Family Room

In this week's edition of YA Wednesday, we say nothing about the 4th of July, or fireworks.

Hungry Reading
I lost Paul to a book for about a day and a half this week--he was buried in Hunger Games, the first book in Suzanne Collins' futuristic trilogy about an annual tournament of death between teenage boys and girls (on TV, of course). This book doesn't come out until October, but people have been raving about it for a couple of months now. Paul says it's a "good book for girls and boys"... something about the "action, and fashion."

He also mentioned that it reminded him of Battle Royale. Elizabeth at Fuse #8 also pointed out her husband mentioning Battle Royale in her review last weekend (because, according to Paul, "all guys" know about that movie), and she also had a hard time putting it down:

"About the time you get to the fifth chapter that ends with a sentence that forces you to read on, you’re scratching your head wondering how the heck she DOES that."

YA and SciFi, together again
This month's Locus Magazine is a special YA issue with essays from Neil Gaiman, Scot Westerfeld, Sharyn November, and other YA authors, as well as interviews with Garth Nix (whose Superior Saturday comes out next month) and Christopher Barzak. I particularly enjoyed this piece from Cory Doctorow on writing for younger readers (hat tip to Justin over at Guys Lit Wire).

Piers or Jack: What kind of girl are you, anyway?
E. Lockhart (The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks) extols the pleasures of Piers Anthony's A Spell for Chameleon (and, basically, anything else in the Xanth or Adept series) over Kerouac's On the Road in "Exile to Mundania," a fun, short piece in the July/August issue of Horn Book Magazine (online today) about her teen self trying to conform to the books she thinks her boyfriend wants her to like:

"The thing about falling in love when you are seventeen: you haven’t yet figured out who you are. So when your significant person says, “Hey, don’t you love Kerouac?” you think, “Hmmm. I did fall asleep and feel annoyed most of the time I was reading On the Road, but maybe I did love it without really noticing, because it certainly was deep and I’m fairly sure I’m a deep person--and anyway, I’m outgrowing that kid stuff I used to like,” and so you answer him, “Yes. A total genius.”"

Let the super-readers have their big-kid books (more against age-banding)
Alli at Ypulse provides some helpful background--and thoughtful insights--today on the ongoing Brit discussion of whether or not books should be marked for certain age groups (which Paul mentioned in last week's kid-lit roundup). 

"...a sort of literary, slightly random, Word-Association-Rorschach-Blotty-Blog-Interview"
On her Imaginary Blog last weekend, author Lynn E. Hazen (whose Shifty comes out in September) asked bloggers Cynthia Leitich Smith (Cynsations), Elizabeth Bird (Fuse #8), and Eisha and Jules (Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast) to respond to the following:

8 Words: About Why You Blog
7 Words: About What You Blog About
6 Words: About What Makes Your Voice Unique
5 Adjectives: Used By You or Others to Describe Your Blog
4 Adverbs: About How You Write/Blog
3 Words: Culled From Your Comments
2 Words: Any Words
1 Noun

And here's one of the responses, from Jules (and she explains her noun in the interview that follows)...

   

 

--Heidi

I have a slight addiction to cooking magazines. That is, if “slight” can be used to define two towering piles of magazines at work and at home. Some commentary on what issues are at the top of these stacks:

Everyday Food: Just recipes and food tips, no health, fitness or beauty advice included. One of my favorite sections is when they feature multiple recipes for one seasonal ingredient. Who but Martha could get me hooked on roasted beets and butternut squash? A recipe I have gone back to many times is Frozen Mocha Toffee-Crunch Terrine, which is easy to make and requires no baking. My constructive criticism (because I am sure Martha can take it) is that the nutrition information should be included up front with the recipe, not just in the index; and sometimes the layout of the recipes is in a paragraph format, which can be challenging to follow in the heat of cooking.

