NaNoWriMo Check In

So, how's everyone's NaNoWriMo going? I'm on track to finish and my novel's finally gotten fun now that I've started the love triangle. Next up is the discovery of the Big Bad (and then the figuring out how to defeat it... I'm not entirely sure how that's going to happen yet...).

Generally for NaNoWriMo, I'm a very fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of girl as far as research. There's NO TIME to do research when you're trying to write a novel in 30 days (in addition to reading for the Cybils, working a full-time job, and, y'know, having a life...). But this year I've found myself turning to Google multiple times for some brief fact checking.

Here's what I've been Googling for the first third of my novel:

- Bushes in West Virginia
- What game do you kill with an arrow?
- How to nock an arrow
- What vegetables are in season mid-summer?
- What damages a shingled roof?
- And how do you fix it?
- What kinds of large predators live in West Virginia?

(Can you tell that my novel is set in a fantasy version of West Virginia? And that I have never been there?)

So, tell me, how's everyone's novel going?

(And stay tuned for my favorite NaNoWriMo game OF ALL: Dear Character, I'm Sorry. It'll be coming up this weekend or next week.)

Day in the Life of a Children's Librarian

8:40a - Arrive at library, turn on lights and computers in department. Put my stuff away.

8:55a - Take an armful of letters (seriously, about 55!) upstairs to upper circulation and feed them through the postage machine. These are letters introducing myself and advertising our services to local preschools and daycares. I'm hopeful that preschools will call and invite us to read stories to their classes or bring their classes to the library for a field trip.

9:10a - Stop by business office and say hi to N.

9:15a - Back in the Children's office. I want to go to the reference section and shift some books around, but I figure I need to work on the book order first. I put together an order for one of our vendors and email it to him. We don't work with a lot of sales reps, but this one offers a better discount than our main vendor and free shipping, so we try to order the publishers they carry through our sales rep.

9:45a-12:15p - I work on putting together a couple more orders (we place separate orders for fiction and nonfiction and Spanish books because they come out of different budget lines). I type up purchase orders for the orders.

12:15p - Lunch time!

12:45p - Back to Children's. I'm scheduled on desk but A offers to cover the desk so I can mess around in the reference section. I start shifting the books.

12:45-2:00p - I shift reference books. They need to be weeded, but we have enough space on the shelves (especially since we are not really ordering any print reference for the foreseeable future) that by shifting them I can open up almost three bays. This is where our Spanish language books are going to go - right in the front so that everyone knows we have them!

2:00p - I attend a meeting of the Website Redesign Committee. Originally we'd hoped to have money to possibly hire someone to design a snazzy new website. Unfortunately, the budget got cut. Fortunately we have an awesome tech team who have actually designed a really nice website. We give our input and discuss any changes we'd like to see.

3:05p - Back on desk. H is nice enough to cover for me a little longer so I can finish up the shifting.

3:35p - Done with shifting! I dust the empty shelves and they're ready for the Spanish books! Now that we have a nice new place for them, I'm just hopeful to get the funds to order more books sometime soon...

3:35p - 5:00p - On desk. I look over the small pile of reference books that I selected to weed. I'll go through them more thoroughly later with the input of my staff, but there were some that I knew I could withdraw today.

After I finish with the weeded books, I page through a Scholastic catalog because there are some nonfiction books I'm going to order.

5:00p - A arrives to cover the desk for the evening shift and I take off, trying to make it home before my apartment office closes. (I made it!)

Nonfiction Monday Round-Up!

I am happy to host this week's Nonfiction Monday round-up! Please leave a comment with a link to your post and I'll compile and post throughout the day. I'm excited to see what nonfiction everyone's been reading this week!

ETA (11:05AM): Wow! We're getting a lot of great posts this week. I'm finding great books to add to my TBR list... keep 'em coming!

BookMoot's starting us off today with a review of Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again by Juliana Hatkoff, Isabella Hatkoff, and Craig Hatkoff.

Sarah at In Need of Chocolate posts about The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History, a book she'll be using for her homeschooling.

Liz at A Chair, A Fireplace, & a Tea Cozy is getting all Novembery on us with a review of Mayflower 1620: A New Look at a Pilgrim Voyage by Plimoth Plantation with Peter Arenstraw, John Kemp and Catherine O'Neill Grace; photographs by Sisse Brimberg and Cotton Coulson.

