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*waves*

Very glad this group is here. Right now, I'm hoping for your help with 2 things:

1) Any suggestions for fantasy with strong female characters like Robin McKinley (Hero and The Crown/The Blue Sword) and Diana Wynne Jones (Howl's Moving Castle) or Terry Pratchett (Hat Full of Sky/Wee Free men)? This is for my eldest daughter (age 9) she reads furiously, tends to daydream and is a tad young for her age.

2) This one may be a bit broad, but our homeschool program's library has money that must be spent on books before the end of the fiscal year. What really great *new* books (say published since 2006) would you recommend for 4th-10th graders?

Hope I can return the favor soon!

It's that time of the year again.... conversations are starting about which books will be this year's Newbery and Caldecott award contenders. It can be pretty hard to guess- but I always find it intriguing to hear what books people love from the previous year. It's a great way to discover some fabulous books.

The awards mentioned above are given by the American Library Association (ALA)... and they are a huge deal in the world of American children's literature. This year's awards are being announced on Monday, January 14, 2008 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. Awards given by the Association of Library Service to Children (ALSC) are listed here, and awards given by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) are listed here. Both ALSC and YALSA are divisions of the ALA.

I plan to post some of the pre-award buzz and post-award reactions on this blog. A great place to start is with the best books of the year lists that have started to appear (even though the year isn't technically over yet). Let's get the ball rolling with this list from Publisher's Weekly of their picks for the best children's books of 2007. Although this isn't a list of speculation about the awards, it does mention a lot of the books that have been garnering buzz this year.

Books that I really like (but that aren't necessarily award contenders) that appear on the Publisher's Weekly list include:

• Nothing by Jon Agee
• Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett (see my review here)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (see just about any post on this blog for my opinions on this book =)
• The Arrival by Shaun Tan.
  

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List. By Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. 2007. Copy supplied by publisher, Random House (imprint: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers).

The Plot:
Naomi and Ely are been best friends since forever; grade school, high school, and even college. Naomi loves Ely, Ely loves Naomi; Ely is gay, but that doesn't stop Naomi from believing that Ely, her best friend, is, well, the one. Despite the evidence to the contrary: gay, remember?

Naomi and Ely have a friendship preserving "no kiss" list; the cute doorman has just been added. Naomi didn't think she had to add Bruce the Second, her current boyfriend, to the list; wouldn't it be obvious?

But Ely kisses Bruce the Second. And it changes everything.

The Good:
Do girls like Naomi exist, for real? Both Naomi and Ely are New York City kids, thru and thru. Naomi is the gorgeous one: you can just imagine that the Eagles song is about her (city girls just seem to find out early, how to open doors with just a smile.) She's gorgeous, all the guys fall for her, and she can seem like a total bitch.

But underneath -- Naomi is someone who has been betrayed and let down by almost everyone in her life. Everyone except for Ely. And then what does Ely do? Lets her down by kissing Bruce the Second. By falling in love with Bruce the Second. By falling in love with someone who isn't her. By having someone in his life who is more important than her.

Naomi is a hard girl to like; she can be a bitch. Hey, better to keep people away than to let hem hurt you. I'm not even sure I can say I like her; but do I understand her? Yes. And I'm intrigued that Cohn and Levithan took the risk of having such a hard person to like be at the heart of this book.

Also good: Cohn and Levithan did dual narrators in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist; here, there are multiple narrators, with Cohn and Levithan writing all voices. So we see people as they see themselves, as others see them; the masks they put on successfully, and the ones they don't realize they have on.

This is a book about the break up of a friendship; a friendship that is so close and tight, it didn't have room for anyone else. Oh, Naomi and Ely date others -- but their true loves and soulmates? Are each other. Naomi half realizes it, keeping boys at arms length (she's still a virgin); Ely has had many boyfriends, but it's all short, hot, romances, no real love. Naomi and Ely -- had this book been set in high school, ah, it would have been full of nights out and shared clothes and everyone in school half in awe, half in love with them. A world where NaomiandEly are one word, and they are the it couple who are not a couple. But can that intensity be maintained beyond high school? Should it?

