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It’s Tony season and who better to educate us about the wonderful world of theatre than Thomas S. Hischak, author of The Oxford Companion To The American Musical: Theatre, Film and Television. Hischak is a Professor of Theatre at the State University of New York College at Cortland. He is the author of sixteen books on theater, film, and popular music as well as the author of twenty published plays. In The Oxford Companion To The American Musical Hischak offers over two thousand entires on musicals, performers, composers, lyricists, producers, choreographers and much more. Below are the answers to this morning’s quiz. Be sure to check back next week on Tuesday for another quiz about the Tonys.

1. The musical Passion (1994) ran only 280 performances, the shortest run on record for a Best Musical winner. Hallelujah, Baby! (1967) ran only two weeks longer but it had closed before it won the Tony so the award could not help business.

2. Poet T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) won when his light verse was set to music by Andrew Lloyd Webber for Cats (1982).

3. Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Mostel won for the original 1962 production, Silvers and Lane won for the 1972 and 1996 revivals, and Alexander won when he played Pseudolus and other roles in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (1989).

4. The Threepenny Opera (1954). In 1956 the American Theatre Wing gave a special Tony to the long-running Off Broadway musical.

5. It was their Broadway debut. Bosley in Fiorello! (1959), Smith in Follies (1971), Holliday in Dreamgirls (1981), Martin in My Favorite Year (1992), McDonald in Carousel (1994), Heredia in Rent (1996) and Foster in Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002).

6. Chicago. The 1997 production won the Revival Tony and is still running.

7. Ethel Merman lost to Mary Martin in The Sound of Music in 1960. Bernadette Peters lost in 2004. Angela Lansbury won in 1975, Tyne Daly in 1990. Will Patti LuPone follow suit?

8. Best Orchestrations. Jonathan Tunick won for Titanic.

9. Frankie Michaels as Young Patrick in Mame and Daisy Eagan as Mary Lenox in The Secret Garden.

10. Tommy Tune. He has Tonys for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Best Director of a Musical, and Best Choreographer. Harvey Fierstein has also won Tonys in four different categories but half were for nonmusicals: as author of Best Play, Best Actor in a Play, Best Actor in a Musical, and Best Book for a Musical.

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Kristen Tracy also snuck in to list her favorite 2007 reads. Now I'll let her have the floor:

Rather than a comprehensive list, I picked the five most fabulous books that I read last year. Also, I'm going to explain why I found them so fabulous.

I LOVED Margot Rabb's CURES FOR HEARTBREAK. I thought it was basically a perfect book: charming, poignant, honest, funny, and the language had real integrity. Loved it!

I really liked Erin Vincent's GRIEF GIRL too. It was a sincere book, and I admired the way it confronted sudden loss. It didn't flinch. I thought it was raw and bold.

I read Jennifer Egan for the first time and I was glad that I found her. Her book THE INVISIBLE CIRCUS was incredibly interesting, and I was 100% hooked on it right until the end. The language was fabulous.

In 2005, one of my former students insisted that I read Beth Lisick's book EVERYBODY INTO THE POOL. It took me a year, but I finally got to it. It was the best! It was hilarious and enlightening and her storytelling seemed anchored by a certain wacky soberness that I found utterly compelling. At some point in my life, I hope, hope, hope to be seated next to her at a dinner party.

Okay. I said only five, and now I feel like a big liar-face, because I'm going to close with two authors, and taken together they exceed one book. Last year, I read every book Sherman Alexie ever wrote (poems and prose). He is an amazing writer and I have complete admiration for his stuff. Also, I read Libba Bray's A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY and REBEL ANGELS and I thought they were both smashing and fearless. Lots of texture. Lovely writing. And I admire the work's historical scope.

There are a slew of other authors out there that I read and loved last year: Scott Westerfeld, John Green, M.T. Anderson (I actually met him and John at a book event in Kalamazoo and taught them both a thing or two about bear safety -- I hope), E. Lockhart, Justine Larbalestier, Elizabeth Scott, Deb Caletti, Cecil Castellucci, Rachel Cohn, David Levithan (whom I always pronounce Leviathan for some reason), Maureen Johnson, and on and on. Very fertile fields out there.

Find out what other authors have read and loved this year.

Laura Bowers snuck in her list of favorite young adult books she read in 2007:

13 Reasons Why, Jay Asher ("SO awesome!")

An Abundance of Katherines, John Green

Breathing Underwater, Alex Flinn

Head Case, Sarah Aronson

How to be Popular, Meg Cabot

Invisible, Pete Hautman

Saint Iggy, K.L. Going ("My favorite out of this list.")

I have backdated this post so that it's in line with the other posts.

Find out what other authors have read and loved this year.