Cooking Light: With the largest number of recipes in each issue, they don’t think that cooking light means giving up important food groups such as dessert. The health information right at the bottom of each recipes to help you decide if it works for you. A few years ago, Cooking Light had a section on brining and this recipe for Orange-Brined Pork Loin has never failed me. Sometimes their ingredients veer towards the unnatural—Egg Beaters, non-fat cream cheese…and I find myself struggling to translate ½ cup of egg beaters into real eggs. The health and travel information can be a bit distracting, but they did name Seattle their healthiest city, so I won’t complain too much.

Cooking With Paula Deen:  My slight food snobbery (and here slight actually means “a small amount”) has been jolted with beginning to read Cooking with Paula Deen. Some recipes do make your heart slow down just by reading them, heavy whipping cream, cream cheese and butter, and this is in a salad? But you can’t go wrong with “Bacon Wrapped Pretzels.” I can’t find the recipe, maybe the Surgeon General got involved.

I also read non-cooking magazines for recipes (is that like reading Playboy for the articles?). A few of my favorite recipes include Orange Maple Pancakes with Orange Syrup from O, The Oprah Magazine. Who knew that syrup could be improved on? Oprah does!

Another favorite, this one from Sunset: I don’t fancy myself an expert on Mexican food, but I really like the taste of this Chorizo and the accompanying recipe for tacos that include potato, egg and cheese.

Next, I will tackle some of the classics: Gourmet, Bon Appetit—whose covers I have considered using as wallpaper—and some smaller titles, including EatingWell and Clean Eating.

But before then: what are some of your favorite cooking magazines and why?

I helped Heidi kick off YA Wednesdays a couple days ago, and in turn she'll be helping me with a weekly roundup of kid-lit news--from board books on up to middle readers. Please comment with suggestions or tips! Without further ado:

Hungry Planet for kids! Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio--the duo behind Hungry Planet--did a fascinating Q&A on the Freakonomics blog last month. I had heard about their book and never read it, but after reading the interview and seeing some of the photography, I went straight to the library to get it. One of the best parts of the Q&A (aside from an insane anecdote about slaughtering sheep in Mongolia) was when they said they'd be releasing a kids' version of the book--What the World Eats--later this summer! We'll surely talk about it here.

Stephen Colbert's three-sentence "review" of My Beautiful Mommy:

(At 3:56.) For those who can't watch clips, here's the quote: "One plastic surgeon has written a book, My Beautiful Mommy. This book is to help kids cope with their parents' cosmetic surgery. It is a lot more sensitive than the previous children's book on the subject, Heather's Mommy Has Two Expressions."

O'er the Pond, Part I: Kids' activity book bags British science award. How many book awards can there possibly be? If you follow book blogs at all, you can't click a link without running into yet another award list. Occasionally, though, a ceremony stands out--either because the books or the presenters seem exceptionally extraordinary, or both. That's the case for the Big Book of Science Things to Make and Do, honored at the Royal Society's Prizes for Science Books (hat tip to the always great Achockablog!). The winner came out of a formidable shortlist (including Serious Survival: How to Poo in the Arctic and Other Essential Tips for Explorers), and the awards were presented by a bona fide *lord* (Lord Rees, that is, president of the Society and "Astronomer Royal"). All that, and the ceremony had classy, custom cupcakes:

What's not to love? Got to wrangle an invite for next year somehow....

O'er the Pond, Part II: Free books for wee Brits. Another illuminating item courtesy of Achockablog: The British Booktime and Booked Up programs (for kids 4-5 and 11-12, respectively) promote recreational reading by giving kids high-quality books for free, over two million a year. It's a smart idea, and it's interesting to see what titles get included. (In particular, Heidi points out that poetry seems more mainstream for kids in Britain, with every younger child getting a free copy of The Puffin Book of Fantastic First Poems.)

