The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Grades 8 and up. Dutton, January 2012. 318 pages. Reviewed from purchased copy.

** There are no spoilers in this post, unless you count knowing that the book is amazingly awesome as a spoiler. If you do... um.... sorry.  **

Um. Actually. This isn't really going to be a review. Sorry. 

I have loved John Green since grad school. I read Looking for Alaska back before it won the Printz, back when I let the YALSA-BK listserv tell me what teen books to read (certain friends of mine are chortling at that). I stuck by him with An Abundance of Katherines. I was fairly diligent about watching the Brotherhood 2.0 videos and I was even IN one in 2007: 

(Side note: Can you believe that I was at a John Green reading/signing with less than 30 people? It kinda seems unimaginable now...)

Anyway, this is all to say that I have been a fan of John Green for a long time. And my true confession is that I have always thought I liked him more than I liked his books.

And that all changed with The Fault in Our Stars. This book was freaking amazing. It's smart and witty, but it doesn't feel pretentious. In fact, it pokes fun at pretentiousness. The characters felt so real to me that I truly believe that this was John's homage to his Nerdfighters and the kids he's worked with an spoken with other the years. I honestly feel that this book is a gift from John to his readers.

And part of that gift has been the whole The Fault in Our Stars experience. As you probably know, John decided to autograph all 150,000 copies of the first printing. Preorders for the book piled up so quickly that the publication date was moved up (it was originally slated to publish in the spring - May, I believe). Even though my blog has a label called "my undying love for John Green", I wasn't certain I wanted to buy his book because, as I've said before, I've had mixed feelings about his previous books. But everyone was so excited about it and I wanted to be part of the excitement, so I preordered it.

From getting excited about preordering the book, the cover reveal (which I like more in person... it's so shiny...), the Twitter hashtag, wondering what color signature I would get (green), eagerly tracking my book as it shipped, sympathizing with those unlucky souls who didn't get theirs on the release date... Reading this book has definitely been an experience.

This was the right book for which to create a hoopla. It's my favorite of John Green's books so far and it's plain (to me) that he's poured his soul into writing this book and making it the best book it can be.

I can already tell you that this will be one of the best YA books of 2012.

Thank you, John Green. 

Around the interwebs

Links!  I have links for you!  (And that is as eloquent as I can be after this exhausting week...)

Oh my, was there a big kerfuffle about censorship and just in time for Banned Books Week.  See, this guy in Missouri objected to Laurie Halse Anderson's book Speak being used in high school English classes because he said that it should be classified as "soft pornography".  He also challenged Sarah Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer and Slaughterhouse Five. And then the interwebs exploded.  Read Laurie's response.  Read Sarah's response.  And Paul Hankins of RAW INK started the Twitter feed #SpeakLoudly, urging people to speak up against censorship.   Oh, and there's a whole list of Speak Loudly posts over at Bookalicious and also at The Reclusive Bibliophile.

I don't know that I have anything to add except I am a librarian and I will Speak Loudly for my patrons' right to read whatever they choose to read.

In other news, Librarian Pirate has compiled a Good Reads list of Mock Newbery titles.  Anybody have a Newbery pick already?

The Cybils panels have been announced!  Congratulations to all the wonderful bloggers who were selected to be judges.  I seriously can't wait to see what's nominated and which books make the shortlists!  Only one week to go until nominations open on October 1, so you'd better be thinking about what books you want to nominate!  I have a couple of mine in mind...

And I think that's all I've got for you.  I am headed back to Chicago this weekend to see my husband John Green and a lot of other fabulous authors at the Anderson's YA Lit Conference on Saturday.  If you will be there, please come say hi to me and Kelly of Stacked.  I promise we are very nice people and I would love to meet you!

Around the interwebs: Almost all videos edition

HOLY CATS, JOHN GREEN'S BABY IS ADORABLE!!!



Mmmkay, I've gotten it out of my system. Moving on...

Pairing Improv Everywhere with support for libraries? And Ghostbusters?? Awesome. Thanks to @JacksonPearce for the link.




And what do writers do when they get writer's block? Some writers use the opportunity to make an awesome video:



And, let's see, I have some non-video links around here somewhere... Ah, yes.

Are you Team Peetah or Team Gale? How about neither?! Patti at Oops...Wrong Cookie emphatically declares her alliance with Team Katniss.  Thanks to @TrishaYA for the link.