Here are Laurie Stolarz's top 5 faves of 2007:

Breaking Up: Fashion High by Aimee Friedman
Breathe My Name by R.A. Nelson
What Happened to Cass McBride by Gail Giles
Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, visit Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

In-between working on revisions for her upcoming book and keeping her cat away from her holiday decorations, author Caridad Ferrer gave me a list of books she enjoyed reading this year.

Heartbreak Hotel - Anne Rivers Siddons
The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Elizabeth George Speare
Boy Toy - Barry Lyga (She notes this is probably her favorite of the new books she read this
year.)
Atlantis Rising - Alyssa Day
Rising Wind - Cindy Holby
Michael Tolliver Lives - Armistead Maupin
Boom!: Voices of the Sixties Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today - Tom Brokaw
Love Actually - Richard Curtis (Screenplay)

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, visit Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

E. Lockhart was writing a novel when I interrupted her to ask what great books she read this year. The rest of this post should be read in her voice, as they are her words:

I always write up my favorite YA books on my blog, so I'm going to give you a list that reflects the adult books I most loved this year -- though actually, I think older teenagers would probably like all of them, too.

You'll see I'm an eclectic reader, and also that I took it pretty EASY this year. I had way more writing to do than usual, so my reading was light, relaxing -- and fun city.

• The Gourmet Cookbook. I got this about a year and a half ago for my birthday and it is a stellar and fun-to-read cookbook. Recently I made an amazing cranberry coffee cake and awesome pimento cheese. It has recipes for everything.

• P.G. Wodehouse, Pigs Have Wings. This is a Blandings Castle story involving the Shropshire Fat Pigs competition and a lot of country house hijinks, written with Plum's inimitable style. I love to read Wodehouse before bed, as he sends me off to sleep feeling the world is a comical, jolly place.

• Janet Evanovich, first three in the Stephanie Plum series, One for the Money, etc. ON AUDIO. This last part is crucial. The actress is Lori Petty, and she only did the first three Plum books -- after that they switched to someone else. But Petty is perfect. So funny. So Jersey. These are great for a long car-ride or a stint at the gym.

• Mo Willems, You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons: The World on One Cartoon a Day. The author of Knufflebunny spent a chunk of his youth touring around and drawing amusing sketches of scenes he witnessed in Thailand, India, Japan, China, Israel, Turkey, and more. A fast and addictive read that's also full of astute observations.

• Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale. I love a good gothic country house story -- and this has bibliophilia, too! And weird twins!

• Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle. I re-read this, and it's just so lovely and wonderful and sad and joyful and funny.

• Matt Groenig, Will & Abe's Guide to the Universe. Heh heh heh.

Oh, and since it's the holiday season and people are buying gifts for the picture book set, here is what I've read over and over this year for the younger crowd -- good presents for people age 3-7 that will make grown-ups happy, too.

Meg Rosoff, Meet Wild Boars, illus. Sophie Blackall
Beverly D'Onofrio, Mary and the Mouse, the Mouse and Mary, illus. Barbara McClintock
LeUyen Pham, Big Sister, Little Sister
Amy Schwartz, The Glorious Day

When asked to name her favorite books of the year, author Rachel Cohn replied:

"My reading was sadly remiss this year, but of the books I did read, my absolute favorite (quickly vaulting into my all-time favorites list, not just of the year) was Jaclyn Moriarty's I HAVE A BED MADE OF BUTTERMILK PANCAKES, the Canadian/Australian edition of the book that was published as a YA in the U.S. this year as THE SPELL BOOK OF LISTEN TAYLOR."

I must say I like the original title. Mmm, pancakes!

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, visit Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

For more from Rachel, stick around - I'm posting a new interview shortly!

I've received so many great responses from authors for Their Favorite Books that I'll be doubling up almost every day from here on out! Today's second helping comes from Tara Altebrando. Books that captured her attention this year included:

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
And Then We Came to the End by Josh Ferris
The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
Old School by Tobias Wolff
Skin by Adrienne Maria Vrettos

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, visit Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

Here are some treasures Justina Chen Headley enjoyed and shared this year:

The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr
Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes
The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg
On Becoming Fearless by Arianna Huffington
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Learn more about the Go Overboard Challenge Grant.

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, visit Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

In this never-before-seen poem, Jennifer Lynn Barnes shares her favorite books of 2007.

'Twas the night before Christmas
And all through Jen's brain
Danced stories and sagas
Whose imprints won't wane:

Like Grief Girl -
So poignant, moreover, so true
Or first breakups, first loves
In a novel called Bloom

Then there's series that ended
Like Potter and Pants
And the historical magic
Of a wildwood dance

Characters well-remembered
Long after they're read
Like a family of Weasleys
(Rest in peace, Fred)

From Tyler in Twisted
To Edward and Bella
To a countess-slash-maid
And her noble-birth fella

Plus six superheroes
(Five teen and one pre-)
and dear Emma Jean Lazarus,
who fell out of a tree.

