How to use this Page

I was going through the books that I read in 2012 and thought perhaps someone out there was looking for a book to buy as a gift or line up to read in 2013.  I received a bookstore gift card for Christmas and bought The Daughter of Smoke and Bone, because Natalie Zaman said it was great and Executive Editorial Director at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.  I was not disappointed, except for the fact that I had to wait until the end of the year to read book two, The Days of Blood and Starlight.

So, I spent the rest of the money on buying Delirium and Divergent, because they both started with D and I couldn’t remember which of the two was recommended.  I bet the reason I couldn’t remember was because both were recommended, because there I was again wanting more and the next books were not as of yet written – Pandemonium and Insurgent.

Debut author Veronica Roth burst onto the literary scene with Divergent, the first book in her dystopian thriller series filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

I love the way Lauren Oliver writes.  The way she forms her sentences.  How she describes things. Marry that talent with a great story and you really have something memorable.  I didn’t know who she was until I picked up delirium and now I am a big fan.  Can’t wait to read the third book, Requiem and her first book, Before I Fall, which is sitting on my piano calling to me.

Many times the first book of a series is the best, but I think pandemonium was even better than the first. When I reached the final paragraph of the book, I closed it and said, “Perfect.”

You will notice that each of these books does not capitalize the first letter of their title.  Can anyone tell me whether you do the same when you are writing about the book.  You will find it both ways in this post, because I do not know which is correct.  Any help out there?

If you decide to read Daughter of Smoke and Bone, which I loved, I would pick up both books and read them one right after the other, since I had a hard time remembering the names of the characters and who was who after leaving a year between books. I should have gotten up and read a few chapters of the first one before I started reading, but I was too lazy to get up and familiarize myself the first book again.  Not because there was anything wrong with the writing, but I had read so many other books during that in between time that I was mixing all the characters up.

The same thing happened with Divergent and Insurgent.  The author is so intimate with their books and characters that they probably never think about all those books in-between. This did not happen with Delirium and Pandemonium.

So now you won’t have that problem when you read the first book, you will be able to run out and get the second one to read.  They are wonderful books.

Then came Matched - About Cassia who has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when her best friend, Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, she knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees another boys Ky’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it’s a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she’s destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

I gobbled it up and will not have to wait to read the next two books - Crossed, which is waiting for me and Reached, which come out last month. Love the covers of these books, too.

Since I enjoyed so many dystopian books, I picked up Legend.

Once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic’s wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic’s highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths–until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias’s death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

This book is full of action, suspense, and romance. I loved this book and can’t wait to get my hands on the next book, Prodigy, which comes out at the end of January.

Continuing on my search for more books along these lines of fantasy and dystopian novels, I found The Girl of Fire and Thorns and another debut author who nailed her first book.

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness. Elisa is the chosen one. But she is also the younger of two princesses. The one who has never done anything remarkable, and can’t see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs her to be the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

He’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies, seething with dark magic, are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior, and he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young, like most of the chosen do.

A 2012 William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist

One thing that I really liked about this story was how Rae Carson managed to write a story about a princess that was fat without calling her fat and how the situation she puts the princess in caused her to lose weight without the princess being put down and struggling to lose the weight to be accepted.  You just see her end up being slim and how it pays off for her.  Her weight was not the main story.  I just thought she wove that layer into the story with such finesse.

Then Glenn Beck came out with a book titled, Agenda 21, which is written by Harriet Parke.  I thought she did a good job writing the story of after the worldwide implementation of a UN-led program called Agenda 21.  When America is simply known as “the Republic.” There is no president. No Congress. No Supreme Court. No freedom. There are only the Authorities.

Citizens have two primary goals in the new Republic: to create clean energy and to create new human life. Those who cannot do either are of no use to society. This bleak and barren existence is all that eighteen-year-old Emmeline has ever known. She dutifully walks her energy board daily and accepts all male pairings assigned to her by the Authorities. Like most citizens, she keeps her head down and her eyes closed. Until the day they come for her mother.