Can that type of friendship survive growing up? Falling in love with someone else? No matter how glam and sexy and smart Naomi and Ely are together -- they are too close. They just don't realize it; until Ely kisses Bruce the Second. And Naomi begins to realize -- not that yes, Ely is really gay and so will never by her first lover or husband; but that yes, Naomi cannot be the most important person in Ely's life forever. And a girl who has been let down by her parents -- well, to Naomi, once she is no longer the most important person in Ely's life, its as if she is no longer the most important person in anyone's life. That's a lonely, cold place.

All too often, in teen books and movies and TV, there is friendship message that, well, friends are and will be BFF no matter what, if they just want to be. They ignore the reality that it is a healthy thing to grow up and perhaps apart; and to let in new people. It's refreshing to see this book address that; and to do so in a way where there are no good guys or bad guys, just flawed and very human teens trying to figure out who they are and what they want and who they want to be.

Other goods: While this is a book about breaking up, it's also a book about falling in love: Ely and Bruce the Second. And it's about Naomi being in love with Ely, and fighting against falling in love with someone who is a bit more available.

Final point: I heard David Levithan read a chapter of this in October. He is a fabulous speaker.

And, yes, it's one of my personal best books this year.

Links:
Kids Lit review
Propernoun review
sea heidi write review
emilyreads haiku
avenging sybil review
worth the trip review
2nd Gen Librarian review

Lessons From A Dead Girl by Jo Knowles. Reviewed from ARC; Copy from BEA 2007. Publication date November 2007. I'm adding it to my personal Best Books of 2007.

The Plot:

Laine and Leah have been friends forever. Since fifth grade. As high school students they drifted apart. There are secrets. Secrets Laine never wanted made public. I wish you were dead, Laine thinks. And now Leah is. Why? What happened?

The Good:

I began reading this book. Put it down. Didn't want to finish it or read it or even think about it.

Not because the book is bad or poorly written. No, quite the opposite. This is a wonderful book. I had trouble reading it because what Knowles writes about is so disturbing to me. It's about how children hurt each other; how cruel they can be, how love and hate and like and trust and betrayal are all combined.

"Each time [my mother] says Leah's name, I get pulled back there, to the time when Leah and I were still best friends. The feelings come rushing into my chest. I try to shake my head. Swallow. Push them back down. Strengthen the mortar and rebuild my wall. But I see us anyway. One scene after another. Leah, always the leader, teaching me the complicated rules about trust and secrets and what it means to be her best friend. There were so many hard lessons. But what good are they now? What good are the lessons from a dead girl?"

Leah is dead. Liane is curled up in bed, convinced she is responsible, thinking back on their relationship. On the games Leah initiated, games of "practicing" being married and being with boys.

I found this devastating to read. It is so painful; and so scary, what children can do to one another, what teens can do to one another. The abuse and teasing and tormenting and control; the kids who do things, the kids who let it happen, the strange dynamics of friendship. The fear of a child being Laine; of a child being Leah. Of being Laine. Of being Leah.

Leah; who damages Laine. But, of course, Leah herself has secrets. Her actions, her tormenting, her torments don't come out of the blue.

This book is beautifully written; Knowles manages to create sympathy for both Laine and Leah. And she doesn't answer all the questions she raises. In some ways, Laine and Leah are a twisted love story. Twisted not because it is two girls; twisted because of how Leah uses power, secrets, and abuse to get what she wants and to manipulate Laine. And Laine, left with questions unanswered about who she is.

What else?

Knowles doesn't just give us a look at the secret and troubled lives of children, and how that haunts the adults they become. She also gives us forgiveness and understanding. This could easily have gone the after school special route of making Leah eeeviiiillll. But; she isn't. She is a broken child. And by the end, the reader weeps for both Leah and Laine.

Also of interest: how isolated Laine is, how alone. She has parents and an older sister, but they are very absent from the story. If a movie was made of this, it could easily be done without ever showing the parents.

Links:

YA Fresh review
Class of 2k7: Jo Knowles
Booktalks -- Quick and Simply booktalk (by Nancy Keane)
edited to add:
Reading Rants review
and edited again:
Jen Robinson's Book Page review

Dramarama by E. Lockhart. Reviewed from ARC.