Betsy at A Fuse #8 Production has a review of I and I, Bob Marley by Tony Medina.

Head over to Playing By the Book and check out their cool family tree project as well as a review of My First Family Tree Book by Catherine Bruzzone, illustrated by Caroline Church.

Oh, yeah. And I posted about Just the Right Size: Why Big Animals Are Big and Little Animals Are Little by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Neal Layton. Which happens to be one of my favorite nonfiction books of the year, so don't miss it!

Charlotte's got a review of Children's Book of Art by DK over at Charlotte's Library.

Shirley of SimplyScience Blog goes under the sea with A Coral Reef Food Chain: A Who-Eats-What Adventure in the Caribbean Sea by Rebecca Hogue Wojahn & Donald Wojahn.

Over at Wild About Nature, check out a review of Pumpkin Circle by George Levenson, photographs by Schmuel Thaler.

Lori Calabrese chimes in with a review of Louis Sockalexis: Native American Baseball Pioneer by Bill Wise.

Roberta of Wrapped in Foil examines the mysteries of Mold, Mushrooms, and Other Fungi by Steve Parker.

Carol Hinz of Lerner Publishing Group shares a fascinating post about what a nonfiction book editor does. Potential authors and those interested in process take note!

Robin at thebooknosher has posted a review of A Really Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

Elnice at Ellz Readz talks about The Great Grammar Book by Marsha Sramek.

Wendie over at Wendie's Wanderings takes a look at Steve Jenkins's Never Smile at a Monkey and 17 Other Important Things to Remember.

Owl in the Library is joining Shirley under the sea with books about seahorses this week. Ahoy!

Picture Book of the Day is remembering the World Series with The Best of Pro Baseball by Matt Doeden.

Freaky reviews several animal books over at 3T News and Reviews.

Doret posts about Marching for Freedom by Elizabeth Partridge over at The Happy Nappy Bookseller.

Jennie's looking at a whole slew of Cybils nonfiction nominees over at Biblio File.

And Ms. Mac of Check It Out joins us with a review of Life-Size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya.

Book Review: Just the Right Size

Just the Right Size: Why Big Animals Are Big and Little Animals Are Little by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Neal Layton. Grades 3-6. Candlewick, July 2009. Copy from my local library.

How come blue whales are huge and mice are tiny? Why can't humans lift 850 times their own weight like the rhinoceros beetle? Why don't giant monsters like King Kong actually exist? And why will humans never be able to walk on water or fly?

Just the Right Size answers all these questions and more in a very accessible way.

It all comes down to geometry, really. If a big object is two times the size of a smaller object, its volume and weight will be eight times the smaller object's. That's why large flying insects (like dragonflies) need much bigger wings than small flying insects (like gnats). And it also explains why big animals like whales eventually stopped getting bigger. The bigger an animal gets, the more food and air it needs. So if blue whales were twice as big as they currently are, there wouldn't be room inside their bodies for the huge lungs and digestive systems they would need.

The book takes a complicated question and explains it in a simple (but not patronizing) way. Plus, it's funny! And it has funny, cartoony illustrations! What more could you ask for?

Here's just one example of the humorous tone of the book:

"Once upon a time there was a giant who was just like a normal human, only ten times bigger all over: ten times taller, wider, and deeper, making him one thousand times heavier. The giant took his first giant step, and with a giant crashing sound, both his legs snapped. The end." (pg 24)

I just want to run out and hand this to every kid at my library. I think it's one of those books that kids might not know they're interested in until they actually start reading it, so it might need a little booktalking. But that should be easy since it's so funny and interesting. I'd venture to say that adults could learn something from Just the Right Size, too. I know I did!

Pair it with If You Hopped Like a Frog by David Schwartz for more great examples of relative strength and size.

Read more reviews at 100 Scope Notes and Carol's Corner.

Happy Nonfiction Monday! I've got the roundup... right here! (Scroll up.)