I enjoyed the book, but it left me feeling like the full story was not told. After all other dystopian type novels I read this year, I felt like I had read half of a story, like it was just going to take off.  Perhaps there is going to be a sequel, but there should have been more story to this one.  Still worth reading and certainly it was a huge opportunity for Harriet Parke to have Glenn Beck put his name on the book - her first novel.  After the end of the story Glenn writes about the real Agenda 21 and how it came about and what it is all about.

After having heard about Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reason Why for years, I decided to read it.  I knew it was about teenage suicide, which was the reason I hadn’t picked it up sooner. It is an excellent book, well written, creatively written, and though it was sad in parts, it was also a page turner and did not leave you on a downer.  I kicked myself for not reading it sooner.

I did the same thing with Jerry’s Spinelli’s Milkweed.  I had read all of Jerry’s books, except for Milkweed, because it was about the Holocaust.  I guess by now you can tell I don’t like to be depressed by a book.  When I finally read Milkweed and closed the book, I said, “What was I thinking?  It was written by Jerry Spinelli.  You should have known it would be good.  In the middle of something so horrific, he wove in humor and showed how even in the worst of times, people try to live, love, and find happiness.”  If you haven’t read these books because you thought they would depress you, run, don’t walk to add them to your list of books to read.

I am a big Laurie Halse Anderson fan.  I have read all her books and this year re-read Twisted.  I love this book.  Everyone talks about Speak (which I agree is good), but in my opinion this one is better.  The protagonist is a teenage boy and she really has that voice nailed down.  The first time I read it, I kept closing the book and looking at the name Laurie and wondering if possibly I was mistaken  that Laurie was a woman and really was a man.  Though I am still upset about reading Chains without knowing that is was part of a series.  I ran out to get Forged without knowing that it was a series of three.  If you haven’t read these books, please wait until 2014, because that is when the third book comes out and you won’t be tormented by having to wait to read the whole thing.

Now how did I end up buying four of Libba Bray’s books?  Libba was speaking at an SCBWI event.  I hadn’t read any of her books, but she is a very interesting speaker, so I decided I would buy a couple of her books and get them signed.  I didn’t have time to really to browse the books, so I picked up  Rebel Angel (I liked the cover) Going Bovine and got her to sign both.  They sat in my pile of books to read, until this year.  When I read the flap of Going Bovine, I decided I wasn’t up to reading about a dying boy, so I read Rebel Angels first and really enjoyed the book.  There were some references to backstory in the book, so I did some further investigating and found out that I had picked up the second book, , of a three book series.  But you know, that book really was able to stand alone.  I totally enjoyed the book, so I had to go out and buy the first, A Great and Terrible Beauty and the third A Sweet Far Thing, which I will get to in 2013.

Libba is a good writer and I did read Going Bovine and enjoyed it, but it is very different and I worried about his parents at the end, even though we see him go off to a better place.  It did not leave me feeling bad, so that was a good thing.

The this past June, editor Leila Sales was part of the faculty and picked up her two books at the bookfair – Mostly Good Girls and Past Perfect.  And because she is an editor and I am a writer, I was looking for things I could say she should have done better.  Mostly Good Girls was Leila’s first book and it had a sexy legs cover, so I started with that expecting to get a book where the girls were edgy.  First let me emphasize I did enjoy the book, but I didn’t get edgy and I found some spots where I could be nit-picky and say she could have done more here or there.

But when I started reading Past Perfect, I was sucked right in and wanted to keep reading until I was done.  The setting was perfect -  set in Williamsburg, so I guess the title is a perfect fit.  I was thinking it was going to have something to do with language (too much writing on this end).  Reminded me of the time I taught art in high school.  I told the kids the first day that we would get into graphics and I had a half of dozen kids drop the class.  I later found out that the thought I was going to do math in the art class – graphics – graphs – see the connection?

Every year I try to read a few if the Newbery books – the new ones and some that are sitting in my pile of books too read.  This year I read Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool which was the 2011 Medal Winner, Turtle in Paradise, which won the 2011 Honor award, and The Graveyard Book, which won the Newbery Medal for 2009.

Newbery Medal Winner: Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos book is still waiting for me (I ran out of time).  You can not go wrong when you pick up a Newbery winning book, so if you are a writer, or a well published author, you should read these books.

