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"Your bravery surprises me, Pious," Hurvick said. "But our fates are in the hands of the gods."

"Their hands are full," Pi replied, which made Lasha gasp.

From GOODHALO, by Thomas Kingsley Troupe

So, that's what I've been doing friends. Working FEVERISHLY on the revision and overhauling of my little zombie book, GOODHALO. I'm on a mission to trim this thing down to a decent fighting weight and it has been slow-going. I'm about 1/3 of the way through with the hope that I'll have it ready to show by fall-ish/end of September.

As if that weren't enough, I've been tapped to write 4 more books for the younger set. And speaking of sets...I get to write all of the books in the new set myself! Picture Window Books asked if I'd be interested in writing 4 titles about legendary creatures/phenomena.

Er...yeah!

So, between now and November, I'm not only revising, revising, revising, I'm also writing books on VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, BIGFOOT and THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE. By the time these puppies come out, I'll have 12 books published.

Seriously...how is that even possible? It seems like just yesterday that I was lucky enough to have PATRICK'S SUPER SOCKS published.

Cool times, friends. Busy times, to be sure, but cool times nonetheless.

So...don't take my long absences from the blog personally. I'm just one busy fella.

Wish me luck and think of how envious I am that you get to watch movies, play video games and do other fun stuff while I slave away in the Nerdery. Hopefully in November I'll be able to watch a DVD or two.

Ciao for now. Be good.

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Hey, hey, hey...

That's supposed to be Fat Albert greeting you to another long-overdue post on the nearly defunct-ness that is my blog, Tappity Tappity. Thanks for stopping in.

Truth be told, I'm feeling like Fat Albert these days. Raising these kids is really knocking me off my working out gameplan. Really. It's sooo dang tough nowadays to get out of the house for a little bit and do that whole Gold's Gym thing. But...it's only a matter of time. Laura and I are gonna work out a gameplane that's gonna let both of us rotate and go...somehow, someway.

But enough about me, how are you?

Hey, that's great!

Well, a few things have happened as of late and I'd be a complete d-bag not to at least touch on some of 'em, so here goes.

Library Visit - Wouldn't it be funny if this was just about me going to the library and checking out a couple o' books? Well, maybe not. But, I had my first author reading/library visit a few Saturdays back. It's been in the hopper for a while, but it just never came to be. So...about a year and a month after the release of Patrick's Super Socks, I hit the ol' Woodbury library and did a good ol' fashioned reading. I had some copies of PSS to sell, along with my newest release, Mount Rushmore.

Apparently the library put an ad in the paper and everything. I'm just glad I put an event thing in Facebook. I had a bunch of peeps from my family along with friends and firefighting pals show up with their kids. It was a good thing. Otherwise, it would've been like Spinal Tap doing their record signing.

Anyway, it went pretty well! I got to read the book to a bunch of little people, I sold a couple and I don't think I made a complete b-hole out of myself. The best part? My mom recorded a good chunk of the reading with her digital camera. Thinking it worked like pictures do, she turned the camera on its side so that 75% of what she recorded is sideways. Ah, technology in the hands of my mom...

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Hey kiddos! Well, it's probably one of those things that's only exciting for me, but I just can't help but decorate the halls of Tappity Tappity with this anyway.

Did I mention that I had an artist friend who was interested in beefing up his portfolio? Did I mention that this friend also happens to be my barber? Yes...the same dude I made a haircut appointment with over Xbox Live.

Well, a number of months back, he asked me if I could send him some character descriptions from my (as of yet unagented/unsold) manuscript GOODHALO. I, of course, obliged and sent him a pretty detailed rundown of what Pious Goodhalo, the main character in my books, looked like.

Below, is the black and white version of what the incredible Nathan Malvig came up with:

I added the title and what-not, but dang...I'm COMPLETELY blown away by how accurately Nathan captured poor ol' Pi. From the road-weary look on his face, to his slight frame, to the slash across his face (courtesy of his best friend, Gort) it's all there. And the best part? He nailed exactly how I pictured his father's heavy mace. It's perfect!

Apparently, there's a color version in the works and he's interested in doing an action scene from the book with Pi, the rest of the clerics and a cluster of the undead.

Like some kind of fan-boy, I've already printed a copy of it for myself and it's going to hang in the Nerdery while I pound out the last few chapters of GOODHALO II.

If anyone's interested in contacting Nathan to do some freelance work for them, let me know!