The Plot: Sadye and her best friend, Demi, have been accepted to the summer drama camp at Wildewood Summer Institute. Sadye (well, technically Sarah, but Sadye is so much better, don't you think?) knows that this will be the best summer of her life, in part because it's getting her out of Brenton, Ohio.

But things don't turn out the way Sadye had hoped. What happens when your whole life is about pursuing a dream -- and you find out that you don't have what it takes?

How much worse is it when your best friend does have what it takes?

The Good:

This is going on my best books of 2007 list.

Sadye had been Sarah, living a boring life, wanting something more, and then she met Demi during the auditions for the drama camp and they instantly click. Before, Sadye loved musicals and drama; and the week before she meets Demi, she gets a new haircut and a new wardrobe, turning herself into someone who (she thinks) is more glam, more drama, less suburban mall. And then she meets Demi and her life falls into place.

Demi loves theatre, loves musicals, and is gay; his parents know, but he's not really accepted. Demi is never going to be able to be himself in his small town; and while Sadye feels like she doesn't fit in in Ohio, Demi really doesn't fit in.

And so, we saved each other, if you can call it saving when it takes the form of body glitter and cast albums and singing "Hot Lunch" in the back of a public bus.
And so, my life was no longer razzle-dazzle deprived but utterly fabulous -- as long as I was with Demi.

Brenton, Ohio is not -- needless to say -- a place where to musical-loving drama kids fit in. At Wildewood, for the first time ever, they find a place where they fit.

Except, spoiler time here, it turns out not to be so true for Sadye. It's a tough realization: she wants to be "The Star" and at best she's in the chorus. It's a hard reality* to face, made tougher as Demi shines. Demi has what it takes to live his dream; and Sadye has to deal with losing hers. Needless to say, Demi increasingly feels "at home" in Wildewood as Sadye feels increasingly the outsider. Can their friendship take this stress?

This is a fascinating look at friendship; how much was Demi's friendship with Sadye based on his loneliness? A loneliness that no longer exists? What about Sadye, left behind, without even a dream?

OK, obviously that's the part that really captured me. But what is great is that all this is happening while at drama camp; so for both Demi and Sadye their is the exhilarating power of freedom and independence (remember your first time away from home, whether summer camp or college), including the freedom to find yourself and be yourself. Add to it the fact that it's a golden time when the biggest worry was love, friendship and happiness? Yes, they are big worries... but it's worries taking place during that time where you don't have to worry about rent/mortgage/food/work. It's almost bliss.

Also good: the mix of friendship and competition. All these students have so much in common; almost too much in common, because only one person can get a role.

Also good: the powerful and pure emotions of love and jealousy.

And finally, the music. If you love musicals, you'll love this book, the songs, the references, it's a pleasure and you find yourself humming and singing along. And digging out old CDs or downloa

Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande. ARC from a friend. Publication date August 2007.

The Plot:
Mena is starting high school; unfortunately, she had a falling out with her friends and is now a social outcast.

The Good:
Once more, I have the difficult task of saying "this book is the best ever" while not being able to give away too much, because I don't want to be all spoilery about a book that is not out yet. I will say that because of the sensitive way Brande balances a coming of age story with topical issues of religion and science, it's on my best books list for 2007. In someone else's hands, this could have been a "message book", where the message overwhelms the character and extinguishes the plot.

So, here goes.

This is NOT a Speak clone; the reason for Mena not being friends with her old group is both because of something Mena did -- something positive -- and also because that group? Not the nicest people in the world to begin with.

Another good? Because that group had been Mena's friends for so long, she saw them as being the only kids in school. It's good that she's shaken up, and forced to start looking beyond the familiar faces from school, home, and church group.

See, Mena's friends are from her church. What kind of church, you may ask? The kind where you cannot read Harry Potter or watch Lord of the Rings. The kind where, when the biology teacher says "Evolution", all her old friends turn their seats -- literally, turn their seats around -- and sit with their backs towards the teacher.

And what Mena did has put her at outs with her church; a church her parents still attend. And let me share one of the best things about this book -- yes, some of the people in the church are hypocrites. But that does not destroy Mena's faith. Between the evolution and the exclusion, this could easily have been a "and then a teen discovers its best to have no faith, no religion, no god" type of books. Instead, Mena does not allow these individuals to shake her own faith, and her belief in and need for religion. What is even better about this book is that it is not evangelical; it's about Mena's journey, about her own coming of age, and there are no "are you saved" moments directed towards anyone, including Mena, other characters, or the reader.

