Jacket description:
"Georgia knows what it means to keep secrets. She knows how to ignore things. She knows that some things are better left unsaid. . . . Or are they?
When Georgia and her best friend, Riley, travel along with nine other suburban Pennsylvania kids to Anapra, a squatters' village in the heat-flattened border city of Juarez, Mexico, secrets seem to percolate and threaten both a friendship and a life. Certainties unravel. Reality changes. And Georgia is left to figure out who she is outside the world she's always known."
What a little gem! Author Beth Kephart is talented at really creating a picture for her reader, both of setting and characters, and evoking emotions into every sentence in her books. This one is certainly no exception and you'll find yourself feeling the hot Juarez sun (and boy is it hot...used to live not too far from there) and living the tension between Georgia and Riley.
These characters are both complex in their own ways, making you want to know more about them and sympathizing with the heartaches they're each going through. And in the midst of the relationship drama, there is this trip to Juarez. Filled with hope and determination to make something better for the impoverished city and the families living there. Both aspects of the story are perfectly intertwined and beautifully done.
And for once I can applaud an author for knowing when to end her novel! One of my biggest pet peeves among YA and Middle Grade authors today are the lengthy books they write and the feeling that they shoved a whole bunch of extra stuff into a book to make it 500 pages long, rather than keeping a great story 200 pages. Beth Kephart knew when to stop and the result is a wonderful little book I would happily hand to any teen.
Overall rating: 4 out of 5
The Heart is Not a Size
Beth Kephart
256 pages
Young Adult
HarperCollins
9780061470486
March 2010
Review copy received from publisher
To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a small percentage of the purchase price. Thanks!
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Blog: A Patchwork of Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Beth Kephart, young adult books, Add a tag
Blog: Miss Erin (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: readergirlz, e lockhart, beth kephart, Add a tag
This month, readergirlz is honored to feature renowned young adult author E. Lockhart! We're discussing her book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks.
Read the January issue of readergirlz. There's a playlist for the book, plus book guide questions and party ideas.
Drop by the readergirlz blog to discuss the book with other readers, ALL MONTH LONG!
And don't forget to join us for the LIVE! chat with E. Lockhart on Wednesday, January 20th at 6 pm PST/9 pm EST.
Other news at readergirlz this month:
Last bit of author-in-residence excitement with Beth Kephart...
Beth Kephart is the amazing author of several books (including the delicious mystery NOTHING BUT GHOSTS), and she's been our author-in-residence since December. We have one last chat with her on January 6 at 6 p.m. PST/9 p.m. EST. Don't miss it!(TOMORROW!)
See more about the Writer-in-Residence program at http://www.readergirlz.com/residence.html.
We introduce our next author in residence, Elizabeth Scott...
Elizabeth Scott wrote LIVING DEAD GIRL; SOMETHING, MAYBE; and STEALING HEAVEN. We are going to have a great time exploring her work and her writing process.
These fabulous folks can help guide you through the wonderful world of YA books: Miss Erin, Priya, Silence, Vanessa, Sarah, Enna Isilee.
Blog: Day By Day Writer (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: books, Writing, character, plot, novels, Maureen Johnson, Scott Westerfeld, Beth Kephart, Frenetic Reader, reading to write, Add a tag
Revision update: I can always tell the parts of my first draft where I was struggling. This morning, I found one of those parts at the beginning of this next chapter I’m working on, and I found a much better way to get into the story.
One of the many — far too many — blogs in my blog reader is Frenetic Reader, and she had a cool post today called I Would Read ___’s Books Just For ___. As she explains, she would read Beth Kephart’s books just for the writing, Scott Westerfeld’s books for the plots, Maureen Johnson’s books for the charters, etc.
I love this. But it also gave me an idea about research for us writers.
If there’s an area we want to work on — plot, characters, word choices — we can read books that excel in those areas. We can learn something new, something good in every book we read. But, like Frenetic Reader points out, writers tend to be strongest in one or two areas, and the rest follows.
If you want to know what books to read for these different areas, read the reviews. Look at what’s on the bestseller lists and honors lists that are in the genre you’re writing and read what reviewers say. If you’re looking for books strong on plot, read the books reviewers say have a strong plot, or Google search review, your genre and plot and see what kind of results you get.
Most of the books in my must-read list I’ve found through reading about them in blogs, but I was only looking for popular books in the genre I write. From now on, I’m going to scour reviews and let them be my guide based on what I’m looking to build on.