And Susan at Booklights answers the age-old question: What do librarians do all day? Click on over there for a peek inside one librarian's day.

Have a great weekend!

How could... what's wrong with me?!

This morning's Around the Interwebs post covered news of awards, book covers, new imprints, and predictive searching, but HOW COULD I FORGET THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS OF ALL?!?!?!

John and Sarah Green made a person!!!!

Henry Green was born on Wednesday, January 20 and weighed (by all Twitter reports) 8 pounds and 9 ounces.

Congratulations, John! Congratulations, Yeti! And congratulations to Hank, who became an uncle:

Around the interwebs: video edition

As you well know, it's National Novel Writing Month. My widget has finally started working, so check that out on the right-hand side of my blog (yes, you'll have to click through if you're using a reader). And ALSO check out John Green's video about NaNoWriMo. My favorite quote: "What NaNoWriMo does, for writers young and old, is give us permission to suck." It is so very true.



Jackson Pearce speaks out about language in teen books (specifically, The F-Bomb):





Over at Blue Rose Girls, Meghan McCarthy shares a book trailer for her upcoming non-fiction picture book Pop!: The Invention of Bubble Gum. I know I'm eagerly anticipating this title. Put it on your TBR list, y'all. It's due out in May.



In non-video news, you'll want to tune in over at 100 Scope Notes next week for Travis's Covers Week. He is promising a new Create Your Debut Cover meme and I am ridiculously excited about that since the last one was so much fun.

Exactly where is the line between Middle Grade and YA Fiction? MiG Writers try to answer that question. As a blogger who has served on the Cybils YA Fiction panel (last year) and the Middle Grade Fiction panel (this year), I can tell you that the line is often blurry. Thanks to Confessions of a Bibliovore for the link.

Best of 2009 lists! They are starting to come out of the woodwork. Check out Amazon's Best of 2009 list and PW's Best of 2009 list. Thanks to A Fuse #8 Production for the links.

Around the interwebs: We Appreciate You!

Didja know that Sept. 14-18, 2009 is the second annual Book Blogger Appreciation Week? I didn't. Until Sarah told me, that is. Go on over there to register and nominate someone for an award. Sounds like it'll be a fun week and I'll certainly be putting it on my calendar.

Tasha at Kids Lit had an epic fail moment with a publisher rep at ALA. Liz adds her two cents.

Liz also gives us the scoop on the YALSA Readers' Choice Award and what went down at the BBYA Board Meeting.

Tricia's back with Part 4 of Programming for Children with Special Needs over at the ALSC blog.

And all you Hoosiers, are you going to the CYPD Conference (link opens PDF) at the end of August? I will be there. So will John Green (be still my heart). It looks to be a good program and I'm really looking forward to hobnobbing with scores of Indiana librarians.

That's all I've got for you today. It's not that things didn't happen in the Kidlitosphere this week, it's just that I'm two weeks away from the end of summer reading and my brain is too fried to think of anything intelligent to say about any of it. :)

Around the interwebs

I was alerted to the launch of a new website - GraphicNovelReporter.com - which includes lots of great resources about graphic novels. Looking for reviews? Author interviews? Best-of lists? This site's got a multitude of resources on graphic novels for all ages.

MotherReader's got some advice for authors starting blogs and commenters are chiming in, too. If you're a blogging author, definitely take a look, and if you're a different kind of kidlit blogger there just might be some tips for you, too. ;) (ETA Feb. 6 - Pam's gone and written up Blog Advice II which incorporates suggestions from the myriad of comments on her first post. Definitely worth checking out!! And I will be checking all my links this weekend... ;)

Uh, there's nothing like the last minute, so: JOHN GREEN WILL BE IN CHICAGO TOMORROW. Yes, Friday John Green will be at the Hideout bar (1354 W. Wabansia) from 6:30 to 8:00 on Mark Bazer's Interview Show. And it gets better: he's promised to buy one drink for any librarian who shows up! I haven't decided yet if I'm too shy to go... but if you're in Chicagoland and not shy, don't miss it! (And take pictures and tell me how it is!)

Steph's holding a contest you don't want to miss. Head on over there to see the MANY FANTASTIC prizes you can win and how to enter.

Speaking of contests, there's still time to enter to win an advance copy of the sixth Ranger's Apprentice book, The Siege of Macindaw. I know you know some kids dying to read this new book before all their friends (or maybe you want to read it yourself!). Five winners will be picked on Sunday, so head on over to that post and get your name in!

