Read a Cynsations interview with Marlene.