At the end of 2011 I picked up Okay for Now, because Editor Daniel Nayeri had talked about it in one of his workshops and said how good it was.  He was right.  I would say it is a perfect middle grade novel. I thought it should have gotten a Newbery for it.  Gary D. Schmidt won a Newbery Honor for Wednesday Wars, so I went out and bought that book.  I really enjoyed that book, too and I like the way some of the characters were tied into Okay for Now.  If you are writing Middle grade book, especially for boys, I would read both of these books.

You might wonder why I read Cirque Du Freak. A few years ago editor Connie Hsu at Little, Brown BFYR mentioned the series, so I picked up the first one and read it.  There are 12 to this series that Darren Shan wrote.  They are excellent, scary, and well written.  J.K. Rowling’s said: “Fast-paced and compelling, full of satisfying macabre touches.” There is a movie, too.

This book is the second of the series.  You might ask, why did you wait to read more when you say they are excellent?  Well, we are back to my little quirk of not wanting to feel bad after reading a book.  I loved the first book, but the premise of the story is to save his friend’s life the boy must go with the Vampire and be his apprentice, but in order to do that he has to become part vampire.  The Vampire fakes the boy’s death and you see the parents morning his death.  I am still bothered by that and worry about his parents.  This year I did some research and it looks like he makes it back to his parents in the end, so I decided I was going to read the rest of the series.  I would say, if you are thinking of getting these book for a young middle grade child, it might be too scary for them, but the story telling is exciting.

Kate DiCamillo was the keynote speaker at the 2012 NJSCBWI Conference, so I bought Because of Winn-Dixie and Tale of the Despereaux, which own the Newbery Award on 2004.  Because of Winn-Dixie was given a Newbery Honor Award in 2001.  So like I said you can’t go wrong reading these books.  Both are short, so it isn’t going to take you long to read.  I actually wasn’t ready to read Tale of Despereaux, but it was sitting on my table and I picked it up and opened it in the middle of the book and read a few sentences.  Little did I know I would want to keep reading.  It is the only book where I read the second half and then the first half.

Play, Louise, Play was sent to me by author Muriel Harris Weinstein when I started working on her website.  I was surprised how much I enjoyed the book.  It is non-fiction and I didn’t expect such lovely writing, plus she had an extremely interesting story to tell – Good writing – good story = good book.  It won THE 2012 PATERSON PRIZE FOR  BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE for Grades 4 -6.  It also was one of 11 books that won the Texas Blue Bonnet Award, which means an automatic purchase of over 20,000 books.

Ame Dyckman and Leeza Hernandez both had picture book come out this year and both are friends.  I have seen both of them and their careers grow and I am so happy for them.

Ame sent me her manuscript before she was going to send it out and as soon as I read it, I knew she and (it) was getting published.  Steve Meltzer (Dial) met her and read her manuscript.  He went up to Scott Treimel  and told him he should think about representing Ame and that is exactly what he did.  The rest is history.  Boy+ Bot is Ame’s first book published, but she already a number of additional picture books in the cue with publishers. I don’t remember when the second one hits, but if you read this blog regularly, you will know.

Leeza Hernandez started out as an illustrator and was inspired to write her own picture book after coming up with an adorable illustration of a dog.  Penguin saw the dog and immediately contracted the book.  Here book Dog Gone came out in June.  Both of these books are adorable – great artwork and great story. Leeza has a ton of things going on more picture books that she is illustrating for big name people and more books written and illustrated by her.  Both of these people are  writers to watch.  They are going to be big names in the industry.  Leeza was featured on Illustrator Saturday Click Here to see.

As most of you know I do Jerry and Eileen Spinelli’s websites, so I read all their books.  Of course that is not a problem, because the two of them write wonderful books.  It seems like Eileen is good for five or six book every year.  She always ends up with a fantastic illustrator, so all her books are special.  I do have a favorite and I bring it out and many times to show other writers, friends and children.  That book is When You are Happy.  That book is so beautiful – so much soul.  The perfect book for a parent or grandparent to give their child.  Every time I read it, I remember how much my parents loved me and that they sent this book to me to remind me of their love.  I see this book as a treasure that children will want to hold on to and remember that same feeling when they are adults.