When Mena's friends start the evolution protest, she has to think for the first time about the choices in her life. If "the break" hadn't happened, would she be turning her chair? And now that she isn't in that group, and she listens to her teacher and students, what does she learn? Is evolution really anti-religion? Can a person believe in religion and also love science?

Other things I like: Mena putting her life together. Her cute lab partner, Casey, a guy -- who introduces her to the joy of The Lord of the Rings. And is also a love interest. And despite everything -- Mena is at heart a good kid. She loves her parents. She's torn up that she's hurt them by the thing that happened over the summer. But she wants to make the right choices; and she's learning that doing the easy thing and doing the right thing are very different. Which means she has to learn how to be strong.

Another interesting plot involves the Internet. No, not just a kid who texts and blogs; rather, this looks at the online community and how being involved in that virtual world can give quiet people a voice, connect individuals to those outside their small town, and be a positive experience.

In the way that it sometimes works with books, shortly after finishing this I read Saxons, Vikings And Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland by Bryan Sykes. And while I skimmed a lot of the science part, the evolution of DNA was extremely interesting, and timely; since part of the school protest in the book is based on the argument that "evolution is just a theory so shouldn't be taught".


Links:

BibleGrrrl, a website tie-in for the book. Includes links to the first chapters of the book.
The Reading Rants review
7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast author interview
Not Your Mother's Bookclub review
living read girl review

Bloodsong by Melvin Burgess, sequel / companion to Bloodtide. Copy supplied by publisher. The first image is the UK version; the second is the US version. Review based on uncorrected book proof.

The Plot: Sigurd is born to be a hero; and Bloodsong begins with Sigurd facing the classic hero quest: slay the dragon.

The Good: Loved it. A Best Book for 2007.

Bloodtide and Bloodsong are set in a future that's barely recognizable. It's a post--apocalyptic world that is as bloody and brutal as anything out of the medieval past. It's a world of death and violence. Science has made magic real; with cloning and machines, and "magic rings" studied under microscopes.

Yet magic is not lost; gods such as Odin and Loki are real (or are they the result of some high tech machine?) For example, Sigurd says he is born to do great things: "You think I'm arrogant; I'm not. I was made for this -- literally. My father designed me for it. Every gene in my body was picked for this purpose. My mother brought me up for it; the gods shaped me as the keystone for this time and place. It's no credit to me. I have less choice than anyone." Magical swords coexist with people that are part pig and part dog because of DNA manipulation.

Bloodsong is about adventure; love; greatness; weakness. It is bloody and violent and heartless. And it's realistic, in the sense that things don't always work out they way you think they should or the way you want them to. Bloodsong takes some unexpected twists and turns, changing the story entirely. I never knew what was going to happen next, which is refreshing. And it's why I won't tell anything of the plot beyond Sigurd is off to slay a dragon.

Burgess often shifts POV; mixing it up, so sometimes it's first person, other times third person, and it's not consistent. It's a bit unsettling at first; but it works because it means that, despite the UK cover ("one hero. one kingdom. one chance to make it his own"), there is no one hero; we see Sigurd's view of himself, as well as how others view him; we get into the heads of all the characters, as well as seeing them more objectively. Which makes the violence, the betrayals, the hope and lost hope all the more real and all the more heart-shattering.

The US cover says "a legacy's final heir. a country's only hope." As mentioned above, Burgess provides a slick mix of Sigurd being the heir and the hope not just because the gods say so, but also because Sigurd himself has been genetically engineered to be heir and hope.

Do you have to read Bloodtide to read Bloodsong? No; I read Bloodtide when it first came out and had forgotten much of the details. While I want to reread it, I didn't have the time. No worries; while there are some connections I may have missed, for the most part Bloodsong stands alone. Actually, anyone reading Bloodtide expecting a true sequel may be disappointed; Bloodsong does not continue the story of Bloodtide, but rather tells the story of Sigurd, son of Sigmund, one of the characters in Bloodtide. It's like first reading the story of Henry II and then reading a book about Richard I.