In My Mailbox #11

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. I'm not going to post about Cybils nominee review copies that I receive (but I will probably do a post about them at some point). So besides Cybils review copies, here's what was in my mailbox this week:

The Sky Always Hears Me And the Hills Don't Mind by Kirstin Cronn-Mills. Flux, September 2009. Here's the publisher's summary:

Sixteen-year-old Morgan lives in a hick town in the middle of Nebraska. College is two years away. Her mom was killed in a car accident when she was three, her dad drinks, and her stepmom is a non-entity. Her boyfriend Derek is boring and her coworker Rob has a very cute butt that she can't stop staring at. Then there's the kiss she shared with her classmate Tessa...

But when Morgan discovers that the one person in the world she trusted most has kept a devastating secret from her, Morgan must redefine her life and herself.

It sounds awesome and I love the cover and the title.

Annnnd... Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce. Little Brown, June 2010.

*squee!*
Y'all know that I loved Jackson Pearce's As You Wish (so much so that I nominated it for a Cybil!), so I was very excited to get my hands on this one (although the books sound very different).

Summary from ARC:

Scarlett March lives to hunt the Fenris - the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.

Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts fiercely alongside her. Now Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves and finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax - but loving him means betraying her sister and has the potential to destroy all they've worked for.

And this might have been this week or last week, but I was lucky enough to win a copy of Alfred Nobel: The Man Behind the Peace Prize by Kathy-Jo Wargin, illustrated by Zachary Pullen from a giveaway at A Patchwork of Books!

And those are the lovely books in my mailbox this week. What was in your mailbox?

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.

Book Review: The Girl Who Threw Butterflies

The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane. Grades 6-8. Knopf Books for Young Readers, February 2009. Copy obtained from library. Because libraries are awesome!

Ever since Molly's dad died, nothing has felt right. She misses him, obviously. He was there and then suddenly, inexplicably, he wasn't. Molly's mom is a shadow of her former self, leaving Molly on her own a lot. Molly turns to one of the things that reminds her most of her dad - baseball. She used to throw catch with her dad for hours. He taught her how to throw a knuckleball, that most elusive of pitches.

At school, most people are weird. They're too nice or they're afraid to talk to her. Softball tryouts are coming up, but Molly decides she wants something different. She wants to be on the baseball team. Yeah, as in the boys' baseball team.

I picked up this book thinking Ah, it's only 177 pages. I'll breeze through it and check another Cybils nominee off my list.

I wasn't expecting the magic of the writing. Yes, the book is slim, but the writing demands that you slow down and savor it. I was intrigued by the plot and interested in the characters, but it was the writing they kept surprising me (in a good way).

Parts of the book are achingly sad as Molly deals with the death of her father. She's in an interesting place. 8th grade. Almost in high school, almost starting to grow up. She's the prototypical tween - not a kid anymore, but not an adult either.

Take this passage which demonstrates the aching sadness and also the wonderful writing:

In the past six months, Molly had come to understand that the most important stuff, what was closest to the bone, was just what you never talked about. There were no words for it. A heartbreaking dream about toast. The trivial and silly is what you spend your day chattering about. You could ask your friends how they liked your hair, but you could never ask them what you really wanted to know: Is there hope for me, yes or no? (page 5)

Another thing I really enjoyed about this novel is that Mick Cochrane really got the setting across without beating us over the head with it. I've never been to Buffalo, NY, but I feel as if I could picture its dismal gray skies perfectly. From spending three winters outside Chicago, I know exactly that feeling in April when if it's not snowing, you consider it spring (even if it's still cold and cloudy).

As I was reading, the book reminded me of Norma Fox Mazer's After the Rain, which was a favorite of mine growing up. I can't tell you why it reminded me of that book, and it's been a long time since I read it, but that might make a good pairing. Of course, I might also try it on fans of the girls-playing-boys'-sports books since it has that aspect.

Read more reviews at Semicolon, Dog Ear, The Virtual Loft, and Books for Sale.

Also, this book really made me want to try to learn to throw a knuckleball. Hmmm.

Joey Fly Private Eye Blog Tour!

Joey Fly Private Eye in Creepy Crawly Crime by Aaron Reynolds and Neil Numberman. Grades 3-6. Henry Holt, April 2009. Review copy provided by publisher for blog tour.

Got a case for Joey Fly, Private Eye? Well, get in line. Fly's working on finding a stolen diamond pencil case for a beautiful butterfly and something's fishy. The clues don't seem to add up... or could it be that his gumshoe assistant is goofing everything up again?