Or better yet...visit his Deviant Art Page at: http://munkhowzen.deviantart.com/

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What it is, Tappers. What. It. Is.

So, I'm trying to set myself a goal for writing the much anticipated (well, I'M anticipating it!) next book in the GOODHALO series. And here is/are the catch(es):

1. I'm trying to get it drafted by the end of September.
2. I think it's going to be 100,000 words or so.
3. I haven't really given myself much of a break.
4. I have video games on my shelf STILL in the wrappers from 2 years ago.
5. Sometimes I don't feel like writing.

I did some quick number crunching of what I've written thus far and what I still need to kick out (which is about as complex math I can handle) and I figured out how many words I'd have to kick out EVERYDAY in order to meet my goal.

1,420 WORDS!

Is that doable? You gots to remember, I wrote the ENTIRE first draft of ANNA 2.0 in 31 days last SHOCKTOBER and that sucker clocked in at 75, 203 words. That was like...2426 words a day. How the heck did I pull that off? Seriously.

So...I think I can do it. I gots to do it. I need the distraction to keep me from constantly checking me e-mail for bad news and to keep myself going. With the impending arrival of Bebe #2 a scant six months away, I need to get some words on the screen...with a quickness.

When ol' Travis was born, I ceased production for around a year. It was really hard to do.

Let's see if I can practice what I preach: Write like the wind, don't look back and whatever you do for crying out loud...don't stop!

Ugh. Me and my big mouth.

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Well, that's that.

I've sent off my draft of Mount Rushmore to my editor just minutes ago and I sort of feel like I miss working on it already.

Is that crazy? Me!

Mr. Fiction!
Mr. I Want To Do Important Books About Zombies!
Mr. I Never Liked History In High School!
Mr. I'm Going To Wait Until the 11th Hour To Write It, But Dang It Was Sort Of Fun!

It was fun. I learned so much crap about Mount Rushmore, I'm actually frightened by it. And (allow me to pat myself on the back, here) I packed it all into 801 words! The word count limit was 700-800 words, but I suspect there'll be some edits, y'all.

So yeah, what is to be Published Book #2 is off to that magical place where books are scrutinized, torn apart and reassembled into something sort of like what I wrote in the first place. Kind of cool.

Now, to get friggin' Goodhalo all done. It's taking waaaaay longer than I'd like...

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So, I'm a bit of a nerd. That really doesn't come as much of a surprise to anyone at this point, does it? No? Good. Let's continue.

I was quietly, happily working on edits for Draft 3 of GOODHALO when the ol' pager went off. Turns out some poor soul wanted to check off of our mortal coil, didn't fare so well in the attempt and we were called out to save the day.

Day? Saved.

When I got back from the fire station, I thought about just shutting down the works and calling it a night, but I typically have a hard time getting to sleep after a fire or EMS call. It's like the adrenalin or something still is running around inside me, going:

Hey...is there more action? Are we gonna drive fast again, TKT? Huh? Huh? Can we? Should we?

So, I decided instead to plug away at the book a bit longer. As I was working on it, I realized a few things:

One of my main characters shares the name of a police officer/paramedic on the Woodbury Police Department. COMPLETELY coincidental, I think. My character's first name (who is one of my favorites in the book) is this guy's last name. It's funny because I said the guy's name before we headed to the hospital and it didn't dawn on me until I was home that I'd done that. Don't care. I'm keeping the name. It's too perfect IMHO.

Secondly, I've been thinking a lot about the second GOODHALO book that I'm hoping to work on soon...like in the next few months. I think that's a good thing. It's getting me to make subtle changes to Book 1 to make Book 2 that much more...robust?

Is that the word?
I don't know.

I like the word robust, so yeah...

Anyway, I sort of already know how Book 2 is going to go, at least the skeleton of it, but to make myself even geekier/nerdier/a bigger dork, I went ahead and made myself a 'teaser' sort of poster for the new book and I gotta tell you...I am STOKED to get working on this thing.

Seeing the font, my title and the little picture I added made me get all tingly inside and I was again reminded of how much damn fun I have writing my goofy books. It was like a little inner pep talk and affirmation all rolled up into a simple little mini poster thing-a-ma-jig.

Can I share the poster? Unfortunately, I can't. The title and the picture I use sort of gives away the big 'reveal' at the end of Book 1 and that's just not a good idea.

But trust me when I say to thee...

It's gonna rock.

*end self indulgent post*

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Good morning Tappers.

