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Recently I came across these amazing book trailers made by students. I love them.

For LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL:



And for JUMPING OFF SWINGS:



THANK YOU so much to the makers of these trailers! They are amazing! :-)

Recently I received an e-mail from a reader with some very thought-provoking questions about LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL. They were so thought-provoking, I wanted to take time to think about how to answer. But when I finally did, my message bounced. So Jasmine, I have no idea if you read my blog, but here you go. And thanks again for your great message.

Hi Jasmine!

Thanks for letting me know your feelings about the book. I'm so glad you liked it! I really love all of your questions, but the truth is, the book belongs to you now, and you have permission to answer all those questions for yourself. Your questions are all wonderful and thought-provoking. This is the best gift a writer could get: To know that your story made someone think deeply about the character's motivations and back-story. But as writers, we are limited to the words we put on paper. Once the book is published, the story doesn't belong to us any more. It belongs to the reader. And the reader gets to decide all the unanswered questions.

I hope you don't find this response frustrating. But it's the truth. I can't answer these for you. But you can.

Thanks for being an amazing reader. Keep it up!

Best,

Jo

Did you know it’s Banned Book Week? I think this is especially poignant with the recent attempt at challenging Laurie Halse Anderson’sSpeak and Twisted; Ellen Hopkins’ disinvite and the censorship of Burned; and the recent challenge of Jo Knowles’ Lessons from a Dead Girl. Those are all wonderful, powerful, truly *important* YA books that deserve to reach people–that teens and adults should have the chance to discover and read.

I may be extra sensitive to book banning, since my parents literally burned and tore up some of my favorite books, and prevented me from having access to books through removing all my books for weeks at a time as punishment when I (quite desperately) depended on books as survival. And also because they consistently tried to silence me.

Books are so important, and a way for people to find validation, support, and information in a safe way that they wouldn’t otherwise find out about. They offer healing, a widening of the world and of dreams, and for me, they have been soul food. So to hear about people trying to prevent others from reading any book makes me angry. If you don’t want to read a book yourself, that’s fine–walk away from it. But to try to keep a book from everyone, or from a group of people? That’s not okay.

I found one of my favorite picture books, And Tango Makes Three, about a gay penguin couple, through book banning and challenges. So sometimes book banning may help to get the word out…to *some* people. But it prevents others from finding these wonderful books, and it saddens and angers me that this happens at all–and still happens today. To me it seems like an act of oppression, and of power. Something I’m quite familiar with.

I hope you’ll consider buying (or borrowing) and reading some of these banned books–and sharing them with others. I hope, too, that you’ll

This morning I was pointed to this fantastic article in the New York Times called "Coming Out in Middle School." You can read it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27out-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Then I got an update about the Kentucky challenge Lessons From A Dead Girl is facing. One of the biggest objections to the book is that it contains "inappropriate themes" including "homosexuality."

Here's my handy MacBookPro dictionary definition of "inappropriate":

inappropriate
adjective
UNSUITABLE, unfitting, unseemly, unbecoming, unbefitting, improper, impolite; incongruous, out of place/keeping, inapposite, inapt, infelicitous, ill-suited; ill-judged, ill-advised; informal out of order/line; formal malapropos. antonym suitable.

How can homosexuality be any of these things?

Every time I hear about challenges like these, my heart breaks a little. And at the same time, I feel myself standing a little bit taller, ready to stand up for what I think. I'm usually pretty quiet. Passive. But sometimes, there are moments when every part of me is saying NO. Don't sit back and say OK, you win. If we do that, no one wins. Kids will still get bullied. Beat up. Nearly destroyed. People who love each other will still be kept from being able to marry each other. From having basic equal rights. From feeling safe to walk down the sidewalk doing something as innocent and tender as holding hands.

And my heart breaks a lot for all the kids out there living in areas that are openly hostile toward homosexuality. How do we help them? How do we make a difference?

One way, is to make sure ALL kids continue to have books that help them see different points of view. That help them to be a little more understanding and compassionate. A little more open-minded.

One way is to keep fighting censorship.

Thanks.

