In this edition of YA Wednesday, Heidi is taking a break while I root around for noteworthy YA news (but watch for her this weekend, when she compiles the End-o'-the-Week Kid-Lit Roundup).
"Young Adult" classification possibly good; also, possibly bad. Science-fiction site io9 has a couple of essays up on YA SF, pro and con. ("Young Adult Books Will Save Science Fiction" and "Stop Writing Young Adult Science Fiction", respectively.) Kid-lit cognoscente Colleen Mondor calls them "two of the silliest pieces I have read on YA literature in ages." Take that! You've got to love her advice: "Here's an idea - why doesn't everyone just grow up and stop talking about this and let teens read what they want; whether a publisher designates it YA or not. (And really, that is what they are quite happily doing anyway.)"
Violence! Swears! Kids' book awards!. Elsewhere in the world of controversy, we found out from achockablog that Matt Ottley's Requiem for a Beast was named the Children's Book Council of Australia's "Picture Book of the Year"--despite having swears and "illustrations of a bloody axe," among other things. By many accounts, the book--explicitly intended for "adults and young adults"--is dark, complex, and also fairly awesome. But one former Book Council president isn't happy: "I really have a problem with this book. It shouldn't be on the shortlist, let alone win."
Advice from college guys for high school guys. Guys Lit Wire is a great site for teen guys--or anyone who recommends books to teen guys--to find new ideas on what to read. (You can even find ideas from me there from time to time.) Kelly Herold's "Higher Learning" interviews are especially good, in which "college guys talk about what they're reading, what they read in high school, and what books are important to them now." She just posted her third, with Ben, a second-year student at Grinnell College, who cut his teeth on the likes of Lois Lowry's The Giver and Jack London's Martin Eden.
Show your librarian some love! Okay, this isn't specific to YA, but everyone should know that nominations just opened last Friday for the "I Love My Librarian!" awards....
In this edition of YA Wednesday, we walk the blurry lines between kids and YA, and YA and grown-ups.
The Kids want YA: What's a librarian to do? Last week, Publisher's Weekly kicked off a new column, Talkback, with kid-lit opinion pieces submitted by readers. In
"My Say: When YA Books May not be OK," a children's librarian explains
her process of interviewing too-young children who ask about YA titles, to make
sure they're ready for the YA room:
"In recent years, the trend in YA fiction has been toward a
proliferation of darker, edgier fare, aimed at a more mature audience.
As a result, I don’t ever send younger kids to browse “over there”
unaccompanied. It feels too much like throwing them into the deep end
of the pool."
Roger Sutton questions her tactics, and wonders if they even work:
"What
we don't know from the essay is how easily kids are allowed to dodge
the librarian's best intentions entirely and simply go to the YA or
adult books by themselves. That would have been my own strategy as a
sixth-grader, particularly if I had had a previous encounter with a
librarian that made me feel snooped upon or deflected."
The bright lights of Beijing
If watching synchronized diving, impossible gymnastics contortions, and cross-country biking in the rain inspires you (to contort or dive or... read!), check out School Library Journal's YA-recommended list (posted in early summer) of books by or about Olympic champions including:
Letters to a Young Gymnast by Nadia Comaneci. (Was there any girl in the 70s who didn't want to be Nadia Comaneci, the first perfect 10?)
(The video here is Beijing Welcomes You, a music-video-style promotion with welcoming messages: "Flowing charms are filled with vigor and enthusiasm." I also highly recommend Stand up, a history of China's Olympic teams, sung primarily by Jackie Chan.)
Still weighing in on Breaking Dawn Gail Gauthier speculates on one possible reason that Breaking Dawn disappointed some fans--the characters grew up too much:
"Bella and Edward are no longer in high school. They're dealing with
grown-up, family problems, not teen problems. When young readers were
reading about people they could relate to in the earlier books, they
were willing to ignore the way so many characters roll their eyes,
chuckle, and snore, the improbabilities regarding plot, and the scenes
that went on way too long. But Bella becomes matronly in Breaking Dawn,
and Edward seems as if he ought to be out playing golf."
And a few quick links... The YALSA blog posted this video encouraging people to register for the first ever Young Adult Literature Symposium, "How We Read Now," coming up this November in Nashville.
Cynthia Leitich Smith (Cynsations) interviewed Zu Vincent, author of The Lucky Place. Vincent talked about influences, challenges, and her experience at the Vermont College MFA Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults (responding to a question that must have been awkward coming from CLS, who's a faculty member there): "The Vermont College writers' community is so caring and the faculty amazing, you can't help but dig in."
Is Colleen Mondor the busiest blogger in YA-dom? I think so. Her August 2008 Bookslut column, Bookslut in Training, features a wide coming-of-age variety. She particularly recommends Barbara Shoup's Wish You Were Here.
