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This blog is now closed. I'll be closing comments here, at Big A little a, as well as the [email protected] address. You can always reach me at [email protected].
Hello Everyone! So this is the most tardy Weekend Reviews post ever. Not only is it Wednesday, but this post actually covers the weekends of April 16-17 and April 9-10. April in academia is crazy, so it's catch up time. Here's what's been reviewed in the major media recently:
Rachel Pepper reviews Malinda Lo's Huntress for the Bay Area Reporter. ("
Lo's lush descriptions of the physical landscapes her characters reside in, and the perils they encounter on their journey, make the pages turn effortlessly. Her ability to populate these worlds with compelling young lesbian characters is an added bonus for LGBT readers.")
Joanna H. Kraus considers Brian Katcher's Almost Perfect in a series of reviews of recent award-winning titles for The Oakland Tribune. (Kraus calls Almost Perfect a "novel about a transgender teen is conversational, compelling and compassionate.")
Pam Norfolk reviews Maggie Stiefvater's Lament for Longridge News (U.K.): "Lament, a beautifully written and haunting story of good and evil, love and hate, the spiritual, the temporal and the power of emotions, is about as good as teen fiction gets."
Susan Carpenter reviews Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor, for the Los Angeles Times. ("The book is similar in theme to many other coming-of-age fantasies, but the details are distinctly African, the language unrushed and elegant. The dresses the girls wear are crafted from traditional raffia ribbon. The sounds of Fela Kuti and other Afrobeat musicians are often playing in the background of the action.")
And, Matthew Finch reviews Akata Witch for The Brooklyn Rail.Looking for books for teens about London? Mary-Liz Shaw has a recommendation or two in The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.
Mechele R. Dillard reviews Jennifer Laurens's Overprotected in the Atlanta Examiner.
0 Comments on Weekend Young Adult (and Crossover) Reviews as of 1/1/1900
As with this week's review post, this news roundup is a two-week edition and quite tardy. Better late than never, I suppose, so here's what I've found interesting lately:
Anne Joseph profiles Meg Rosoff for The Jewish Chronicle Online in an article titled "Why Meg Rosoff's best-selling teen fiction is secretly so Jewish."
Brian Truitt writes about the forthcoming graphic novel versions of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy in USAToday. (Sample pages available.)
And here's an ongoing discussion about teens, education, and required reading hosted by Ta-Nehisi Coates on The Atlantic's site. It's a debate that will never die, but there are many interesting comments to the post about literary analysis and high school reading.
And in a related article, Patrick Ness takes on "unsuitable" books for teens in the Guardian. (Adult books he recommends for teens, really, including
The Catcher in the Rye,
The Stand, etc.)
Jennifer Arrow takes on HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones from the perspective of one who has not read the books for E!Online.
Susan Dominus talks Hunger Games trilogy for The New York Times.Is it summer reading time already?!?
Steven Bennett recommends some reading for middle and high school readers at MySanAntonio.com.
Charlie Cooper talks teen dystopian fiction, complete with reading list, in The Independent.R
obin Kirk also discusses dystopian fiction for teens at Open Salon.
Ben Fulton talks to Carol Lynch Williams for The Salt Lake Tribune. William's newest novel is
Miles from Ordinary and "takes readers inside the guilt-ridden hea
be blogging here at Big A little a. I will keep the blog up for archival reasons, but please come visit me at my new blog, Crossover.
I'm looking for conversation (and trouble?) over at Crossover.
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I've missed talking books with you all. I'm hope to see some of you in Minneapolis!
Happy Friday to One and All!
Today's Poetry Friday roundup will be held here at Big A little a. Leave your links in the comments, and I will roundup throughout the day.
This week's Poetry Friday is hosted by Laura Purdie Salas. Head on over and leave your links!
Anastasia Suen is hosting this week's Poetry Friday at Picture Book of the Day. Head on over and leave your links!
This week's Poetry Friday roundup and the October-December calendar will be posted at Crossover. Head on over and leave your links!
This week's Poetry Friday will be held at Becky's Book Reviews. Head on over and leave your links!
(The calendar finally will be posted Friday evening.)
This week's Poetry Friday will be held at Wild Rose Reader! Head on over and leave your links.
This week's Poetry Friday will be held at Crossover. Head on over and leave your links!
A Happy Friday to one and all.
It's that time again: Time to schedule Poetry Friday hosts!
We need volunteers for September, October, and November. Available dates are listed at the end of this post--just leave a comment here or at Crossover with your preferred hosting slot. I'll update throughout the weekend.
Today's Poetry Friday is up over at The Boy Reader.
September 4:
September 11:
September 18:
September 25:
October 2:
October 9: Crossover
October 16:
October 23:
October 30:
November 6:
November 13:
November 20:
November 27:
Hi Everyone!
As I mentioned in my late Poetry Friday roundup, I am finally online again and ready to blog. Here's what will be happening:
1. I'll be keeping Poetry Friday updates and hosting schedules at Crossover. (And, at Big A little a, for the time being.)