So many stories
That fight the good fight
So thank you, dear authors
For all that you write
And (had to say it) -
Merry Christmas to all
And to all, a good night

Books Referenced:
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
Bloom by Elizabeth Scott
Grief Girl by Erin Vincent
A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson
Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis
Runaways by Brian K Vaughn
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Girls in Pants by Ann Brashares
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

Other Favorites:

Favorite super-cool nonfiction book for sciencey folks: Parallel Worlds: The Science of Alternate Universes and Our Future in the Cosmos by Michio Kaku

Favorite adult book: My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson

Favorite adult urban fantasy: Stray by Rachel Vincent

Favorite book read in ARC form: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E Lockhart

Book That I Read For the First Time This Year, But Really Wish I'd Read as a Kid: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Thanks, Jen, for such a unique and fun response!

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, visit Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

Author Kerry Madden created this list, which she says is "just some of my favorite titles of past and present in children's and YA books!"

A CHRISTMAS MEMORY by Truman Capote
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
A MEMBER OF THE WEDDING by Carson McCullers
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN by Betty Smith
THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS by Katherine Paterson
THE AURORA COUNTY ALL STARS by Deborah Wiles
THE PLAIN JANES by Cecil Castellucci
RULES OF SURVIVAL by Nancy Werlin
HOW TO STEAL A DOG by Barbara O'Connor
GRIEF GIRL by Ellen Vincent
SIDE EFFECTS by Amy Koss
EVERLOST by Neal Shusterman
FIREGIRL by Tony Abbott
STANFORD WONG FLUNKS BIG TIME by Lisa Yee
LONG GONE DADDY by Helen Hemphill
WAIT TILL HELEN COMES by Mary Downing Hahn
KATIE JOHN by Mary Calhoun
THE MINER'S DAUGHTER by Gretchen Moran Laskas
ON THE HEAD OF A PIN by Mary Beth Miller
WEEDFLOWER by Cynthia Kadahota
BLIND FAITH by Ellen Wittlinger
BLUE by Joyce Moyer Hostetter
CLEMENTINE BOOKS by Sara Pennypacker
THAT GIRL LUCY MOON by Amy Timberlake
A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT by Linda Urban
LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL by Joanna Knowles
BELLE PRATER'S BOY by Ruth White
THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY by Susan Patron
HATTIE BIG SKY by Kirby Lawson
LOOKING FOR ALASKA by John Green
THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN by Sherman Alexie

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, visit Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

Here's what Tom Sniegoski calls "a quick list of the cool stuff that I read in 2007."

The Ruins by Scott Smith
Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Baltimore by Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola
Berserk by Tim Lebbon
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan

He adds, "These were all a blast."

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, visit Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

Tonight, author Deb Caletti will be chatting with readers via readergirlz.

Today, she lists her favorite reads of the year.

Young adult pick: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie: "He's a fellow Seattle-ite, and I read the book cover-to-cover with barely a pause. [It] stayed with me."

Two memoirs she couldn't put down: Truth and Beauty by Anne Patchett and The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

Two pieces of literary fiction: In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien and The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty

More fiction: "I also loved The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank so much that I promptly read her next one, The Wonder Spot. Both delightful."

Non-fiction: "I read a great deal of nonfiction - mostly about psychology and human behavior. I am currently reading Love at Goon Park, which is the story of Harry Harlow's studies on human affection and is very interesting."

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, visit Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

When Tracie Vaughn Zimmer isn't writing books of her own, she is very likely composing teacher guides for other books or reading. Here are her favorite reads of 2007:

THIS IS JUST TO SAY by Joyce Sidman
MISS SPITFIRE by Sarah Miller
EMMA JEAN LAZARUS FELL OUT OF A TREE by Emma Tarshi
LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL by Jo Knowles
RED GLASS by Resau
TAP DANCING ON THE ROOF by Linda Sue Park
NEW and SELECTED POEMS by MARY OLIVER ("I read this at least once a year.")
WINTER MORNING WALKS by Ted Kooser
THE HOUND FROM THE POUND by Jessica Swaim ("My favorite picture book!")
A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT by Linda Urban
HEAD CASE by Sarah Aronson

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, visit Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

Author Sara Holmes told me she read many great books this year, but she had the strongest emotional reaction to the following titles.

The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean

Sara nominated this book for the Cybils. "I loved every word of this amazing book. The writing is breathtaking, and the plot just pulls you along. And most of all, you completely believe in the inner world of the main character, which is incredible because this is a girl with an long-dead explorer for an imaginary friend."

Looking For Alaska by John Green

Sara posted about hearing John Green speak at SCBWI-L.A. She said he was "honest on the page, and honest in person."

