Celebrate Teen Lit Day with 7 YA Mysteries Worth Reading
What’s a mystery? Are they only stories with murders or crimes of some sort? Perhaps. But mystery can be so much more than that! This list brings together ten unusual mysteries, where characters learn about themselves and their worlds, stories that’ll rip you out of your comfortable, expected reading zone, get inside in your head, and rearrange things until you’re thoroughly confused–but dying for more. Want the whole list? Get the PDF here; get a titles only download here. *book...
Read MoreCelebrate Teen Lit Day with 10 Strong Female Leads
Today marks the very first Support Teen Literature Day, a part of YALSA/ALA’s National Library Week. So how can you support teen literature? By reading teen books, of course! Over the next few days I’ll be posting some great YA titles with appeal for teens and adults alike. To kick off, here are 10 excellent reads with strong female protagonists–some fun, some thought-provoking–released over the 2009-2010 season. Thanks to the Harvard Coop & NESCBWI list for the picks! Want...
Read MoreReading Kid Lit: Are We Stripping Away Necessary Realities?
In some ways, being a kid is like living in a hamster ball: you’re seen but not heard see more than everyone else realizes; and when things get prickly, it’s pretty easy to roll the ball into a more convenient locale ‘til everything’s sorted. Recent years have shown a surge in edgy, almost razor sharp issue-tackling YA, with books running the gamut from teen-mother-abandons-new-baby (Amy Efaw’s After) to drug use and suicide (John Green’s Looking For Alaska). But kid lit–what...
Read MoreYA Fiction: 10 Graphic Novels You Wish You’d Read Sooner
Once upon a time, graphic novels were “those things my dorky kid brother reads”. Over the past few years, though, graphic novels have come into their own, and popular titles are being adapted to the format in an effort to reach a broader audience (or sell more books to collectors, *ahem* Twilight *ahem*). Here are a few great reads you may’ve missed the first time around. Want the whole list? Download a PDF, here; get just the titles, here. * book may be hard to find ** best for older...
Read MoreReading YA: Reading Fast, Writing Poorly, & Getting Old
Young adult literature is popular for a reason. It’s full of tight storytelling, engaging characters, and authentic, relatable voices. Why? Because it has to be. Teen readers are discerning and intelligent, and will toss aside books with unrealistic/unrelatable characters or a condescending tone. And yet, teens read a lot of poorly written crap (read more about poor writing in my earlier post, here). I read a lot of YA, partially because I like it, and partially because I think it’s...
Read MoreThe Case For Writing Poorly, Or Using Straightforward Prose
Writing is a numbers game–the more books you sell, the more money you make. If you write fast, it’s even better. Getting a book out every year for ten years (Jasper Fforde’s goal), if you sell enough, could be quite lucrative (and your hourly rate might actually approach positive numbers). Yet writing, good writing, takes time to craft. Story, characters, and prose itself do not happen overnight, particularly if you’re fond of tight dialogue and polished writing. But here’s the...
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