Hey, is that condecending? You know, that I call my (2-3) readers Tappers? There's another blog I read sometimes and the author calls her readers a certain name and I sort of find it condecending a little bit. I don't think it's so much that she has a name for her readers as much as it's the name she chose.

I don't want to be that guy. So, you know, let me know.

Hi. I'm tired this morning.

You see, I got assigned the mother-of-all tasks last week and this week. They've got ol' TKT under the gun, working on a pretty big video project here at work. Word got around here that I've got a little film/writing background and they thought:

"Hey, we should have that one guy do a video for us. Something fun, something interesting, something that needs to be done in an extremely short amount of time."

CUT TO:

Shot of TKT looking all bewildered-like into the lens. It punches in for a Sam Raimi extreme close-up. The guy never knew what hit him.

So, yeah. That's what I've been doing instead of posting things on the old bloggy blog. My time at work is literally clogged with planning scenes, rewriting stuff, setting up shots, figuring out how we'll ever get this edited in time, and trying to get actors to just read what I wrote for god's sake...

But you know what? It's been a lot of fun. You know, except for the ulcers and the crying.

Oh...right. What the heck am I doing? What's the premise of the video? Well, I'm glad I asked myself. We're doing a send-up of 'The Office' with our own goofy cast of characters. We're making it apply to what we do here at my job and taking shots at management and...

You know, it sounds a lot better when I don't talk about it. Really. I actually bored myself just then. My favorite part? We have fake commercials between the segments and there's one where another guy and I do an homage to the 'Lazy Sunday' video from SNL. Haven't seen it? Before last week, neither had I.

Anyway...progress on GOODHALO is clipping along. I'm just about halfway done with draft 2.5 and I'm already seeing it firming up nicely. By the time I sit down with the ol' scalpel and jackhammer, I'm gonna shape this thing into something magical...

...with zombies.

And no, I haven't forgotten about the contest for your very own copy of PATRICK'S SUPER SOCKS, suitable for reading to, you know, 4-6 year olds. Details on that big ol' beast is coming up.

Okay. My head is about to hit the keyboard. I must be off.

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In a bit or irony, I've finished red-lining GOODHALO. Sort of fitting on Valentine's Day, eh? You know with the red and the zombies and the...

Nevermind.

Anyway. It's a big step toward being closer to getting this puppy ready for 'prime time.' As quick as I am with other parts of this process, technical editing is always (for me) the most TEDIOUS part of the whole process. I'd much rather write 18 more books than have to tech-edit one.

But...that's the way it's done...at least in my funky little world.

Here's a small sample of what a part of one page of GOODHALO looks like, red-lined and all.

Man...doesn't that look like FUN? Actually, this is what just about EVERY page of my manuscript looks like. I mean, it's not the same words or anything like that, but it's chock-full of red. Again, this is my process. I tend to draft it fast to keep my short attention span in check and then it's a bit more fun to transcribe the changes, punch it up a bit, give it another scrutinizing read-through and then incorporate needed changes and suggestions from my fabulous critique partners.

Oh, how I'd love this thing to be ready by Spring. That's what I'm shooting for. The second installment is pounding on the door like you wouldn't believe.

All right. My work is done here. Hope you had a decent V-Day, y'all.

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Nerdery Week - It's been decided, so mark your calendars. Nerdery Week shall take place on February 17th - 23rd. Seven days of complete nerdiness interconnected through this world we like to call the internet. You'll meet new people! You'll see where they sit! You'll see all the garbage they keep in their respective workspaces!

But TKT, I'm still confused and a bit scared and there's that thing with the paste. How do I get involved in NW?

Simple, friend:

1. Take a picture or two (or eighteen).
2. Post it on your blog.
3. Write about your workspace.
4. Slap 'Nerdery Week' somewhere in the post's title.
5. Link back to other people engaged in complete Nerdery nerdism.

On paper this may sound boring as all get-out, but I really don't think it'll disappoint. I'm endlessly fascinated when I see the places where people do their thing (writing, blogging, playing video games, losing auctions, etc). It's an extension of a person's character and I think it'll be fun to celebrate that which makes us all nerdy.

Yes. Even you over there folding your arms and pretending that you're not a nerd. You are. Deal.