Blog: HipWriterMama (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: readergirlz, Writing Contest, Beth Kephart, Add a tag
The fabulous Beth Kephart, author-in-residence for readergirlz, posted the final readergirlz writing contest:
"...a challenge that asks you to look at something familiar and transform it into the unexpected. Check out the video posted here. Send your best work to kephartblogATcomcastDOTnet. The winner will receive an advanced reading copy of The Heart is Not a Size (which is due out in March from HarperTeen). The winning work will be posted on this site. Our deadline is December 30, 2009."And in case you're wondering, here's the winner for Beth's writing contest #3! Congratulations, Kiera!
Blog: Young Adult (& Kid's) Books Central (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: contests, readergirlz, little willow, beth kephart, Add a tag
Beth Kephart, our first author-in-residence at readergirlz, has been posting monthly blogs in which she discusses the art (and the joys, and the frustrations) of writing, along with writing prompts and related contests. Here is Beth's third prompt:
"In this readergirlz challenge, the premise is simple: Find a photograph of yourself as a young child on the verge of some new knowledge or turning point. Write a paragraph about that photograph/that moment in present tense, as if you are experiencing that moment for the first time. Then write about that photograph/that moment in past tense, with the gift of retrospection. Ask yourself what you gain from working in the present tense, and what is gained by reflection; include your thoughts on this with your submission."
Send your entry to kephartblog AT comcast DOT net by November 25th, 2009. The author of the winning paragraph will receive a signed copy of Nothing but Ghosts, a novel about a young girl who, in learning to live past her mother's unexpected passing, involves herself in decoding the mystery that envelops the recluse down the road. The past and the present collide in Ghosts.
Blog: Young Adult (& Kid's) Books Central (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: beth kephart, vlog, readergirlz, little willow, Add a tag
For the next four months, Beth Kephart, our first author-in-residence at readergirlz, will be posting monthly video blogs in which she discusses the art (and the joys, and the frustrations) of writing. Each vlog entry will also serve as a prompt for writing contests.
Here is the first of Beth's vlog entries, with her written introduction:
"I believe that the stories that touch us are written by authors who remain vulnerable to the world - who leave themselves open to the raw wounds and the glorious possibilities of yearning, outreach, and hope. Watch the video, then write no more than ten lines of poetry or prose expressing a fully lived emotion. Send your entry to kephartblog AT comcast DOT net by September 25th, 2009. The author of the winning ten lines will receive a signed copy of Undercover, a novel about a young, aspiring poet who discovers the beauty that lives within her."
If you can't see the video below, click here.
Read my review of Undercover at YABC.
Blog: Miss Erin (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: beth kephart, readergirlz, janet lee carey, Add a tag
As well as having Kristin Cashore as this month's featured author, readergirlz has some other exciting stuff coming up:
rgz Launch Party with Janet Lee Carey!
Join the STEALING DEATH Launch Party with rgz co-founder, Janet Lee Carey on Wednesday, September 30, at 6 p.m. Pacific/9 p.m. Eastern! We’ll be chatting about her new fantasy release. The chat will be over at the readergirlz blog.
Teen Read Week Tribute!
Do you love YALSA's Teen Read Week? Let it out at your blog through a post or vlog, then send the link to [email protected]. Subject line: Your name, TRW Tribute. We’ll collect all the contributions and post them at the rgz blog in a 24 hour time span. Tell us about your recent release, or a book you love dearly, and then give a shout out for Teen Read Week. The tribute will run October 23!
And here's a sneak preview for the awesome Teen Read Week event we're planning at readergirlz! (Remember last year?) And do we have an unbelievable lineup! Stay tuned for more info later this month...
Blog: Write About Now (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Thalia Chaltas, Valerie Hobbs, Jessica Burkhart, Beth Kephart, Add a tag
Look what arrived for me today! Yay!
If you're not familiar with Beth Kephart, you can read my interview here. And over at My Friend Amy's blog, Amy and Lenore throwing a book drive party with fabulous prizes. They are trying to get 200 sales for Beth through their blog, so if you haven't bought the book yet, do it through their link.
I've enjoyed interviewing authors on my blog, and I have to say, I've noticed a trend...these friends of mine are doing well, winning awards and gaining momentum in the marketplace. And who, you may ask, is this happening to? Well, since being interviewed on my blog:
• Jessica Burkhart's Canterwood Crest series has been optioned for a TV series or movie, and the first book of the series has gone to reprint.