From Jumping Off Swings:

Corinne used to jump off the swings when we were kids. Just let go of the chains and take flight without a trace of fear. I'd watch her jump, wishing I could be that brave. But I'd always hang on, waiting to slow down first, always mindful of my mother's warning: You'll break a leg if you're not careful! But now I don't care.

I send myself jetting into the air. Corinne shrieks in surprise. I'm flying. Just for a second. But I'm flying.

When I land hard on my feet, the sting goes all the way up to my teeth.

Corinne lands heavily beside me and falls to the ground. I fall down next to her. We laugh out loud and roll around, pretending to be injured. It feels so good. My stomach muscles ache from not being used to laughing.

But she's looking behind me, into the distance. She stops smiling. And I know by the look on her face. I know before I turn around. He's here.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Several weeks ago, I put out a request for people to send me photos of themselves taking that very brave leap that sends them back to childhood. Here is the result. Please click the speaker symbol at the top for sound. :-)




Thank you, dear friends, for sharing your daring moments. I love you guys!!!!

With less than a month to go before its August 11 pub date, I thought it would be great to add even more photos. You can help me celebrate by sending me a photo of you jumping off a swing, or even just swinging on a swing. I will add it to my slide show, and enter you in a contest for a chance to win not only a copy of Jumping Off Swings, but a paperback copy of Lessons From A Dead Girl which will also make its debut on August 11.

I know there seem to be a million contests going on right now, but since when are there too many free books? :-)

If you’d like to help me spread the word about Jumping Off Swings and Lessons From A Dead Girl—and increase your chance of winning on of three sets—here are some ways to do that:

* Post about and link to this contest on your blog (any blog, doesn't have to be LJ).
* Link to the contest on Twitter or Facebook
* Send me a photo of you jumping off a swing, or just swinging
* Tell your local librarian about the book
* Telling a friend about the book
* Do today’s prompt and leave it in the comments below
* Simply leave a comment below saying you’d like to be entered

Just let me know in the comments what you've done. For each helpful effort, I’ll give you an extra entry. Thanks so much!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Monday Morning Warm-Up:

Write a sentence or phrase that best describes how you feel when you jump off a swing. If you share your entry in the comments, I’ll share it later. Thanks again!!

xo

I don't even know where to start in thanking all of you for your support yesterday. I shared most of your notes and all of your information, and it was gratefully received. (If you don't have a Live Journal account, I'm sorry you don't know what I'm talking about. In a nutshell, LESSONS got it's first challenge and unfortunately put other books—and a book group—in danger, too.)

The meeting is this morning and I will keep you all posted about what happens.

Please send our friend in Kentucky strength and positive vibes!

Here is a quote eluper shared with me recently. Lets not forget it.

"When we turn away from tough material in stories that kids face every day in real life, we take ourselves off the short list of people to turn to. Kids would much rather we found ways to discuss those tough issues than to pretend they don't exist. They will always come up in real life, it seems to me we want to be there when they do. Kids say over and over that we don't understand. Why don't we see if we can prove them wrong once in a while?" --Chris Crutcher

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

jenlibrarian has declared today GOOD VIBES DAY.

I'm sending them out to all of you.

:-)

Yesterday, meredith_wood posted a really interesting review of LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL on her blog. Instead of reviewing the book as a reader, she reviewed it as a writer. This is one of the things I ask my writing students to do at Simmons (to other books, not mine, heh), and Meredith's entry is a great example. --And I'm not just being biased because she reviewed my book. Though, I must admit, I am really excited and flattered that another writer liked the book enough to write a writer's review of it.

If you're interested, you can see the post here: http://meredith-wood.livejournal.com/78126.html

Thanks Meredith!!!

My editor told me that LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL has been chosen to be included in the New York Public Library's annual list, Books for the Teen Age, 2008.

I'm so excited! And shocked! Wow!

That news definitely canceled out the scary bad previous 24 hours for sure. :-)

Also, I have a confused fan:

DEAR MR. KNOWLES
I´M A GREAT FAN OF YOU. PLEASE SEND ME AN AUTOGRAPH, SIGNED BY PERSONAL SIGNATURE. PLEASE !
THANK YOU !
WITH COMPLIMENTS
JXXXXXXX UXXXXXXX [name removed to protect the... innocent?]
GERMANY

:-)

I wonder what they do with these signatures, if they get any? Try to sell them, I assume. Do they really make a lot of money off this stuff?