Power Up - I know there's nothing people love to read more than what game I'm playing on Xbox 360 these days, so I think I'll just come right out and say it. I'm completely taken by Call of Duty 4. In a word: WOW. After completely dominating The Simpsons Game it's a crazy change of pace. One week I'm trying to get the Krusty Koupon off of a billboard high above Springfield, the next week I'm carrying a wounded soldier across a radiation soaked amusement park. Sweet mother of invention, this is the stuff dreams are made of.

Eels - I know I don't need to plug the world's greatest band, but they just recently released two albums that are perfect for those of you wanting to see what they're all about. For the uninitiated, might I suggest: Meet the Eels? It's a collection of their best stuff from their first 10 years and it's like a primer into their fantastic world. There is some potty-mouth on there, but hey...that's what those parental advisory stickers are for. As a bonus, you get a DVD with a bunch of their music videos. Now that's value!

Their other release is called Useless Trinkets and it's two discs (2!) of b-sides and songs they've done for soundtracks. As if that weren't enough, there's also a DVD with their 2006(?) Lollapalooza performance on there. What more can you ask for?

Answer: Nothing. There is nothing else to ask for.

Goodhalo - Well, it's getting there. I'm hoping to have this monster edited and in enough of a fighting shape to begin submitting to my Top 5 agent-types sometime next month. Ambitious? Yes. Necessary? Most definitely. Plus, I'm itching (itching!) to get working on the second book in the series. It's going to be like 85 pounds of awesome in a 3 pound bag with handles.

Travis: Celebrating 3 Years of Quality - It's going to be my little guy's 3 year mark on Monday, so we're having a party for him on Saturday. Therein lies the problem... Family from out of town are crazy sick. We're talking antibiotics sick. Also, there's supposed to be a major snowstorm hitting us...oh, say Saturday or so. Even though we're not doing a full-scale dinner/activities/all day event, we're worried that people won't be able to make it. Regardless, we've decided that no matter what, this kid is going to have a party that will tear the socks right off of his little Fred Flintstone feet (like I have) and make him explode with happiness. Thy will be done, lil' TKT. Thy will be done.

Dave Attell - I get to go see stand-up comedian Dave Attell tonight at the Pantages in Minneapolis. Holler!

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• I feel like a zombie today. Since I've got a 2 (almost 3!) year old who comes in contact with a handful of other kids on a daily basis, he picks up all sorts of fun germs/colds/etc. I got his cold and it LEVELED me. I'm sniffling like an old man with a snot-nose.


• By request, I am letting a co-worker borrow my copy of Zack Snyder's remake of the immortal Dawn of the Dead DVD...UNRATED! She asked me if it was scary. Huh. How do you answer that? I think I said: Nah.


• I'm within reach of having my entire GOODHALO book red-lined. Then, finally, I'll get to spend the better part of February punching it up and getting it ready to query. I've got zombies on the brain, y'all.


• My critique partner in crime (Triple S) and I met last Sunday morning for a brief meeting, despite the awful, awful deep freeze Minnesota has been subjected to. She presented me with a little blue bag and told me she got me something for my Nerdery* Below are shots of the awesomeness the bag contained:

Seriously. The level of cool reached an all-time apex as I pulled these bad boys out. Triple S pointed out which zombies really wouldn't fit into my book because of modern additions (briefcase, suit, footwear) to their undead persons. The really cool thing? They GLOW IN THE DARK. Do you think I wasted any time once I got home in holding them under a light in the Nerdery and shutting all the lights down?

I didn't.



No Skull-Cap & No Shirt Zombie - This zombie looks like a fella who met his untimely death all whilst watching football on the tube. He couldn't be bothered to put on a shirt and he somehow lost the top of his head, exposing his meaty brain. His arms are extended for quick human-grabbing action.


One-Armed Zombie W/Fetch - Ol' One Arm joins our other undead friend in going shirtless. He sports the tattered short pants that are all the rage amonst zombies this season. His loyal dog, Fetch was kind enough to fetch his arm and prominantly displays his prize in his rotten jaws.



I'm going to keep the zombie magic going this weekend by watching Fido and Resident Evil: Extinction on DVD. It'll even things out methinks.

* The Nerdery is my office, where all the 'magic' happens....and by magic, I mean it's a room where I write, surrounded by all kinds of crap a 35 year old man should be ashamed to own. Also, it has a fridge.

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So, I hit kind of a big landmark last night and I'm pretty excited about it.

Despite the urging from my Nintendo Wii to go out and play Super Mario Galaxy for an extra hour, I pushed through and hit the 100 page point on my editing/red-penning of GOODHALO. While that might seem like nothing to most (or all) of y'all, this is a big deal for yours truly.