She also moderates Guy's Litwire, which reminds me that I totally forgot to plug Paul's post there two weeks ago, with three guys from Fantagraphics Books talking about their early comics influences.
Speaking of Seattle-based comics folks, David Lasky signed with Abrams to publish his graphic novel about the Carter Family. It's not YA, but Lasky's earned serious teen cred by teaching at the nonprofit kids' writing center 826 Seattle, where he helped budding teen comic artists create and publish three 826 Seattle Comic Books: All Systems Go!, Family Portraits, and Happiness?. Oh yeah, and it's all volunteer. --Heidi
In this edition of YA Wednesday, we're completely surrounded by the glitz, and the glamour.
Vampire Glam: Breaking Dawn is Here! (photo courtesy of TheTwilightSaga.com's Flickr photostream from last weekend's launch event in Manhattan)
There's not much else to be said about the hordes of screaming teens at Friday's Breaking Dawn parties. The New York Times had an article about it, and a post on the Paper Cuts blog describing the Stephenie Meyer/Justin Furstenfeld concert, including this insider-y scene:
"A stadium-sized sigh escaped the crowd when Furstenfeld, who writes rather dark, introspective songs, played the delicately acoustic “Hate Me” — but you would have to have read chapter 3 of volume 2, “New Moon,” to understand why."
Lizzie Skurnick continued the coverage in her Chicago Tribune essay, in which she compares the Twilight Saga to The Lost Boys, then goes on to compliment Meyer's unique take on life and the afterlife:
"Meyer understands there's no true meat to her tale without Bella, Jacob and Edward's agony alongside their amazing skills—and no humanity. Bella, like us, is flawed and irredeemably normal. But being blessed with superpowers can be a bummer too."
Glam that inspires us People magazine interviewed Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen last week about their upcoming coffee table book, Influence.
"We interviewed the people who have inspired us, with the hope that they will inspire and teach others," Mary-Kate said. "We want to explain culturally how ideas evolve."
Chimed in Ashley: "We have filled Influence with the most interesting, challenging,
creative people we know--the ones who helped pave the way for us and our generation."
The book, coming out in October from Razorbill (Penguin's YA press), features the Olsen's interviews with people they admire--including fashion luminaries such as Diane von Furstenberg, Lauren Hutton, Christian Louboutin, and of course, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
Get some glam for yourself: Hollywood-style Razorbill also announced on their blog Monday that they're hosting a Zoey Dean's Talent contest, related to the recent YA novel: "where a trendy trio of Hollywood fabettes find their way into the L.A. lifestyles of the rich and talented."
To win a meeting with a Hollywood agent, contestants are posting videos of talents like cartwheels, impressions, and bird calls--or monologues from Talent--for other contestants to vote on. Last day to post is August 13.
There's also a new trailer for the book here, with a small dog that plays with cashmere and a very enthusiastic host that invites you to "Glam on the glitter."
From chapter one:
"Mackenzie Little-Armstrong held her iPhone high above her golden-blond head, pouted, and snapped a self-portrait. She needed to cross-check her outfit. Mirrors could lie. So could camera phones, actually. But they didn't lie at the same time."
Texas Glam: Do teenagers really wear Manolo Blahniks?
I've just started reading Susan McBride's The Debs, book one in a new YA series by the author of The Debutante Dropout Mystery series (with adult titles such as Night of the Living Deb and Too Pretty to Die). It opens with Laura, a girl who's a size fourteen in a clique of Houston debutantes (The Glass Slipper Club) who call anyone over a size eight a "debutank." Laura's fresh off the plane from "camp hellhole," a fitness camp where she didn't lose a pound. There's already a hot guy, a mean girl, and disconnected parents. And French manicures, Blackberries, Louis Vuitton bags, and a Prius (Mary-Kate and Ashley even get a mention on page 8). McBride is having a lot of fun here, as you can tell in The Debs trailer...
Are you really reading right now? On Sunday, The New York Timeskicked off its series, "The Future of Reading," about how the Internet and other technologies are changing how people read. And the focus is on, you guessed it, teenagers.
The article profiles one teen in particular who regularly chooses fanfiction.net over books. Liz B. over at Tea Cozy took issue with the fanfiction vs. "real books" slant of the article:
"Fanfiction existed before the Internet. So it's entirely possible Nadia would be writing it even without the computer. What she wouldn't have is the community that the Internet brings."
Overall, the article, along with the thoughtful comments it sparked from readers, presents a very comprehensive view of the whole topic. Pro: people who say that online reading is beneficial because A) it's reading (engaging with text, although there are also arguments that create-a-quiz sites and Facebook updates don't add up to much actual reading) and B) it provides community; and C) it will help prepare kids for a their future jobs of staring at computers. And con: people who feel sad that their kids may never have the joy of losing themselves in a book.