• Thalia Chaltas was named as a Flying Start author by Publisher's Weekly. Her book, Because I am Furniture, is also going into a second run.
• Val Hobbs' book Sheep was chosen as this year's California Young Reader Medal winner for intermediate readers. Sheep was extremely popular in hard cover and was reprinted in paperback in April.
I love success stories. I'm so excited for all of them and thrilled that I got to share their stories here on my blog. Now, I'm off to the sofa. The kids are gone, the house is clean, and I can't wait to read Nothing but Ghosts.
Have a great weekend!
Blog: Beth Kephart Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Beth Kephart, Still Love in Strange Places, Add a tag
Yesterday, while I was lounging about at the dance studio, the very gorgeous (you should see her) Tirsa said to me, "Do you know that there are, like, a ton of Beth Kepharts?"
She was on Facebook, trying to friend me. I was the forest, apparently, that could not be found for the trees.
A ton of me(s), I thought. How tres convenient! Could one possibly do my laundry and the other cook and the other get caught up with that pile of magazines? Oh. Please. I am aware of one poor alter ego, right in this neighborhood, who gets called upon, on occasion, to read from one of my books. I had the chance, once, to apologize in person, when she showed up at one of my readings to shed some light on her most unfortunate circumstance. I told her that I'd share the spoils of my fame someday, if ever spoils there are.
(From the looks of things, that won't be happening anytime soon.)
But I'm banking on the fact that none of these Beth Kepharts have had a day like the one I've had—an email from my brother-in-law of Seville, at four AM. A call from my Dallas-based brother-in-law nearer to ten (he wanted me to open a box he'd sent; he said, Beware, for the love stuffed inside might spatter out and stain you). A call after that from my Salvadoran mother-in-law, a woman I met just weeks before my wedding, a woman who taught me coffee farming, a woman I didn't think knew much of anything about English until she lay on my sofa for a week reading my book about her country, Still Love in Strange Places, laughing at the funny parts). A note later on from Adela, my aunt-in-law, if I might use such a term for one of the most glamorous women on earth.
And in between, my friends. And yesterday, my father. A moment ago, my son, that now-familiar happiness in his voice, a story he's been writing on his mind. And in a few hours, the sea.
That's this Beth Kephart. She has rain in her hair in the photo up above. She wears her lousy, ripped-up jeans.
PS Oh yes. I've been nominated me for a bloggers choice award. If you want to play along and vote, I'd welcome that.
Blog: HipWriterMama (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Book Giveaway, Beth Kephart, Add a tag
Blog: HipWriterMama (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Book Giveaway, Writing Tip, Beth Kephart, Adding Emotion, Add a tag
Last week, I invited Beth Kephart, author of YA novels Undercover (Come back later for a Book Giveaway Contest!), House of Dance, and the soon to be released Nothing But Ghosts, to stop by and share her thoughts on how to create emotion in our writing. Beth kindly accepted and I was thrilled. I mean, Beth is a National Book Award finalist, an NEA grant winner, a Pew Fellowships in the Arts recipient, a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts winner, a Leeway Foundation award winner, and a Speakeasy Poetry Prize winner. In addition to YA, Beth is written memoir and non-fiction. She offers experience and beauty of words and it is a wonder to learn from her.
You have asked me how I bring emotion into my work, and may I first say what a tremendous question this is, for how, indeed, is emotion achieved on the page? For me it begins in real life, in the way that I live. I feel deeply, always. I live my life on the perpetual precipice of wanting, of wishing, of needing. I want to touch things I can’t reach, like the pink in the sky. I want to be able to do things I can’t do, I want to live longer, I want to see more, and I lean all this wanting directly down onto the page. My characters are reaching, too—filled up with desire or curiosity or loss. They’re not finished people. They’re grappling. Sometimes the thoughts they are thinking are swooshed together in long, circuitous sentences. Sometimes they are yelped out, in a word or two. The surprising image is essential to emotional writing. So is deliberate variation in the structure and rhythm of sentences. So is reading every sentence you write out loud, several times, and if it doesn’t move you, it sure as heck isn’t going to move its readers.
See? Beauty and emotion.
Blog: studio lolo (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: neglect, red bird, decay, sacred space, hope, fiction, beauty, decay, red bird, stitch, stitch, neglect, sacred space, Add a tag
Done for Illustration Friday's prompt: Stitch. Acrylic and colored pencils on scrapbook paper.
Nice review and welcome back.
Thanks for the review. I'll have to look for this one for my 15yo daughter. She's always looking for a new book to read!