Cold Snap is a gorgeous book.  The snow sparkles on the cover and pages.  It really has the WOW factor and would be a great present for someone this time of year.

Together at Christmas combines Eileen’s perfect rhyme and caring soul with beautiful illustrations from a wonderful new illustrator from China.  Bin Lee captures the true spirit of Christmas with his illustrations.  Take a look when you are in the book store.

Eileen you can catch a glimpse of the funny side of Eileen in Miss Fox’s Class Gets It Wrong. Ann Kennedy created the illustration for the perfect fit to this book.

Dianne Ochiltree sent me her picture book, Molly by Golly: The Legend of Molly Williams, America’s First Female Firefighter. I featured Kathleen Kemly the illustrator this year on Illustrator Saturday and showed you a lot of the artwork before the book came out.  It is really a great picture book that perfectly combines story with art.  Click here to view Kathleen Kemly Illustrator Saturday post.

Then I featured author/illustrator Roger Roth on Illustrator Saturday and he was kind enough to send me two books that I admired – The Roller Coaster and a book that his wife wrote and he illustrated titled, Star of the Week.  They adopted an Asian baby girl (she is no longer a baby), but they wrote this book for her and you can just feel the love they have for her oozing from the pages. BEAUTIFUL!  Click here to see Roger’s feature.  Most of the artwork is there for your pleasure.

Another talented featured author/illustrator, Carlyn Beccia sent me one of her picture books, probably because she knew I loved her artwork, so when I found a copy of Who Put the B in the Ballyhoo?  I snatch it up. The artwork in this book  is awesome.  I’m a big fan. Click here to see Carlyn’s Illustrator Saturday post.

Then Kathi Ember sent me a copy of one of her picture books, Mother’s Day Surprize, after she was featured on Illustrator Saturday.  It is about a snake named Violet who watches the other animals make Mother’s Day gift for their mom’s and tires to think of something nice that she can make for her mother.  I love Kathie’s illustrations.  You can see her work by clicking here.

Ame Dyckman sent me I Want My Hat Back written and illustrated by Jon Klassen when I was getting my knee replaced.  I hadn’t read any of his books, but it is another perfect picture book.  Thanks Ame for introducing him to me.

On Black Friday, Amazon had a great deal on a Kindle Fire, so I bought myself a Christmas present.  My first purchase for the Kindle was Stephen King’s book ON WRITING.  Who would think a “how to” book could be so interesting and such a good read.  I love the way he talks about problems and solutions with his own books and ties in the events in his life that influenced his books and how he give you such straight talk about how to approach writing a novel. I am so glad I listened to the writers around me telling me to buy the book.  Love it!  Stephen King’s On Writing Book is the first “How to” book that I have read from cover to cover.

Everyone one says you have to read to be a good writer.  Stephen reads about 80 a year and  he says that is low.

I won Writing and Selling the YA Novel by K. L. Going at the June NJSCBWI conference and like her advice in this book.  She is an author and used to be a literary agent.  I use it mostly as reference and pull it out and read sections, when I need some guidance.

If you have any suggestions on what I should add to this year’s book list, please let me know.  Right now I have the following:

Before I Fall – Lauren Oliver

Everyday – David Levithan

Crossed – Allyson Condie

Reached – Allyson Condie

Prodigy – Marie Lu

Crown of Embers – Rae Carson

Requiem – Lauren Oliver

Dead End at  Norvelt – Gantos

A Sweet and Far Thing – Libba Bray

Cirque Du Freak – Book 3

Killing Kennedy Bill O’Reilly

Can you help me fill my list?

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

IT IS TIME TO NOMINATE WRITING AND ILLUSTRATING www.kathytemean.wordpress.com for the WRITER’S DIGEST’S 101 BEST WEBSITES FOR WRITERS!

If you have enjoyed the articles and information you received everyday this year, please help by dominating my blog. Submit an email to [email protected] to nominate my blog www.kathytemean.wordpress.com

I would greatly appreciate your help.

Thanks!