Confession: I was not at all sure I was going to like this book. I started it with some trepidation, but I soon realized that, well, Joey Fly is pretty awesome. I didn't expect it to be funny, but it was. Plays on words abound and I found myself chuckling out loud as Joey Fly and his bumbling assistant followed the clues to find Delilah's missing pencil box.

Plus, who knew bugs could be so expressive? I am generally not such a fan of things that buzz, but Neil Numberman's art could change my mind. Joey Fly's expressions were often hilarious and he's a fly. That is definitely awesome.

I'd hand this to fans of the detective story and, of course, comic book fans. What? I haven't convinced you? Check out the Joey Fly, Private Eye book trailer (that'll do the trick).

As an extra, super, bonus feature, I've got Aaron Reynolds and Neil Numberman stopping by the blog today to answer a few questions. AND they'll actually be stopping by today to chat with YOU, so leave any questions you have for them in the comments.

Aaron Reynolds is a human, not a bug, but he often writes about bugs. He is the author of Chicks and Salsa, Superhero School, Buffalo Wings, and, of course, the Joey Fly, Private Eye graphic novels. Visit him at his website at www.aaron-reynolds.com.

Neil Numberman is a termite currently residing in New York City. Joey Fly, Private Eye is his first graphic novel, but he is also the author/illustrator of the picture book Do NOT Build a Frankenstein. Stop by his website at www.neilnumberman.com.

Abby: I really enjoyed JOEY FLY, PRIVATE EYE. It's funny and just perfect for kids who like mysteries or kids who like comic books. How did the idea for this series come about and how did y'all end up working together?

Aaron: I love goofy mysteries (probably due to a steady diet of Scooby Doo during my formative years), and I love bugs, so a smash-up of the two seemed natural. One day the title popped into my head, and I went from there. At that time it was called Joey Off, Private Fly, and was just a grain of an idea, but it sprouted as I wrote and took off.

As far as working together goes…we never did. Most people are surprised to find that out, but it’s true. Neil and I never even spoke, via phone nor e-mail, until after the book was done. It was my wonderful editor, Reka Simonson, who put Neil with the project.

Abby: Can you tell me a little about the process of putting together a graphic novel?

Aaron: I start by writing a script, rather than a traditional manuscript. It has what the characters say, “stage directions” about the action, everything you would see in a script for a play. I come from a theatre background, so when I first started writing graphic novels a few years ago with Tiger Moth, Insect Ninja, I was delighted to find out that it was something I was intimately familiar with…a script! It is this final script that I hand over to my publisher, just like any other book. From there, she hands it off to Neil.

That’s your cue to take over, Neil…

Neil: Oh, hello there! Well, I’m given the final script, which I then break down into little drawings that are so poor only I can tell what’s going on. These drawings are called thumbnails, probably due to them being the size of a thumbnail! They’re artistic notes that help me decide how to pace the book, where each word balloon should end up, and a rough composition of each panel. From there I begin the sketching stage, which is the part with the most research. I like that I get to simultaneously look up ridiculous looking insects and film noir style compositions.

After the sketches are approved, I finally get to do the finishes, where I trace the sketches to get a much cleaner line, and color them in the computer.

Aaron: I’ve never told Neil this, but when I first saw the sketches of Joey…I did not like them at all! The guy didn’t have any pupils in his eyeballs!!! How do you have a main character with NO PUPILS IN HIS EYEBALLS! But my editor and Neil assured me that it would not limit his emotional range as a character at all. In fact, at my editor’s request, to soothe any doubts I had, Neil drew 20 versions of Joey Fly in various emotional states. I was sold. Anybody who could make a character so funny and full of possibilities with no pupils and NO MOUTH had my vote. In the end, they were right, of course. Neil’s take on the characters and the world of the book was wonderful, edgy, and exciting. Neil was the perfect choice for the book. It couldn’t have been better, and I was once again reminded that there’s a reason that editors choose the illustrators, not the author. There’s a reason the process works the way it does. I’m so proud of the way the book turned out, and I can’t imagine Joey any other way.

Neil: Do you remember the drawing I slipped in there of Joey with pupils? It didn’t look terrible, but he did lose a lot of his mysteriousness and personality.