While my copy of Bloodsong didn't mention it, these books are based on the Volsunga Saga. Many of the names are the same; others are close: Sigurd is a Volson, for example. Those of you familiar with the saga will be less surprised than I at the twists and turns of Sigurd's story, and instead will take greater enjoyment at how that story is reborn, retold and reimagined.

Links, all of which refer to the source material so all are highly spoilerific
The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga)
More on the Volsunga saga.
Interview with author. (video interview)

Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger. Advance reviewer copy from author. Publication date: July 2007.

The Plot: Angela remembers being age six and the swim teacher saying, "boys in one line, girls in another." Angela was puzzled: "why did everybody think I was a girl?" Ten years later, Angela realizes that "inside the body of this strange, never-quite-right girl was hiding the soul of a typical, average, ordinary boy."

Angela picks a new name: Grady. And with short hair, bound breasts, and a boy's wardrobe, Grady quietly yet proudly comes out as transgendered and starts living life as a boy, both at home and at school.

The Good: Do you know how hard it was to write that plot description without using "her" or "him"? Wittlinger avoids those difficulties by having Grady tell his own story, in first person.

Reviewing a book so far ahead of its publication date is tricky. As with Beige, I'll hold off being too spoilery.

I began the book thinking Angela/Angie/she, as that is what the main character is called. But then Angela announces choosing Grady for a name; I quickly began thinking "Grady" (Angie's family had used Angie for sixteen years, I had only used it for a few pages) but found myself thinking she, she, she until about page 200 when I started thinking he, he, he without even realizing it. About that same time, I stopped picturing a girl dressed as a boy and started picturing a boy. As a reader, my journey was mirroring the journey of the people in the book.

This is not a message book about being transgendered; this is a coming of age book about Grady, who happens to be transgendered. Grady learns what is needed to be a real friend, sibling, child; and to be all those things, he has to learn how to be himself. That's a common teen journey. And that alone is reason enough for this to make my Best Books Of 2007.

Grady is strong; but he doesn't realize how strong he is. To start dressing as a boy, changing one's name in the middle of the school year, and honestly telling everyone requires strength; a weaker person would have continued to be quiet, on the sidelines, and waited for a new school year.

Grady is now in high school; but he, along with his sister Laura and brother Charlie and best friend Eve, was homeschooled. Homeschooling is not portrayed as a negative; Grady and Laura are now in high school because a, their mother decided they had gotten beyond what she could teach, b, socialization. As for socialization -- the kids went to soccer, swimming lessons, and the like; Grady specifically says that "socialization" really means that "they hoped that being around boys would make me act like more of a girl." So this is NOT saying homeschooled kids aren't well socialized! It's saying these parents, suspecting something was up with their child, yet not being sure what, thought that going to school would change Angela.

I also have to point out the humor in this book. Think transgendered teen, and you think angst and depression. Not so! Wittlinger not only doesn't make this a "if you are transgendered it's all sad" book, she also adds humor that had me laughing out loud (and thinking this would make a great movie.) For example, Grady lives in "that house." You know, that house -- the house in the neighborhood that is so over-decorated for Christmas that you wonder about their electric bill and how people find the time to put together something so extravagant. Grady's father has everything from reindeer to a nativity scene to bears; the family actually dresses up in Victorian clothes. This, despite the fact that Mom is Jewish.

I want to repeat this book is as far from a didactic message book as one can get. Which, to me, would mean a fiction book that is really a non-fiction book dressed up with a story, resulting in thin plot and thinner characters. Here, at all times the story -- Grady's story -- is what drives the book, as it should be with any good book.

The book's title comes from the parrotfish, an animal that can change its own gender. Beyond that, this book stays away from religion, politics and other arguments about transgendered people, concentrating instead on the story of one boy's struggles. Certain issues are dealt with: changing for gym, bathrooms, breasts. They are things someone would wonder about, so they have to be addressed, but it's done briefly and matter of factly.

I also want to say that there is so much more I want to talk about; but it'll wait until a few months after publication. What else can I safely say now? Wittlinger surrounds Grady with a mix of supportive and non-supportive people; but at all times the supporting characters are well rounded. None are one-dimensional; none are used solely to spout things in either opposition to or in support of Grady.

Beige by Cecil Castellucci. ARC supplied by publisher, Candlewick. Publication date: June 2007. (Amazon says May).