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

"I love books like this: books that set up an improbable approach to a story and then totally pull it off by the sheer toughness and brilliance of the writing. As a writer, it's like watching an author do a high-wire act. He's not going to try THAT, is he? OMG, he is!!!

"Some may say that parts of this book didn't work for them; I loved every last gutsy bit of it. It engaged all of my reading self: the emotional side, which rode waves of anxiety and grief and anger and joy with the characters; and the intellectual/writerly side which reveled in the language and the wry jokes and the metaphors. And then to sate the visual side of me, there were wrenching and brilliant illustrations to savor as well."

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie

"Makes the short list of 'Books I've kissed' this year. Yeah, I love it that much."

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, visit Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

When asked to list her favorite books read this year, author Robin Brande replied, "It's so hard to choose! I read so many great books!" (I know the feeling!) So, exclamation points and agony aside, here's what Robin ultimately selected:

ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE by Barbara Kingsolver
EAT, PRAY, LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert
AUSTENLAND by Shannon Hale
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by J.K. Rowling
SPANKING SHAKESPEARE by Jake Wizner

Find out what others have read and loved this year.

For more author picks, check Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

It's Dia Calhoun's turn to list her favorite books that she's read this year:

The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

Sold by Patricia McCormick

Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley (coming out in January 2008)

The First Part Last by Angela Johnson

Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

For more author picks, check Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

Here are the books that stayed on Lorie Ann Grover's mind this year.

Girl Overboard by Justina Chen Headley (coming out in January 2008)
Dragon's Keep by Janet Lee Carey
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Glass by Ellen Hopkins
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill
A Winter Rose by Jennifer Donnelly (coming out in January 2008)
The Distinguishing Traits of Christian Character by Gardiner Spring

For more author picks, check Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month! (In fact, I just may post another list this afternoon . . . )

Sarah Miller and I have a lot of things in common. We're both booksellers, we're both writers (though her novel is on the shelves while mine is still only in my brain), and we're both list-makers. Of all of the books she's read this year, here are Sarah's favorites.

* = one of her top five picks of the year

2007 Middle Grade:
*The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick
*Aurora County All-Stars, by Deborah Wiles
A Crooked Kind of Perfect, by Linda Urban
Me and the Pumpkin Queen, by Marlane Kennedy

2007 Young Adult:
*The Wednesday Wars, by Gary D. Schmidt
*Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature, by Robin Brande
*Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale
13 Reasons Why, by Jay Asher

2007 Picture Books:
Let it Shine, by Ashley Bryan
That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown, by Cressida Cowell
Different Like Coco, by Elizabeth Matthews (picture book bio)

2007 Graphic Novels:
The Arrival, by Shaun Tan
The Plain Janes, by Cecil Castellucci

Adult Releases:
Lottery, by Patricia Wood
Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life, by Pamela Smith Hill

2008 releases:
Curse Dark as Gold, by Elizabeth C. Bunce
Trouble, by Gary D. Schmidt

Backlist:
The Braid, by Helen Frost
Straw Into Gold, by Gary D. Schmidt
Triangle, by David Von Drehle (adult non-fiction)
Triangle, by Katharine Weber (adult fiction)

Audio Backlist:
Clementine, by Sara Pennypacker
The Little House series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, performed by Cherry Jones
A Year Down Yonder, by Richard Peck

Sarah's readergirlz chat is tonight. Join us at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST at the readergirlz forum.

This is the second installment of Their Favorite Books of 2007 in which favorite authors tell me what they've read and enjoyed this year. For more author picks, check Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

Welcome to Their Favorite Books of 2007, a little end-of-the-year project of mine in which favorite authors tell me what they've read and enjoyed this year.

Kicking things off is none other than horror author Christopher Golden, who selected five titles:

HEART-SHAPED BOX by Joe Hill
THE DEVIL YOU KNOW by Mike Carey
THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN by James Lee Burke
THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy
THE BLUE GIRL by Charles de Lint

Thanks, Chris!

It's no secret that I'm a friend of Golden's and a huge fan of his writing. I have discussed Golden's books a great deal at his blog. Feel free to check out my previous posts, such as this author spotlight.

For more author picks, check Bildungsroman every weekday for the rest of the month!

The rules were simple: Name your favorite books that you read in 2007. They can be for any age group, from any genre, and published in any year. (In other words, do not limit yourself to books published in 2007.)

The participants: Authors.

Beginning today and continuing every weekday for the next two weeks, I will be posting booklists created by contemporary authors you know and love. Then, on December 31st / January 1st, I'll post my own list.

Who will be dropping by Bildungsroman this month? My lips are sealed. Come by every weekday to see who's here.

Just wait until you see who's read what.

So far . . .
Monday, December 10th: Christopher Golden