"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian was last year's big YA book. What I find so fascinating about that situation is that Alexie published another book last year with a teenage main character, a wonderful, unique, magical book called Flight.Flight, however, was published as an adult book. What's going on here?"
It happened at Comic-Con For those of us who just couldn't make it to Comic-Con, Comics Reporter has an excellent overview.
Create your own Comic-Con
Greg Hatcher at Comics Should Be Good wrote about some exciting discoveries he made in an antique store on his family's annual comics hunting road trip, including this find (from the jacket copy):
MEET… CHRISTOPHER COOL/TEEN AGENT as he plays the deadliest game of all––international intrigue––in America’s newest exciting spy stories.
Christopher Cool and his Apache Indian roommate, Geronimo Johnson––sophomores at an Ivy League university––combine their campus lives with undercover assignments for a vital arm of U.S. Intelligence: Top-Secret Educational Espionage Network.
Expertly schooled in all the arts of espionage, the two daring TEEN agents work closely with red-haired Spice Carter, a clever coed agent, to thwart enemy spies in trouble spots throughout the world.
An interview with Jay Asher YPulse posted a thoughtful interview today with Jay Asher, author of Thirteen Reasons Why, about a young girl's suicide and the events that lead up to it. The book is also the July Readergirlz selection, and although the transcript of last Thursday's live chat with Asher doesn't seem to be up yet, they do have some some Jay Asher info on their website, and some recommendations about similar books.
The buzz continues... Twilight will not abate. Quick links:
Capone at Ain't it Cool News reports on the screaming Twilight panel at Comic-Con last week and interviews Catherine Hardwicke and Bella (I mean, Kristen Stewart).
Laura Miller at Salon on Bella, who is no Buffy Summers: "Even the most timorous teenage girl couldn't conceive of Bella as intimidating; it's hard to imagine a person more insecure, or a situation better set up to magnify her insecurities." Comments ensue here and here (and that's just from day one).
Joseph Wilk over at YALSA created this magic-8-ball-type widget using quotes from the first three Twilight Saga books. He also has a link to download the full code and instructions so you can make a similar widget from any favorite book. Very cool. --Heidi
In this issue of YA Wednesday, we jump on the Stephenie Meyer bandwagon.
It's been difficult to avoid reading about The Twilight Saga this week. What have people been calling it? Oh, yeah... "the Twilight juggernaut." Hmmm. Somebody has a pretty awesome publicity machine...
Fans have been following the Twilight series for years, but the EW cover story and the upcoming release of Breaking Dawn (the last Bella book) have launched Stephenie Meyer and her vampires into a pop culture frenzy.
Twilight, the movie based on book one of The Twilight Saga, opens Dec. 12, 2008. Breaking Dawn comes out August 2nd. Meyer is currently working on Midnight Sun, told from Edward's perspective.
Here's a timeline of the recent insanity...
Tuesday, July 7 The author herself asks fans to please, please, please not spoil Breaking Dawn for everybody else:
"I want to ask you guys for a favor. As we saw with Eclipse (not to mention that last Harry Potter book), there is always the potential for copies of the book to be leaked early. My publisher is doing everything they can to prevent this, but there is only so much that can be done. This is the favor: if someone, somewhere, somehow, gets a copy early, I'm asking you to please not post any spoilers on the internet. And if you see something, please don't spread it around."
She also lets people know that message boards on the fansites will be taken down soon, just in case anyone can't wait to discuss it. (She talks about this a little bit in her Amazon interview here.)
Thursday, July 10 The new EW shows up in my mailbox with its cover story about The Twilight Saga, including two features, "The Vampire Empire" (about Meyer and her books) and "Twilight Hits Hollywood" (about the Catherine Hardwicke film). EW.com includes the opening pages of Breaking Dawn and an interview with Meyer. A teaser in the magazine promises that EW.com will run "a super-exclusive spoiler about Bella's love life" on July 28.
An L.A. Times blog posts
about Twilight fans who are displeased with the EW
cover, based on comments from fansites. According to the post, complainers cite
Rob Pattinson's open shirt (Edward, despite his extreme hunkiness, is quite virginal), among other too-sexy concerns, mostly related
to the fact that the people on this cover look nothing like Bella and
Edward, or the actors for that matter. (Have the people on EW
covers ever not looked totally weird and unlike themselves?) This
sparks comments from fans that they are *not* upset...
Friday, July 11 Summit Entertainment releases these two clips:
"Ballet scene"
And behind the scene footage and interviews
Saturday, July 12 The New York Times runs this opinion piece, with Gail Collins speculating that The Twilight Saga's appeal lies in the sexually innocent vampire boy, every girl's dream in a world where human boys choose porn over live girls:
Urban fantasy, supernatural suspense, paranormal romance--all of these subgenres are hot right now, and Juno Books has been publishing a cornucopia of such novels in bright, sharply designed mass