Here's why (bulleted for ease of digestion)

• I write my 1st drafts in single-spaced 10 pt font. Why? Well, when I'm writing, I don't let myself feel like a couple of pages is that big of a deal. Think about it. If I kick out 5 pages, formatted the way I do it, it's really like 7.5 pages or more.
• I only have 58 pages left to edit. Thomas, you've written a 158 page fantasy-type story with zombies in it? That's like a pamphlet, dog! Haven't you been paying attention? When I reformat it for agents/publishers/people who want to read it, it'll clock in well over 340 pages. Not bad for Book One (of three).
• I'm REALLY looking forward to tossing the red pen aside and getting into what I call the 'punching up' portion of writing. If you were to poll me, I'd say the part about writing I like least is the red-lining (what I'm doing now). What do I like best? Writing the book, hands down. 'Punching it up' is a close second.
• Being at page 100 (and you should SEE how much I mark the pages up!) means I'm that much closer to drafting out GOODHALO II: FLIGHT OF THE FAMILIAR (working title) and eventually GOODHALO III: NAME OF THE FATHER (working, etc...)
• I hate to say it, but I sort of miss querying agents. Once GOODHALO is ready (and it'll be soon) it's time to set my baby free and see what will come from all this craziness.

Say...remember that book I wrote over the course of October? The novel I kicked out in 31 days during what I affectionately called SHOCKTOBER? If you need a refresher, it's on the sidebar under the title ANNA 2.0.

Yeah. That one.

Well, I haven't forgotten about that little beast and I had some spare time a Sunday ago and I pulled it out of my man-purse/satchel/Indiana Jones-looking bag and flipped it open to a random chapter. I was fully prepared to re-taste my breakfast at how bad it would be, but...

I was pleasantly surprised. Lest you forget, it's the story of a 16 year old girl who, despite her better judgement, helps her mom beta-test a suit of battle armor designed for police/SWAT team raids. She's a gymnast, sister, and boyfriend...three things I know absolutely nothing about.

Well, I'll be garsh-darned if the story isn't actually...pretty good. I talked about it with my fabulous new critique partner and I gave (what I thought was) a totally crappy pitch. I essentially said:

"It's like Iron Man, but with a kick-ass high school chick in the story. I never liked superheroes who were just BORN with powers, but really gravitated toward vulnerable characters who had to overcome something to become...great."

So, that's another bout of editing I've got lined up for sometime this year, which gave me the idea (and subsequent challenge I'm going to try):

I plan to draft out GOODHALO II while I red-pen the heck out of ANNA 2.0. I sort of want to be in the position by the end of this year to have:

• 2 Books ready to submit (GOODHALO & ANNA 2.o)
• At least 2 new books drafted (GOODHALO II & CALL ME CARP & ???)
• The time to finish my long-forgotten pet project (TRAVIS & THE MAGIC SANDBOX 3)

It could happen.

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Angieville has created a fantastic list of Top Ten Kick-A** Heroines of YA Literature. She includes many strong girl protagonists that I would have chosen myself, and that first came to my mind when I saw the subject, including Alanna of Trebond from Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness) by Tamora Pierce (I love that book!); Dicey Tillerman
from Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt (another of my favorites!); Meg Murry from A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (you guessed it–another of my favourites!); and more.

I really want to read the one or two books from Angieville’s list that I don’t know, since I love almost all the books she’s featured here. I love her taste! Needless to say, I’ve now added Angieville to my blog readings.

I would add Tish from When She Hollers (she stops her stepfather from sexually abusing her); Max from Maximum Ride: School’s Out Forever (she protects her “flock” and fights back against the people who experimented on them); and Ann Tucker from Tin Can Tucker (she chases down her dream of being a rodeo champion and finds a family in the process). I know there’s more, but they’re not coming to my mind right now.

I think it’s so important to have strong female characters in books, so that girls and women can absorb those messages, and not just the victim, prostitute, or other stereotyped and harmful female roles in the media. We need to see revel in strong girls. We need to believe in ourselves.

Head on over to Angieville to check out her great post and some fantastic reads!

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This week is Teen Read Week. The theme is “Read For The Fun Of It,” and this year’s sub-theme is “LOL @ your library” (humorous books and grahpic novels).