Abby: I have to say that I love that Joey Fly doesn't have pupils. Awesome! You guys have both worked on picture books as well as graphic novels. How is the process different for each format?

Aaron: The writing is totally different. A graphic novel really gives you room to move and stretch out…you can develop a story, include stage directions about action, characters, descriptions that aren’t in the writing and that will never be read as part of the story…it really lets you create a VISION for the end product that the illustrator will then take and interpret. Picture books are a blast, but a much more constricting medium. You only have so many words to work with, and the story has to be lean and taut, funny and quirky, but still a story, all in those few words. You also are very limited as to how much you can show or express about the visuals, because the illustrations are totally the illustrator’s turf most of the time. That can be hard, but you learn to open your hands and let go. Even though Neil and I never spoke during the creation of Joey Fly, it felt like we were partners from the beginning, like I had an opportunity to cast a vision to him, to pitch the story to him through my script. You don’t always feel that way with a picture book. So much is up for interpretation.

Neil: Picture books, compared to graphic novels, are much less time-consuming. Not including the writing of my latest picture book, Do NOT Build a Frankenstein, it only took me about a month and a half to complete the artwork. In a picture book, the most art you can fit is usually 30-40 paintings, whereas in a graphic novel like Joey Fly, there’s six or seven pieces of art per page, and 90 pages, so around 600 different pieces of art that need composing, sketching, and coloring! It took me almost two years to complete the artwork for Joey Fly!

A lot more care must go into each page of a picture book, though, because often times you have to make one painting really speak for an entire chunk of the story.

Abby: Have you always wanted to be a writer (Aaron) or illustrator (Neil)? If not, what led you down that path?

Aaron: No way. Writer came into the picture much later. I was a theatre major, and then an actor in Chicago. During the day, I did any number of day jobs (waiter, carpenter, administrative assistant, the list goes on). But somewhere along the way in my theatre journey, I started writing scripts and short plays for kids. I fell in love with writing for kids. Even then, I loved kids books, having come to reading them late in my own childhood, and still read many of my favorites. After several years of writing plays for kids, I decided to take a stab at writing books for them. Five years later, after hundreds of rejections, much learning and practice, and a couple conferences, I finally sold my first book Chicks and Salsa.

Neil: I absolutely wanted to be an illustrator my whole life! From when I drew monsters that played sports at age 3, to unflattering portraits of my teachers in middle school, to my first children’s book submission to a publisher when I was 22. The only times when I doubted I would be an illustrator was when I though I might become an animator. Lo and behold, I can be both now!

Abby: Do you have any upcoming projects you'd like to tell us about? (Besides more Joey Fly, of course!)

Aaron: Well, there is more Joey on the way. Even now, Neil is illustrating the second book. I also have a new picture book in the works called Evil Carrots about a bunny that thinks he’s being stalked by sinister root vegetables.

Neil: Yep, I’m currently in the middle of working on Joey Fly 2! And it is, hands down, the most fun I’ve ever had being an artist. The script is solid gold!

Abby: Good to know that there is more Joey Fly in our future! And finally, this is a question I always love to ask authors and illustrators: what are some of your favorite children's books? In particular, what are some graphic novels that you like?

Aaron:

My favorite kids’ books:

Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip by George Saunders
The Stinky Cheese Man by John Sciezska and Lane Smith
King Dork by Frank Portman

My favorite graphic novels:

The Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi
Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale (AtL review)
Babymouse by Jennifer Holm, illustrated by Matthew Holm (Abby: I LOVE Babymouse!)
Owly by Andy Runton

Neil:

My favorite kids’ books:

Where’s Waldo, the Fantastic Journey by Martin Handford
Any and all of Ed Emberly’s drawing books
The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle
Every Dr. Seuss book ever (Abby: I'm a particular fan of Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book)

My favorite graphic novels/comics:

Paul Moves Out by Michael Rabagliati
Any Calvin and Hobbes, of course! By Bill Watterson
Snake ‘n’ Bacon’s Cartoon Cabaret by Michael Kupperman
The Little Lit series compilations, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francois Mouly
Super Mario Adventures by Kentaro Takekuma and Charles Nozawa

Abby: Guys, thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! And readers, if you have questions or comments for Aaron or Neil, leave 'em in the comments because they'll be checking in!