Notice: Yes, this is a long, long way away. But this book is so fabulous that I must blog about it now. Like many of my fellow bloggers, I'm being a total booktease, in that I'm saying I love it yet not going into any details now, but will do a follow up post once this has been on the shelves six months or so. It's one of my Best Books for 2007.

The Plot: Katy, 15, is a nice, good girl who gets along with her mother; she dresses like a prep and likes boy bands. Mom is headed off to an archaeological dig in Peru for two and a half weeks; Grand-maman is in an old age home; so Katy leaves Montreal for LA to visit her father, the Rat. She hasn't seen Beau "the Rat" Ratner since she was seven. Needless to say, she isn't happy about this at all. Picture Rory from the Gilmore Girls shipped off to the Osbournes.

The Good: I am trying to be very, very good about spoilers.

While at first glance it seems the Rat is called the Rat because Katy hasn't seen him since forever, it's actually his punk name. Y'see, the Rat is the drummer for the "famously unfamous" band, Suck.

This is not one of those books where a girl goes to LA and has a Pretty Woman shopping experience when she meets her rich and famous father. C'mon, Castellucci is better than that (tho if she wrote that type of book it would kick ass because Castellucci is that good of a writer.) Because Suck is "famously unfamous" (i.e., they never made it big) the Rat lives in an apartment and has a day job to pay the bills.

Beige does not use the "famous Daddy" teen formula as an excuse to go shopping or teach us a life lesson about being rich. The Rat is not a musician so that Castellucci can show us the life styles of the rich and famous; the Rat is a musician because it is his life, it is his world view, it is the reason he's alive. For Katy, music is something that plays in the background. She likes boy bands. How do two people, related by blood yet total strangers, create a relationship when they have nothing in common?

What else can I say without significant spoilers? As you know, I am very tough on the absentee Dad becoming devoted Dad for no good reason. Here, the Rat has a great reason for not seeing Katy for all those years: he was a heroin addict. He is now a recovered addict.

What works, again without being spoilerific:

Katy's anger and distrust of her father; Katy's deep attachment to her mother; the mother changing her life from drugged out teenage groupie knocked up by famous drummer to respectable mother earning a PhD. (Imagine Penny Lane from Almost Famous, but in the early 90s punk rock scene; she gets pregnant and leaves the whole rock'n'roll world behind.)

What also works is that Castellucci knows and respects the punk rock scene. Every chapter is headed by a song name and band.* Katy is a fish out of water -- "beige" in this land of people who live for music -- yet Castellucci shows Katy (and the reader) a thing or two or three about punk rock. (And whether it's music or something else, who hasn't felt beige every now and then? You haven't? Just me? Oh.)

Final words: Castellucci at all times respects Katy and respects the Rat. There is no "good" person or "bad" person; no right or wrong way; only finding what is one's own way.

Final, final words: While I cannot give any specific examples without being a spoiler girl (I am such a booktease!), one of the things I love about Castellucci is that she leaves things to the reader to figure out. She doesn't spoonfeed it to you. There are parts here, things about the parents, Katy, the music scene, that I am dying to talk about.

Words after the final, final words: Age: teen. Is it OK for middle school? Depends on your community. C'mon, people it's punk rock! The word f*ck appears (but much less often than Nick and Norah.) Someone gets a boner. And Katy is result of a groupie and musician hook up. The Rat and Katy's mother are now sober, but this book honestly looks at their drug use in the past and the consequences, without being all Afternoon Special about it. I think it would work in a middle school in all but the most conservative towns, but read and judge for yourself.

More words after the final, final words. I know I am old when I'm older than the parents** in the teen books I'm reading. But that aside, while I love Castellucci's YA books, given that she never falls for the "parents are evil" trap and creates well-rounded, very human people, I would be the happiest person in happydonia if she ever wrote a grown up book.

*I'm a librarian. I cannot resist a list. I knew 10 of the 45 song titles.

** Actually, older than the mom but not the dad.

Links: Beige is Punk: Essential Punk Rock songs
The Chasing Ray review
Cecil Castellucci....Between the buns at Bookburger
Win an ARC contest: Deadline February 20, 2007
The Goddess of YA Literature review