Celebrate Teen Read Week by reading great teen fiction; buying some great teen fiction and sharing it with the teen in your life or someone who likes reading teen fiction; reading a book from YALSA’s (Young Adult Library Services Association’s) LOL list; checking out some of the great resources and ideas on this year’s Teen Read Week Wiki (including Favorite Book Review Sites for YA Books; places where teens can get published; what makes librarians laugh); checking out the events at your local library; and reading what makes eight teen fiction authors laugh–Chris Crutcher, Dave Barry, Meg Cabot, Lisi Harrison, Cecily von Ziegesar, Mary Hogan, Chris Lynch and Dorian Cirrone.

You can also listen to Meg Cabot’s 30-second PSAs for Teen Read Week (which seem like ads encouraging teens to use the library) here.

Reading should be encouraged, should be a fun activity. To encourage this, YALSA suggests to:

1. Give teens time to read for the fun of it.
2. Allow teens to select their own reading material.
3. Help teens get in the habit of reading regularly and of it

That seems like a baseline to me. Trust your teen. Let them pick their own books. Heck, why not give them a bookstore gift certificate, and let them go wild? Give yourself one, too, while you’re at it.

If you have a recommendation for a theme for next year’s Teen Read week, you can send it to [email protected].

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In reality, we often go into "trances," but don't even realize it. Have you ever been riding in a car, or driving and suddenly realize you're miles closer to your destination without noticing anything you've usually seen along the way? Have you ever gotten so immersed in reading a book, or watching a movie, that all else fades from your consciousness?

These are forms of hypnosis. You can meditate, be thinking about a test, or something else that garners your whole attention, and again, you are in a form of a trance. Have you ever zoned out when someone is talking to you? Realizing only after they've gotten mad at you that you were not even "there?"

But can a therapist actually tap into your subconscious and learn your deepest secrets, or he or she force you to act a certain way against your will?

In my current young adult book, The Beast Within, the hero and heroine deal with this. But Dominic Vorchowski in The Vampire...In My Dreams has learned the hard way what happens when an evil vampire takes him under her spell, and how trying to use the same persuasion on Marissa Lakeland, a teenage witch, fails, miserably.

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Every summer, the middle schoolers at my place of employ have required summer reading. Required, not assigned: they have some choice about which books they read, but they have to read something.

And every June, I put together recommended-books lists, racing the clock before the end of school.

For years, I painstakingly compiled three separate themed lists, one for each grade, keyed to the Humanities curriculum each grade would be studying that year. It was thorough, but exhausting, and frankly I'm not sure how useful it was.

Last year, with thousands of books to weed through and pack up for a summer remodel, I tried something new: an annotated list of a couple dozen "Els's Picks" list for the whole middle school, from entering-6th to entering-8th. They didn't have to choose a book from the list, but if they wanted some guidance, it was there. I tried to range it out with young-ish books, old-ish books, male and female protagonists, different genres, etc. Because it was the first time I'd done a list like that, I went a little wild with it: threw in all kinds of stuff that I just loved, cobbled together some summaries, and tossed it to the kids. This was the result.

Now I'm up against the Summer Reading Wall once again, and realizing I have a problem. Last year's list was the cream of the crop of a lifetime's reading, so how can I possibly top it this time around? I'm thinking that rather than create a whole new Picks list, I'll revise last year's, deleting a few titles that aren't so incredibly compelling in retrospect and adding some new ones.
On the other hand, I've been reading teen/YA fiction at a furious rate this year, and might just have enough to support a brand-new list, supplemented with a few titles that ended up on last year's cutting-room floor.

So far, here's what a list like that would look like, in no particular order:

American Born Chinese
Fly By Night
Hattie Big Sky
Rules
A Drowned Maiden's Hair
Uglies
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Yellow Star
Septimus Heap--Magyk
Changeling
Feed
Persepolis
Runaways
The Weight of the Sky
No More Dead Dogs
Jason's Gold
A Mango-Shaped Space
The Lightning Thief
The Wee Free Men
Rules for Survival
A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life
Monster
Sorcery and Cecelia

I'd like to add a few more, like Heat by Mike Lupica, and a Gilda Joyce book, and The Schwa Was Here, and Vive La Paris, and Twilight, but I haven't actually read those yet so even though I think I'll love them I can't include them in good conscience. Ah, well; maybe next summer.

Now that I look at it, though, it's not a bad list just as it is. (Astute readers might notice a definite Cybils influence--no big surprise.) I might just go with it, if I can slog through the summaries in the next few days.

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