Kids' books for tough topics. Librarian Kathy Englehart says that she's "frequently asked for books to help children understand the thornier issues in life." She lists some of her recommendations--on everything from same-sex marriages to seeing-eye dogs--for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

2009 Newbery and Caldecott predictions. Sure, sure, I can gripe about the ubiquity of award lists, but it's hard not to get sucked into speculation, especially when it comes to the heavyweights like the Newbery and Caldecott. Elizabeth Bird collects her own savvy picks at the half-year mark and invites commenters to share their favorites. Even if you don't care about the awards themselves, this is an excellent mid-year reading/gift-giving list for the kids in your life. (I'm glad to see that she liked Frankenstein Takes the Cake, Adam Rex's gloriously nutbar followup to Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. I fell in love with this book minutes after discovering it amidst the towering stacks in Lauren's office.)

Piaget's stages as buying guide. Sorry, this has nothing to do with books (or not much), other than that I found it on one of my favorite kid-lit blogs. Warren Buckleitner is a kids technology reviewer who just wrote a piece for the NYT about using Piaget's stages of cognitive development as a guide to what technology your kid can handle. This is in response to parents like this:

"My 4-year-old has been on the Web since he could sit up," said Samantha Morra, a mother of two from Montclair, N.J. "My 6-year-old has an iPod and wants a cellphone, although my husband and I aren’t sure who he’d call."

Our Silas is only 14 months old, and he already thinks iPhones and laptops are the most exciting thing in the world--based, no doubt, on how many hours a day he sees his parents staring at them. Buckleitner puts "watching funny videos on YouTube" at ages 6 to 11, but don't tell Silas: there's nothing he loves more these days than the Mexican Cat Dance:

--Paul

Welcome once again to Friday Night Videos, where we usually match up book-related videos against each other in mortal combat--to satisfy the blood-sport instincts of rabid bibliophiles.

Tonight, though, it's a primer on creating an origami book. A little arts-and-crafts for a lazy Friday night. Here's the deal: if you follow the directions in the video and create your own book, send me a couple of photos at my personal email (vanderworld at hotmail.com) or post them on your blog and put the link in the comments for this entry before next Friday. (Nothing offensive, please--PG or G.) If you can write in your little book or illustrate it, all the better. If I get more than 10 entries, I'll pick a winner and send that person the coolest tiny book I own. Now, how more committed to books and Amazon can you get than that?

Have a great Friday, buoys and gulls...

Jeff

OK, so they've actually been around since 1990.  But 1,000 issues of any magazine is something to celebrate, and EW is doing it in style, with their trademark: lists, lists, and more lists. "The New Classics: The 1,000 Best Movies, TV Shows, Albums, Books & More of the Last 25 Years" is great fun, and ranks every form of media you can think of since 1983, with input from both editors and celebs. Where else could you find a magazine cover with Harry Potter, Maggie Simpson, Edward Scissorhands, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer?  And lists written by Jodie Foster, Neil Gaiman, and and Liz Phair? 

Here's a list from none other than Viggo Mortensen, who reveals his top 10 pieces of advice he's heard on movie sets.  There's something for everyone here, I think.  (True, I'm biased because I adore him. But I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.)

1. ''One job at a time, and each job a success.''

2. ''Whatever you are feeling at this moment can be useful, no matter how far removed or even distracting it may seem from the scene you are playing. That is as close to 'real' as you will ever get.''

3. ''There is no way in hell that's going to work. That is the worst idea I have heard today — perhaps ever. Are you trying to single-handedly ruin my movie?''

4. ''Try it — what's the harm? It's only film and time.''

5. ''No hay dolor.'' (''There is no pain.'')

6. ''All you really need to play the moment is air and water.''

7. ''When in doubt, admit it.''

8. ''Don't tell me; show me.''

9. ''Censors tend to do what only psychotics do: They confuse reality with illusion.''

10. ''I love you.''

Happy weekend, everyone!

Continuing Entertainment Weekly's 100 films from the past 25 years that will stand with the all-time greats over time. Numbers 50-26 are below.