Well, anyway, it's nice to have a great fan. Even if he thinks I'm a guy.

Holy Cow! This weekend I found out that LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL is a suggested read over at http://www.readergirlz.com! Woah! I am SOOOOO excited!!!!!

This is the list:

A Little Friendly Advice, by Siobhan Vivian
Stay With Me, by Garrett Freymann-Weyr
Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
Kissing the Bee, by Kathe Koja
Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles
Red: The Next Generation of American Writers

I cannot believe my book is sandwiched in there with all those amazing books! And there's even a forum topic on the Readergirlz Myspace so if you want to talk about and compare these books that is the place to be! (http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewThread&entryID=57531090&groupID=104754972&adTopicID=19&Mytoken=46A642B0-61AC-4753-A144245F1DF32AEF88032194) Sorry, whenever I try to do a link it never seems to work.

THANKS Readergirlz!! I'm donating a book for them to give away, too. Details to come!

And since I seem to be on a BSP kick, special thanks to Bri at "Bri Meets Books" for her thoughtful review of Lessons from A Dead Girl (http://bribookblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/review-lessons-from-dead-girl.html). :-)

In other news...

Yesterday I shoveled out our fake luge track and it was AMAZING. The sides are so high now, it's like sledding though a beautiful snow tunnel. So. Fun. It will be the only thing I miss from this winter. For sure. We have so much snow here it's a bit overwhelming. I really cannot imagine how long it will take to melt. I fear flooding. Sincerely. Also? Mud. There is going to be a lot of mud.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Monday Morning Warm-Up:

Brought to you by mistake by cfaughnan, who was talking about something else during the writing club I visited, but the students picked up on it and took it as the prompt: "I wish I could remember..."

Have fun! Share! :-)

Wow!

JacketFlap (a one stop place for resources about children's lit) has been a great supporter of the Cybils, and look what they did: see that cool widget on the sidebar?

Yes. Tracy at Jacket Flap not only did it, but here is the page with the code that makes it easy to not only make, but, if you're on Blogspot (like me), super easy to put into your template.

Cybils have closed, and at some point I'll do some posts of the books that have been nominated.

Hmmm. I wonder how the widget determines the vocabulary level. Keep in mind that I often use a hyperlink for a word that I think is the mot juste, so that the people who know the word can read on, and the people who don't can easily look up the word if they so desire. Thanks to Fuse#8 for the link.

I've been at a conference for three days, I'm looking for an easy post, plus it's fun.

By Evan Schnittman

Corey Podolsky has written an excellent essay, Book Widgets and Book Selling 2.0 that clearly explains the thinking behind the large scale repository efforts underway at a few publishing giants. He posits wisely that Web 2.0 viral marketing, especially on sites like MySpace.com, is wonderfully afoot. These publishers have enabled their content to be safely and securely discovered and displayed in the hope that at some point, some sort of monetary transaction will occur. (more…)

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I am pleased to introduce Corey Podolsky (bio at the bottom) who will, in the upcoming months, help us decipher some of the issues surrounding digital publishing and marketing. Corey is an Oxford insider but his opinions differ from Evan Schnittman’s. I think it is helpful to know that while we all work together at Oxford, we also all have different visions for the future. Check back tomorrow for Evan’s response.

What do Amway, MySpace and Oxford University Press have in common?

Amway is famous for its viral business model, recruiting thousands (perhaps tens of thousands?) of people globally to sell its products, each joining as independent contractors tasked with selling products and expanding the sales force by receiving commissions from subsequent recruit’s sales. (more…)

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I've added a label cloud!

I admit I wasn't too comfortable playing with the html and I'm still trying to decide where on blog to have the cloud.

If you're interested, the code came from WebWeaver's World. I followed the directions exactly, and hey, it worked! There are some things you can change; for example, I set it to show only labels I have used at least 10 times, and also changed the maximum and minimum font sizes. The instructions are very clear.