Cynsations

Cynsational News & Giveaways

Coming this fall from Strange Chemistry

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Strange Chemistry: An Introduction to Angry Robot’s New Young Adult Imprint by Alasdair Stuart from SFX. Peek: “I like my heroines to be strong, not meek, and I like my men to be interesting rather than just good-looking. If the characters are right in a manuscript, then the battle is half-won as far as I’m concerned.” Source: Gwenda Bond.

Andrea Davis Pinkney: How I Got Into Publishing from CBC Diversity. Peek: “…Vice President, Executive Editor at Scholastic. She has been named one of the ’25 Most Influential Black Women in Business’ by the Network Journal and is one of the ’25 Most Influential People in our Children’s Lives” cited by Children’s Health Magazine.'”

Celebrating Diversity with Children’s Books by Tessa Goldwasser from ALSC Blog. Peek: “I don’t know if books can save lives, but I do know that the right book, in the right hands, at the right time, can have a transformative effect on a person’s life. That’s why I am personally passionate about positive and realistic portrayals of the GLBT community in literature, especially literature for young people.”

Character Entry Trait: Determined by Angela Ackerman from The Bookshelf Muse. Peek: “Strong focus and ability to make decisions; having a set goal, objective or desire that is personal and important; being highly committed to an
idea or belief.”

New Stats Show Great Gains in Children’s Fiction in 2011 from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “…the increase in overall sales made the children’s category the fastest
growing segment last year, with total sales up 9.4%, to $3.3 billion.”

Why Boys Don’t Read Girls (Sometimes) from Shannon Hale.  Peek: “Without even meaning to perhaps, the adults in the boy’s life are nudging the boy away from ‘girl’ books to ‘boy’ books. When I go on tour and do school visits, sometimes the school will take the girls out of class for my assembly and not invite the boys.”

Julie Anne Peters on LGBTQ and Controversial YA Literature from Adventures in YA and Children’s Publishing. Peek: “Feeling that you’re normal, and that you have a community that loves and embraces you for who you are, provides the kind of emotional well-being that we all need to survive and thrive.”

Synthesizing Feedback by Mary Kole from Kidlit.com. Peek: “Agents, however, are looking at the quality of the thing, sure, but they are also always trying to place it in the context of saleability. Because the most amazing piece of writing isn’t going to do anyone much good if it can’t be published for whatever reason…”

Open Coop Day! Hen & ink: A Literary Studio, which is usually closed to submissions, will open to them from 1 a.m. Aug. 15 to 1 a.m. Aug. 16. Note: time zone is not specified (and this agency has a particularly international bent), so shoot for the middle of the window.

Revising with Anticipation by Marissa Burt from Adventures in YA and Children’s Publishing. Peek: “Sure,
I didn’t mind tweaking things a bit, but I didn’t want to cut entire characters or rewrite scenes that I already liked just fine thank-you-very-much. Maybe it was fear of messing with a good thing.I think more likely it was – to say it bluntly – laziness.”

Books Around the Table: A Potluck of Ideas from Four Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators is a new blog from Margaret Chodos-Irvine, Laura Kvasnosky, Julie Larios and Julie Paschkis.
Peek: “We are a critique group of children’s book authors and illustrators who have been meeting monthly since 1994 to talk about books we are working on, books we have read, and our lives. We invite you to sit down with us around the table and join the conversation.”

Shine by Lauren Myracle (Amulet) is the winner of the 2012 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, given by the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE. Peek: “Established in 2008 to honor the wishes of young adult author Amelia Eliz­a­beth Walden, the award allows for the sum of $5,000 to be pre­sented annu­ally to the author of a young adult title selected by the ALAN Amelia Eliz­a­beth Walden Book Award Com­mit­tee as demon­strat­ing a pos­i­tive approach to life, wide­spread teen appeal, and lit­er­ary merit.” Source: Thunderchikin.

Call for Papers for Kidlitcon from Jen Robinson’s Book Page. Peek: “This year the 6th annual Kidlitosphere Conference (aka KidLitCon) will be held in New York City on September 28th and 29th.” See more information from A Fuse #8 Production.

The Value of Adversity by Danyelle Leafty from QueryTracker.netBlog. Peek: “Saying something, seeing something through the unique lens of your own
perceptions, isn’t safe. Because once you do, once you share that with
someone else, there will be plenty of people who will come along to tell
you that you’re wrong.”

Writing Adaptations by Mary Kole from Kidlit.com. Peek: “Every time you do an adaptation, you have to add value to it.”

From Blog to Book: Building an Online Platform by Erin Reel from Rachelle Gardner. Peek: “After approximately 18 months, Cheryl developed a worldwide loyal tribe of parents and grandparents of twins and multiples.” Source: QueryTracker.netBlog.

Cynsational Giveaways

Unbreak My Heart Prize Package

The winner of an author-signed copy of Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman by Marc Tyler Nobleman, illustrated by Ty Templeton (Charlesbridge, 2012) was Frances in Illinois.

The winner of Goddess Girls Super Special: The Girl Games by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams (Aladdin, 2012) has still not responded. If you entered, check your email!

This Week at Cynsations

GC movie news!

Austin Scene

Bookish highlights of the week included celebrating Robot Zombie Frankenstein! by Annette Simon (Candlewick, 2012) at BookPeople!

Annette models her new book!

Latter that day, I also greatly enjoyed a panel on children’s-YA science fiction.

Featuring speakers P.J. Hoover, Beth Revis and K.A. Holt!

Austinites! Mark your calendars: Jo Whittemore‘s release party for D is for Drama (Aladdin, 2012) will be at 4 p.m. Aug. 12. at BookPeople. See more information.

More Personally

This week’s highlight was a theatrical one! Last night I saw “Xanadu: The Musical” with fellow Austin authors Nikki Loftin, Salima Alikhan and our respective spouses at the Zach Theatre here in Austin. It was fantastically funny. The staging, lighting and costuming were amazing, and the music and acting was top notch. My highest recommendation!

Spring 2013 Sneak Previews by Shannon Maughan from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “Candlewick goes wild for Feral Nights by Cynthia Leitich Smith, a dark fantasy adventure for teens featuring werepossum Clyde and other characters….” Note: Feral Nights is the new title of the book previously tentatively titled “Smolder.” It will be released in January 2013.

Gate Crashers Ask: Why SCBWI? from Ink & Angst: Writers of Various Nefarious Plots. See my response and many more! Don’t miss part two.

Congratulations to Amy Rose Capetta (pictured below) on the sale of “Entangled” to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt! Congratulations to E. Kristin Anderson (pictured below) for signing with agent Christina Hogrebe! And congratulations to Alvina Ling on her recent marriage — love the dress!

Amy Rose writes at my dining room table.

Personal Links:

About Greg Leitich Smith

Review: Chronal Engine by Greg Leitich Smith from Joseph (6th Grade Student) from Book Trends. Peek: “…phenomenal and should be read by everybody.”

Chronal Engine by Greg Leitich Smith by Stephanie from Kiss the Book. Peek: “Students that love dinosaurs will hands down love this book.”

From Greg Leitich Smith:

E. Kristin Anderson with authors Debbie Gonzales & Jessica Lee Anderson

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