Debut Author of the Month: Kim Norman from Alice’s CWIM Blog.
The Cookie Theory: Author’s Secret Weapon or Crummy Mess? from pixie stix kids pix: Thoughts, Observations, and Ideas About Children’s Books. An article about the “(sometimes tricky) relationship between booksellers and authors.”
Author Tanya Lee Stone launches her newly redesigned website. Tanya’s books include A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl (Wendy Lamb/Random House, 2006, 2007), Up Close: Ella Fitzgerald (Viking, 2008), and Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon (Viking, 2008). Read a Cynsations interview with Tanya.
Latino Books from The Horn Book. Recommended titles.
Math and Science in Fact and Fiction from CBC Magazine.
Open Topic: Your Favorite Characters at the YA Authors Cafe.
One Question, Ten Answers with the Authors of Click (Scholastic, 2007): One Novel, Ten Authors: David Almond, Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Deborah Ellis, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Linda Sue Park (author interview), Tim Wynne-Jones (author interview) from the Scholastic website.
Read-alikes: Kick-Ass Heroines by Diana Tixier Herald from Booklist. Recommended titles.
Take a sneak peek at Dan Andreasen’s art by for Pilot Pups by Michelle Meadows (Simon & Schuster, May 2008).
Arthur Slade: a profile by Dave Jenkinson from the Canadian Review of Materials. Visit Arthur’s site, blog, and LJ. Read a Cynsations interview with Arthur.
Tales from the Slush Pile at Publishers Weekly. Just in case: Chris Raschka.
“Why Teach Reading?” by Timothy Shanahan from the International Reading Association.
“Writing YA in the UK”: on online chat with Terie Garrison Sept. 13, sponsored by the Institute of Children’s Literature. ICL says: “Terie Garrison has written the Dragonspawn Cycle, a fantasy series for young adults, published by Flux. A native San Diegan, she moved to Manchester, UK, in 2000, where she’s also a senior level technical writer for a software company and has written a variety of magazine nonfiction.” US Times: Sept. 13; 9-11 p.m. Atlantic; 8-10 p.m. Eastern; 7-9 p.m. Central; 6-8 p.m. Mountain; 5-7 p.m. Pacific. See chat registration information.
More Personally
I’m happy to announce I’m a 31 Flavorite author for October! I’ll be chatting Oct. 29 at the readergirlz MySpace group forum about Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007). I’d love to hang out with you for an hour. Just friend the readergirlz site, www.myspace.com/readergirlz and their group forum, http://groups.myspace.com/readergirlz We are celebrating YALSA’s Teen Read Week. There’s a different author hosted every night, so make some time in October to chat. See you there!
Fresh Voices of YA: Cynthia Leitich Smith Interview from Book Chic.
Thank you to Michelle and friends at the University Hills branch of the Austin Public Library for your hospitality! Last night’s event included decorations inspired by Sanguini’s, the fictional vampire restaurant in Tantalize! Audience members self-identified as predator or prey and received bat-shaped or leaf-shaped name tags. The menu was Italian (pizza!) with thematic sweets (bat-shaped brownies and squirrel-shaped chocolate and peanut butter brownies). I was wowed, too, to be presented with a bouquet of long-stemmed red roses!
Thanks also to David at Hastings in Round Rock for last Saturday’s wonderful table signing. I loved the red curtain, carpet, and table cloth as well as the Italian sausage and cheese.
If you know author J.B. Cheaney, could you please ask her to email me? Thank you.