By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 8/11/2016
The life cycle of a novel-in-progress is an interesting thing. Obviously, everybody's process is different, which is intriguing in itself--I find myself endlessly fascinated by the different ways of working that I observe in my writing group. Some... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 8/8/2016
"The Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, presented annually by ALAN, is an award in the United States for a book that exemplifies literary excellence, widespread appeal, and a positive approach to life in young adult literature."ALAN, for those who... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 8/4/2016
Hey! It's a new toon, in a new series of toons I should be able to exploit for quite some time. What writer doesn't have nightmares (usually waking nightmares) about all manner of career mishaps and embarrassments? Well, probably not if you're Neil... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 8/1/2016
Synopsis: This surprisingly literary speculative fiction / friendship / family story is another welcome addition to the growing shelf of books about A) people of color, B) South Asians, and C) teens of mixed heritage. Tara Krishnan, the narrator, is... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 7/18/2016
A little while ago I had the privilege of reading Sarah Beth Durst's latest fantasy novel for middle grade readers, The Girl Who Could Not Dream--the tale of a girl whose parents distill, bottle, and sell dreams out of a secret room in their... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 7/14/2016
Synopsis: With cover blurbs from the likes of Rachel Hartman, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Anne Ursu, and Ingrid Law, the MG fantasy Sparkers by Eleanor Glewwe should have caught my eye earlier. I met Eleanor at a conference this summer and I'm a... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 7/11/2016
Synopsis: Suspense stories that deal with kidnapping and imprisonment (consider that your trigger warning) don't always put an equally weighty focus on the aftermath of the trauma. This particular thriller suspensefully covers both the dramatic... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 7/7/2016
To be honest, one or both of us is always ALWAYS in Revisionland in some form or another. And when we're lost in Revisionland I tend to go back and re-run old installments of Toon Thursday to cheer myself up. So, I have one of those for you, but lo... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 6/28/2016
Today we are excited to host a guest post by the author of The Falconer Trilogy, Elizabeth May. We're concluding an action-packed blog tour schedule that includes the following:Tuesday, 6/21/2016: The Reader's Antidote Wednesday, 6/22/2016: Tales of... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 6/27/2016
Synopsis: The first book in this trilogy, The Falconer (reviewed here), was one of those surprise reads for me—as a combination of historical fantasy, faeries, and a dash of steampunk and romance, I wasn't sure I would like it. I've read a lot of... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 6/20/2016
Greetings, Book People of Earth! I kind of enjoyed doing that previous post on my TBR pile, so here's another one with a few more recent acquisitions. Comments, opinions, and ancillary recommendations are welcome!Clockwise from Upper Left: Out on... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 6/13/2016
I was good. You'd be proud of me. I limited my book buying spree to merely THREE.This was at the Mixed Remixed Festival, which took place over this past Friday and Saturday at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown L.A. (Read a great... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 6/9/2016
In a recent article in The Atlantic entitled "Is Grit Overrated?", Jerry Useem examines recent research by University of Pennsylvania psychology professor Angela Duckworth on the topic of GRIT: a sort of hard-to-define special something that is one... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 6/2/2016
That's right--last time's rerun was just a teaser for the real thing: a lovely new cartoon featuring everyone's favorite bummer topic, DYSTOPIAS. More precisely, the shiny happy people who write them. Any resemblance to existing writers, living or... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 5/30/2016
I have nothing noteworthy for you today: not a thing. For one thing, it's a holiday. Gimme a break. Also, it is really HOT. Thirdly, I'm trapped in the mental quagmire that is novel revision, and it is a doozy. But I did want to pop my head up and... Read the rest of this post
By: tanita✿davis,
on 5/27/2016
AF and I met up the other day at our grad school alma mater, Mills College, to speak to the graduate and undergraduate writers in Kathryn Reiss's YA writing course. It was a lot of fun, but it was an afternoon class, and it was a fairly warm... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 5/23/2016
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl: I must have read and reread it at least half a dozen times growing up. Maybe, dare I say, a dozen. Roald Dahl's books were perennial favorites for me, but especially this one and Charlie and the Chocolate... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 5/19/2016
I'm trying to come up with a new installment of Psychobabble for Writers, but I've been too busy to get inspired (or, for that matter, to even think about a new and original post of any kind...). Therefore, here is a Toon Thursday from the past for... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 5/12/2016
Synopsis: Much as the cover of this one might suggest a romance novel or something particularly girly, don't be fooled. The Winner's Kiss is the conclusion to the trilogy that started with The Winner's Curse and The Winner's Crime, both of which I... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 4/7/2016
I suggest clicking to embiggen this one, since I had to reduce the size to fit the width of our center column.
This work is copyrighted material. All opinions are those of the writer, unless otherwise indicated. All book reviews are... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 4/4/2016
Hey, everyone, it's...You can grab that logo there, and find tons of cool ideas for celebrating poetry, on the Academy of American Poets website. Memorize a poem! Create your own anthology on Poets.org! Watch a poetry movie! Most of all (sez me),... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 3/31/2016
Synopsis: If you keep up with Finding Wonderland, you'll know I already have plenty of awe and amazement for graphic novelist Faith Erin Hicks. (See reviews here, here, and here, and interview here.) Her latest contribution—officially to be... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 3/28/2016
I think this is a pretty effective cover.Synopsis: Need, which I randomly picked up as part of a recent library haul, is a suspenseful thriller with a topical premise—the insidious power of social media and the questionable ease of online... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 3/24/2016
I am seriously chuffed that I have managed two new cartoons in the past month. I hope this marks the beginning of a new Toon Thursday resurgence, and a bit of momentum to get my cartoon Tumblr going. This one's pretty silly. Here you go.
This work... Read the rest of this post
By: Sarah Stevenson,
on 3/21/2016
Synopsis: First Second Books' new series Science Comics is no doubt something that I would have loved as a kid. There wasn't nearly the selection of graphic novels or educational comics in the 1980s, though. I had a pretty good collection of Charlie... Read the rest of this post