2. I'll be reviewing crossover books at Crossover. (Next up: Exposure, by Mal Peet.)
3. Grandma's Picture Book reviews will be posted at Big A little a.
I'm back on both blogs, back on my e-mail account ([email protected]), and starting in on my twitter account. Thank the gods, I'm getting an iPhone next week, so hopefully I'll be able to keep up. Hope to see you all soon!
Hello, everyone, from Scotland! I have a review of Siobhan Dowd's latest (last?) novel, Solace of the Road, up over at Crossover.
I have a book review of an adult mystery teens will love up over at Crossover. You can check it out here!
First and foremost: An enormous thanks goes out to Mary Lee of A Year of Reading who helped me during my great blog crisis of 2008-2009. She organized hosts and kept Poetry Friday going when I was unable to keep track of things. Thank you, Mary Lee!
I'll be posting the schedule here, and at Crossover, and on the kidlistosphere group from now and into the future. As a reminder, here's who's up next:
June 12: Brian Jung at Critique de Mr. Chompchomp
June 19: Carol Wilcox at Carol's Corner
June 26: Kelly Herold at Crossover
July 3: Tabatha Yeatts at Tabatha A. Yeatts
July 10: Jama Rattigan at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup
July 17: Becky Laney at Becky's Book Reviews
July 24: Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading
July 31: Sylvia Vardell at Poetry For Children
August 7: Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
August 14: Andromeda Jazmon at a wrung sponge
August 21: Kyle at The Boy Reader
August 28: Kate Coombs at Book Aunt
Thank you all for hosting, and I can't wait to join in the fun again.
Jen Bryant's biography of poet William Carlos Williams for the grade-school reader is just the type of biography any poet would want. In A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, the poetry and its writing remain more important to the tale than the events of the poet's life.
So, while we learn William Carlos Williams loved to spend time outdoors, wandering, as a child, we also discover what was most important about these childish excursions: "...as he walked through the high grasses and along the soft dirt paths, Willie watched everything" and "the river's music both excited and soothed Willie. Sometimes, as he listened to its perfect tune, he fell asleep."
Bryant tells us of William Carlos Williams as a student, but most importantly about his study of poetry:
Poetry suited Willie. Every night,
he looked forward to sitting at his desk
and writing a few lines.
But after a while, he grew frustrated.
He had pictures in his mind that didn't fit exactly
into steady rhythms or rhymes.
'I have never seen a swan or an archer,' Willie thought.
'I want to write about ordinary things--
A River of Words is a biography of a poet--of how a young person becomes, lives, and works as a poet. Indeed, William Carlos William's career as a doctor plays second fiddle to practical, yet lyrical, descriptions of how he managed to write poetry in the evenings after work.
Melissa Sweet's illustrations are warm and make much use of Williams's poems and other textual elements (notepads, drafts, textbooks). A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams is a first-class biography, and one to use in the classroom to learn not only about Williams, or more about poetry, but also to learn more about biography and how different biographical approaches can approach a life in radically different ways.
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A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams
by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2008
ISBN: 0-8028-5302-8
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Other Blog Reviews:
One Minute Book Reviews
Fairrosa's Reading Journal
A Fuse #8
Achuka
Bookends
Don't miss Jama Rattigan's interview will illustrator Melissa Sweet at Alphabet Soup.
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Susan Taylor Brown has the roundup at Susan Writes.
Hi Everyone:
Yes, I've been gone for weeks. Months, even. But, I am returning to the blog world now, primarily at another location. Here is my new location:
Crossover
I'll still be posting here at Big A little a with Grandma book reviews, my own book reviews of non-crossover books, and with odds and ends.
Here are some other notes:
1. I've transferred my blogrolls. If I'm missing someone, please let me know. I still want to keep these up.
2. I'm going to work on archiving my reviews and interviews at Big A little a for the inevitable time it shuts down (a year from now, probably)
3. If anyone wants to take over Weekend Reviews...let me know, and I'll give you all my resources
4. If anyone wants to know the story of academic year 2008-2009, I'll be happy to share. I just don't want to broadcast it over the internet...
and, most importantly:
5. I've declared my e-mail and my reader bankrupt. If I didn't reply to an important e-mail, please write again.
My blog is being hit by spam. I've heard posting something helps. So, I thought I'd check in and say:
- I hope to be back and soon.
- I'm headed to London tomorrow for a conference!
I hope you all are well and I can't wait to jump back in the kidlitosphere.
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). I won't be running either feed through Facebook or Twitter, so it might take me awhile to find everyone.
Kelly! Oh, my word! So happy to see Big A pop up in Bloglines.
Word up, girl.
(I haven't read Mockingjay.)
How wonderful to hear from you. Seriously, I was thinking about you recently. I'm not making that up.
I haven't read Mockingjay, either. I couldn't get through the second book.