50. THE PIANO (1993)
49. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000)
48. SCARFACE (1983)
47. MEN IN BLACK (1997)
<------46. CHILDREN OF MEN (2006)
45. RAIN MAN (1988)
44. THE PLAYER (1992)
43. GLADIATOR (2000)
42. CLUELESS (1995)
41. DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993)
40. SPEED (1994)
39. THE SIXTH SENSE (1999)
38. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004)
37. PRETTY WOMAN (1990)----->
36. SPIDER-MAN 2 (2004)
35. THE INCREDIBLES (2004)
34. FARGO (1996)
33. THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985)
32. FIGHT CLUB (1999)
31. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)
30. WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... (1989)
29. THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004)
28. WINGS OF DESIRE (1988)
27. ALIENS (1986)
26. HOOP DREAMS (1994)
 

More to be revealed tomorrow... —Ellen

My 14-month-old son is a long way from being a teenager, and I'm in no hurry for him to get there. However, I do find myself drawn to YA novels, as do many adults who love a good story, I suspect, based on the seemingly infinite number of enthusiastic blogs devoted to the subject.

This is YA Wednesday, my humble offering of discussions and tidbits about world of YA this week. Paul and I will be working together on this update every Wednesday, so if there's something you'd like to see more--or less--of, please comment!

*

Do books for teens need better boy heroes? CNN's Glenn Beck thinks so. In a recent interview with author Ted Bell about his new YA book, Nick of Time, Beck opened the segment with a diatribe about how books for teen boys are "emasculating." Colleen over at Guys Lit Wire disagrees, and she (and her commenters) cite many examples to the contrary.

Scandal of the week, part I: YA is in a category all its own... unfortunately? One fun thing about following YA is the inevitability of the philosophical discussions that pop up every few weeks, sparked by the mere existence of the YA category. A recent example is Frank Cotrell Boyce's review of The Knife of Never Letting Go by Frank Ness. After praising the book ("so cunningly written that I was 100 pages in before I even realized what genre it was"), Boyce brings up his fears about it being relegated to the YA section, as well as concerns about the whole category of books (which he writes, by the way):

Is there anything more depressing than the sight of a "young adult" bookshelf in the corner of the shop. It's the literary equivalent of the "kids' menu" - something that says "please don't bother the grown-ups". If To Kill a Mockingbird were published today, that's where it would be placed, among the chicken nuggets.

Scandal of the week, part II: Ulterior motives? From Monday's Read Roger, stating that the arguments against Boyce's statements:

...are missing the funnier semi-scandal of one Guardian children's fiction award longlister (Boyce) queering (albeit probably obliviously) the chances of another (Patrick Ness) by saying his really isn't a juvenile book at all!

Giveaways?! Along with reading challenges, giveaways are a regular feature of book blogs that I've just become aware of this year (yes, I know, where have I been?!) This week, A Patchwork of Books is giving away five copies of Mary Pearson's The Adoration of Jenna Fox, which Amanda calls "a page turner from the very beginning." Post a comment before Sunday for a chance to win.

Speaking of Mary Pearson, she wrote a guest post last week on Teen Book Review about writers' inspirations, including some of the things that have inspired her novels, for example: "With A Room on Lorelei Street, the spark was simply an image of a tired house, a tired girl, and a few opening lines... ." (Good news: A paperback version of this 2005 novel is coming out September 28th).

This tidbit has nothing to do with YA books, but it is about teens. According to Scholastic's 2008 Kids & Family Reading Report issued last week, 51 percent of the students surveyed from ages 15 to 17 listed the Internet as a place they go for book suggestions. This is the same percentage that listed teachers.

And last, but not least: This cool Breaking Dawn countdown widget is available now for readers eagerly awaiting the fourth installment of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series, Breaking Dawn, on August 2nd. You can get one for your own blog via Crepúsculo-mx, a Mexican fan site, or read more about it on Stephenie's Meyer's site.--Heidi