The Meanest Girl by Debora Allie (Roaring Brook, 2005). It’s not only that The World Trade Center is no longer in her view, though that’s part of the mix. It’s also that Alyssa’s best friend is suddenly pals with her worst enemy, that someone has sent her a love note, that fathers leave, that mothers flirt, that embarrassing moments happen,
Category: General
Vermont College Guest Faculty
I heard from department chair Kathi Appelt yesterday that the other guest faculty who’ll be teaching with me at the Vermont College MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults in July will be Rita Williams-Garcia and Marc Aronson.
Norma Fox Mazer sent me a lovely welcoming note.
2005 Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America
The Western Writers of America have announced their 2005 Spur award winners in the children’s/YA divisions:
Best Western Juvenile Fiction
Spur Winner: Fire In The Hole by Mary Cronk Farrell (Clarion Books, 2004).
Finalists: Worth by Alexandria LaFaye (Simon & Schuster, 2004);
Continue Reading 2005 Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America »
Author Interview: Mary E. Pearson on A Room On Lorelei Street
A Room On Lorelei Street by Mary E. Pearson (Henry Holt, 2005). Zoe, 17, has had it with her alcoholic mother and manipulative grandmother. She moves out of the house and rents a room on Lorelei Street in hopes of a new start. But ghosts, living and dead, swirl around Zoe, trying to tug her back,
Continue Reading Author Interview: Mary E. Pearson on A Room On Lorelei Street »
Bid on Books by Niki Burnham
YA romance author Niki Burnham (who also also writes for adults as Nicole Burnham) announces that autographed copies of her (grown-up) San Rimi series, featuring the diTalora family, and her debut YA novel, Royally Jacked (Simon & Schuster, 2004), are available for bids at Brenda Novak’s site.
Memorial Day
The Bug Cemetery by Frances Hill, illustrated by Vera Rosenberry (Henry Holt, 2002) is possibly the best cycle-of-life picture book for young readers, ages 4-up. Highly recommended.
Greg and I are still entertaining guests here. Today, we’re heading to Zilker Botanical Garden.
Cynsational Links
New Books
I’m busy entertaining my brother-in-law and his wife from Seattle. Yesterday, we went to The Oasis, and today we went to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. So, I only have one…
Cynsational Link
A Batch Of New Books For Kids by Janis Campbell from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Memorial Day Weekend: Books About Grief and Healing
This Memorial Day weekend, I’m remembering my dad, my uncle Gary, my grandpa Clifford,* my great aunts Nannie and Mary and Etta, my great grandma Bessie, my step-grandpa Herb, my grandpa Ray, my great-grandpa Red (Ernest), and my great uncle Dutch.
Grief/healing books that I recommend include: The Color of Absence: 12 Stories About Loss and Hope edited by James Howe (Atheneum,
Continue Reading Memorial Day Weekend: Books About Grief and Healing »
Pannell Winners Announced
BookPeople in my current hometown of Austin, Texas and Reading Reptile Books and Toys for Young Mammals in my original hometown of Kansas City are winners of the Lucile Micheels Pannell Award for Excellent in Children’s Bookselling, given by the Women’s National Book Association.
Congratulations to Austin’s Jill Bailey,* who today is celebrating her last day at BookPeople!
Role Models; Chat With Gordon Korman
I’m big on role models.
I have the obvious ones of course: Wonder Woman, Batgirl/Oracle, Eartha Kitt, Rupert Giles, my great aunt Anne (to whom I dedicated Jingle Dancer).
But I also always have a couple in this writing life. I find it helps me to know there’s a specific real person out there.