My Time Machine

I first saw Betsy at A Fuse #8 Production do it. (She was inspired by this post at Ten Block Walk.) Then Melissa at Book Nut chimed in. And I'm not to be outdone.

From Betsy's post:
The Premise: You have a time machine. In this time machine you may take seven books. Your mission is to visit yourself, in the past, and to give yourself the books you wish you would have read as a kid. They can be old books or new books, it doesn't matter. But they must be books you've run across as an adult, loved, and you know would have appealed to (or been good for) little you.

Ages 2-5

Ohhh, how I would have loved Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman. When we were wee, my brother and I had a thing about poring over illustrations looking at details. (Anyone else spend happy evenings looking for Lowly Worm and gold bug in the Richard Scarry books??) I would have loved searching for the egg on each page and noticing all the details of all the crazy chickens in each spread.

And I would have laughed my little head off at Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems. You know, the spread where Sam explains exactly why he's crying? Yeah. 'Nuf said.

Age 6-9

Of course, I loved the Ramona books. I have fond memories of reading them over and over. (Ramona and Her Father was my favorite, probably because I owned it and could read it over and over whenever I wanted!) I would have loved Clementine by Sara Pennypacker. She's funny and unique and I think I would have identified with her greatly.


Age 10-12

So, besides the massively popular R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike books I was reading at this age, in the fifth grade I discovered tear-jerkers. And in middle school it was all about the Lurlene MacDaniel. I'd hand 11-year-old me Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nichols in a heartbeat. And I would have eaten it up with a spoon.

Age 13-15 (Oh, the band blazer....)

I was all into horror and thrillers at this age. My favorite book when I was thirteen was Christopher Pike's adult novel The Season of Passage (I still have my mass market copy, spine taped together, signed by all my friends whom I made read it).

I would have been so into The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, I can't even tell you. What's more, I would have been convinced that Panem was going to happen to America and that Suzanne Collins was some sort of prophetic genius trying to warn us.

And I will be completely honest: I would have been so into Twilight, too. I probably would have been on Team Edward. I had a thing for vampires. *shudder*

Age 16-17

I kind of skipped over YA (not counting Christopher Pike and LJ Smith) and headed straight to adult books. When I was a senior in high school I got my first job at Barnes & Noble and considered myself too old for YA. But I am reasonably sure that I would have not only picked up but devoured Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd. It's a book that might not appeal to most teens, but after seeing the movie Some Mothers Sons at some point in high school, I had a fascination with The Troubles and Bog Child would have been right up my alley.

And that's what I'd give myself if only I had a time machine. What about you??

Book Review: Paris Pan Takes the Dare

Paris Pan Takes the Dare by Cynthea Liu. Upper Elementary, Middle School. Putnam Juvenile, June 2009. Copy purchased.

(This is a 2009 Cybils nominee and this review reflects only my personal opinion of the book, not necessarily the opinion of the panel!)

Paris Pan knows her new Oklahoma town is small, but she's not expecting her seventh grade classroom to consist of ten kids. Total.

Since she's used to being the new kid, she's used to being the outcast and she's determined not to let that happen this time around. So when queen bee Mayo tells Paris that she has to take The Dare, Paris knows she has no choice. It's either take the dare or resign herself to a live of loserdom.

But the more Paris finds out about the dare, the less she wants to do it. Can Paris find the strength to stand up to Mayo and do the right thing?

This is a solid middle grade read with a bit of a mystery to it and I think kids that enjoy authors like Mary Downing Hahn will find a lot to like in this book. It's not a ghost story in the strictest sense, but as Paris and her friends investigate the supposed murder of a girl on the Pans's new property, the story has some of the same elements as those supernatural thrillers.

It's also a story of being the new girl, figuring out the social situation and dealing with family troubles. I loved that the Pans are Asian and that's not the main focus of the book. Paris deals with the same problems that many seventh grade girls face every day. She's the youngest kid, so her older brother ignores her and her older sister yells at her every time Paris wants to use the phone. At her school, kids are immediately branded and there are clear outcasts, even in a class of only ten kids.

I'll definitely be looking for more from Cynthea Liu!

Read more reviews at Shelf Elf and Charlotte's Library, and read an interview with Cynthea at Cynsations.