The night was filled with awesome

Okay, so we didn't actually get to Anderson's until about 10 minutes before the event was to start. So we were stuck at the back while John Green was talking and answering questions. Because 65 gazillion people were there. And even though he was standing on a chair (at great risk to life and limb), I couldn't really see him at all during his talk. But that is totally fine because seeing John was totally awesome, as always.*

Phrase that needs to be used more: Edward Cullenization. As in the Edward Cullenization of romantic interests in teen books. As in putting your love interest on a pedestal and seeing nothing wrong with them ever, having this idealized version of them in your head that no one could ever really live up to. As in, I have certainly Edward Cullenized John Green. Because I love him. And he is awesome.


Also, I saw both covers and came down in favor of the blue cover. And then there were only yellow covers left! So I bought one with a yellow cover. And THEN the girl ahead of me in line overheard me telling J that I liked the blue cover. And it turned out she liked the yellow cover better but had bought one with a blue cover. So we switched!

*Okay, so I have only seen him twice, including this time. But I wholeheartedly believe that there could never be a time when seeing John Green would not be awesome. So... yeah.

Oh, by the way...

I'm going to see John Green tomorrow (Friday) night!! Wooooo!!!!

John Green in Naperville!

According to his tour map, John Green will be at Anderson's Bookshop on Friday, October 24!!! I am so going! Just try and stop me!! (No, don't actually try and stop me... that wouldn't be very nice...)

*squee!*

(Thanks to Leila for linking to the map... for a John Green fan, I am incredibly lax on following his whereabouts...)

Around the interwebs yet again

Upstart is holding an election for your favorite books and the first round of voting just opened. They have some really interesting pairings, like Where the Wild Things Are vs. The Polar Express and Twilight vs. The Lightning Thief. Go! Vote! Have your voice heard! The top four books in each category will go on to a second round (which starts September 22) and then the top two will face off starting October 13. The winners will be announced on November 5.

Did you know that the first new Madeline book in 50 years comes out this week? Madeline and the Cats of Rome is written by John Bemelmans Marciano, grandson of the original author, who apparently spent several years in Italy researching and creating illustrations for the book. I reserve judgment on resurrecting a beloved children's book character, but it will certainly be one to check out. Also interesting for those in the Chicago area is that Marciano will be at Anderson's Bookshop on Wednesday, September 24.

Speaking of Anderson's Bookshop, their fifth annual Young Adult Literature Conference will be held on Saturday, September 27 and there looks to be a great selection of authors attending. I'll be heading down there for the conference and I'm especially looking forward to seeing Suzanne Collins, Ellen Klages, and Paula Yoo. Now, if only I can get the courage to actually think of words (beyond "I LOVE YOUR BOOK!", that is) and speak to them, I'll be doing good.

(By the by, I met John Green last year and I could think of absolutely nothing to say. But I was in a Brotherhood 2.0 video!)

Last, but not least, I've been following some of the Allen County Public Library's mock awards blogs and I think it's a great way to stay on top of those award contenders. Of particular interest to me are the Mock Sibert and the Mock Geisel, but they also have a Mock Newbery and a Mock Caldecott. The official discussions for the mock awards will happen in January, but anyone can take part in the virtual discussion on the blogs.

ETA (Sept. 5, 2008): Ohhh yes, and don't forget ACPL's Mock Printz! Thanks for reminding me, Heather!

In completely unrelated news, I am back from my vacation (it was awesome, but I have a lot of bug bites [which are not awesome]). Look for some audiobook reviews, the Official start of my Celebration of YA, and a special surprise when this blog reaches 10,000 hits (some time this week!).

John Green in Chicago!

Attention, all you Chicagoland-ers:

John Green's going to be in Chicago on 8/08/08! He's speaking at the Harold Washington Library Center at 2pm and then there will be Wizard Rock listening and Something Really Awesome at 8:08pm. Alas, I will be at work (and also I'm not the biggest fan of Very Crowded Things, which I suspect this event might be). But if you are available, you should totally go see him.

I was lucky enough to see John Green last year at the Schaumburg Library and it was awesome. I even won a free book!

So, yes. Go see John Green. And then get your wizard on at Terminus (the Harry Potter conference), which is also in Chicago next week.