Author Stacy DeKeyser debuts her official website. Stacy’s upcoming YA release is Jump The Cracks (Flux, 2008).

Check out up-and-coming articles at Multicultural Review.

Congratulations to Three Silly Chicks on their 1rst blogoversary! Check out their latest contest; winner announced Sept. 14.

Current nominees for the 19th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. The Lambda Literary Foundation, quoting the website, is “the country’s leading organization for LGBT literature. Our mission is to celebrate LGBT literature and provide resources for writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians–the whole literary community.”

Deborah Wiles: The Journal Tour: Chapter One, in which our heroine blogs The Aurora County All-Stars book tour for Harcourt, writes the next book for young readers, contemplates the complexities of the universe, and discovers connections everywhere. Help. Read an excerpt of the novel. Note: I look forward to seeing Deborah when she concludes her tour at the Texas Book Festival.

Digital Picture Books: Breaking the Paper Habit by Jean Gralley from CBC Magazine.

Interview: Editor Deborah Brodie from Alice’s CWIM Blog. Here’s a peek: “The help of an experienced book doctor can make enough difference to inspire a publisher to actually acquire the book. Or for an agent to decide to take on the writer as a client or, if the writer is already a client, decide that the manuscript or dummy is now ready to submit to publishers.” See also Debut Author of the Month Marlane Kennedy from Alice’s CWIM Blog.

Great Posts from the CW list from Margot Finke. With the permission of posters, Margot offers the best of the list on such topics as voice, word count, age-group markets, defining literary fiction, interpreting guidelines, agents, writing for boys, contracts, and delays (in hearing back from editors). Read a Cynsations interview with Margot.

A Second Look: Annie on My Mind by Roger Sutton from The Horn Book. Read a recent Cynsations interview with Nancy Garden in which she talks about the 25th anniversary of Annie.

Hot Off the Press: A Sneak Peek at Publishers’ Newest and Hottest Titles from CBC Magazine.

Sandy Rideout & Yvonne Collins, profile by Dave Jenkinson from the Canadian Review of Materials. Here’s a sneak peek from Sandy: “We grew up not far from each other in Scarborough, ON and attended the same high school, but we actually met at our part-time job at the public library where we worked as pages. She was 14, and I was 16.”

Hidden Treasure: Exploring Language-Rich Books by Carolyn Munson-Benson from Book Links.

“How Making PB&Js Made Me A Better Writer” by Juliana Leroy from the Institute of Children’s Literature. A “light-hearted look at writing, motherhood, and making the best of the combination.”

Author Anastasia Suen hosts a new poll at IPB News. To the writers out there, are you a plotter, a planner, or an adapter?

Reminder: The Hero’s Journey: A Full Day Writing Workshop with author Dr. Lila Guzman is scheduled for Oct. 20 at Wild Basin Reserve in Austin. See details at Austin SCBWI. Note: as of yesterday, there were only three spots left! Read a Cynsations interview with Lila.

The youth literature community is remembering Madeleine L’Engle; see coverage of her death from The New York Times. See also Tribute to Madeleine L’LEngle: I knew her when she was Mrs. Franklin by Barbara Karkabi from the Houston Chronicle.

More Personally

Indian Education students in the neighborhood of the Maxwell Park Library in Tulsa, Oklahoma will receive signed copies of my debut picture book Jingle Dancer, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu (Morrow/HarperCollins, 2000). The gift was made possible by the Charles W. and Pauline K. Flint Foundation grant to the Tulsa City County Library. This program provides children with a signed book of their own to help foster a love of reading and learning. Sue Anderson of Maxwell Park Library said, “Jingle Dancer was chosen for it’s positive depiction of American Indian children in a contemporary situation.” View interior illustrations from Jingle Dancer at HarperCollins and my website.

In its review of Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007), the International Reading Association’s Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy writes: “Tantalize is a thinking reader’s horror novel and an entertaining, empowering ride.”

Read the whole two-plus-page extensive review (PDF file); scroll to pages 81 to 84 (pg. 7 to 10 of the file) for a Q&A author interview with me about the writing of Tantalize.

Reviews featured in this file also include Vampire Loves by Joann Sfar (First Second, 2006); The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion, 2007); How Ya Like Me Now by Brendan Halpin (FSG, 2007); New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (Little Brown, 2006)(author interview); and An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (Dutton, 2006)(author interview).

Attention Austinites: look for the page 1 story on the writing of Tantalize in the West Austin News.

The September giveaways at the Tantalize Fans Unite! group at MySpace will be Peeps (Razorbill, 2005), Pretties (Simon & Schuster, 2005)(excerpt), and Uglies (Simon & Schuster, 2001)(excerpt) by Scott Westerfeld. Scott’s latest release is Extras (Simon & Schuster, 2007). Read a Q&A interview with Scott about Extras from Simon & Schuster. Read a Cynsations interview with Scott.

Thank you to RA Tim Crow for your hospitality at at Austin SCBWI‘s monthly meeting on Saturday. Greg and I spoke about picture book story structure. Thanks also to everyone who turned out (especially the handful of published folks, who could’ve given the talk themselves).

Congratulations to Buda, Texas, author Jerry Wermund on his article “Seeking My ‘Style'” in the August/September issue of Scribe, published by the Writers’ League of Texas.

Policy Change: Unfortunately, I am no longer able to accept self-published book submissions for recommendation/interview consideration. While I understand that gems are out there (and I’m rooting for them!), the time required to sort through growing stacks, dispose of mailing materials, and determine what to do with the books has become untenable. Please also note that e-books, TV/movie tie-ins, celebrity books, books with enclosed CDs, and toys with embedded books are still not within my scope.