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August and September went by in a blur!  What I thought was the beginning of another school year has turned into fall, meaning Halloween (coincidentally, also birthday) is around the corner! With that said, it's time to find some some fiendishly scary YA reads to display!

For me, horror fiction for young adults seemed to wane in a time where werewolves and vampires were having illicit romantic affairs.  But it began to rear its scary head in recent years, and there have been some AWESOME horror novels for teens published in the last few years.

A frequently asked question, is what is the definition of YA horror?  And to me, it's anything terrifying that happens to you in real life or on a paranormal level.  Of course, this opens the playing field to a LOT of perspectives, so this list of 10 definitely is more paranormal heavy.  But I couldn't help putting in two terrifying novels that are VERY reminiscent of horror in the real world.

** watch only if you dare...movie trailers may not be suitable to all audiences

There are in no particular order....

When you're covered with tattoos to protect you from evil, then encounter a huge flock of crows chasing you, you know something is about to happen.  But it's when you show up at a cornfield knowing something evil lurks between the stalks...yes, it's that creepy!


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Horror movie pair: Children of the Corn
Nothing screams horror more than an axe murder.  And that's what you'll find between the covers of this great non-fiction book.  Narrative style writing makes this read easy, and the pictures, eyewitness testimonies and life for Lizzie Borden will draw readers to the end.


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Horror movie pair: Halloween
This is horror...when the characters of this book are abducted and put into an underground bunker with no way to escape, the psychological thrillfest for the sociopath that kidnaps them begins.



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Horror movie pair: Saw
Entering a contest is easy, but living through it is a different matter altogether.  This is what happens when the teen winners of a contest by horror movie director goes from awesome to creepy.  Facing your fears is one thing, living to tell them is quite another...



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Horror movie pair: Final Destination


Okiku crawls out of the well, her black hair dangling in front of her deathly face.  The next thing you know, she is hanging from the ceiling looking at the man who just committed murder.  Then the lights go out and the terror begins...steeped in Japanese ghosts and Shinto exorcisms, this book will make you scream with pleasure. 



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Horror movie pair: The Ring

Jen and her father have just moved into Harmony House, home to several violent episodes, including the death of children.  People in the small town seem to know what's going on, but Jen doesn't and the voices become more real with each day she lives and survives....





Horror movie pair: House on Haunted Hill

Evil is on the hunt for those strange and peculiar people who hide from him.  But it's what happens when the hiding place is revealed.  It's up to Jacob to keep these peculiar, and sometimes dangerous, children alive, if possible.  The old pictures alone are sure to touch a nerve and fill it with dread.


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Horror movie pair: I actually couldn't think of one for this  because it's just so different and...peculiar (bwaaa-haa-haaa) Here's the movie trailer 

Two young women are trying to run to safety in a world filled with sharp knives.  The one thing they can't shake off is the fact they see the dead all around them.  Not only do they see them, but the dead won't leave them alone....ever...Are they here to help or hinder?







Horror movie The Sixth Sense

The entire premise of this book is to take something sweet and turn it into something dark and horrible, and these writers hit the mark! Think you know Alice in Wonderland?  How about Sleepless in Seattle?  Think again....






Horror movie pair: The Birds or Psycho

Going down a detour is irritating as best.  But going down one in the middle of the woods can cause a little different mood, unless you're narcissistic and on a cell phone.  But when the main character wakes up from an accident and finds herself in a basement, you know something bad is about to happen...




Horror movie pair: Misery

Beautiful house, never for sale.  It's been handed down through generations of a family, and it's special.  But a lot of sadness has occurred within the walls of this house.  Mom died, the aunt disappeared....but perhaps you can hear the scratching on the inside of the walls and the cry to let them out?  CREEP FACTOR times TEN!





Horror movie pair: The Conjuring

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No time to dilly-dally, people! We’ve most of our peers and betters living it up in Las Vegas. Let’s soothe our sorrows of not attending ourselves in some lovely videos then, eh whot?

First off, you may have known that there was a recent Boston Children’s Book Trivia Night. But did you know there was video from the event as well? Indeedy.  Just LOOK at that turnout!  That’s Jack Gantos moderating.  The only trouble with this vid is that it doesn’t contain the answer to his trivia question.  Um . . . anyone want to tell it to me?

In other news, Eoin Colfer.  Not that his existence is news exactly.  It’s just worth making your day brighter to watch him talk a little about . . . well, pretty much anything.  In this case, on getting a literary agent.  Granted, he looks a bit like a great big blue floating head, but I care not.

In movie news, The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex is finally finding itself in film form.  Retitled Home, it has made some interesting changes. The title, for one.   J-Lo is now just O. And  Tip is a teenager (one suspects the film executives thought kids would start picking up their own parents’ car keys if they saw a kid in a movie driving).  We shall see.

Awwww.  A Harry Potter rap!  It’s never too late folks (and note the complete and utter lack of snark in the lyrics).

Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.

And for our off-topic video, this one actually mentions Hagrid at one point (continuing our Harry Potter theme).  So we’re awfully close to being on-topic.  It’s one woman, seventeen different British accents, and one rocking pair of fantastically 1985 glasses.

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And here I thought that Dr. Seuss films began with The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T and those short animated specials and ended with stuff like the CGI fests we’re seeing in theaters practically every year.  Not so!  Good old stop-animation also has had a hand in Seuss’s silver screen career.  Interestingly, this is the only film version (that I know of) of And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street.

And To Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street by CarlStallingEnthusiast

Fun Fact: Beatrix Potter was a fan of the book.  Thanks so much to Phil Nel for the link!

So the official trailer for The Giver movie came out.  Like so:

Two words: Ruh-roh.  Or is that one word?  Hm.  By the way, 100 points to the first person who makes a mock version of this video with the title “The Giver Tree”.  I will honestly and truly send you a cookie if you make that thing.  Scout’s honor.

So a couple weeks ago we were watching the Oscars and I was happy to find that all the nominated songs were interesting and good.  But I’ll confess to you that the one that interested me the least was the U2 song.  I’m just not a U2 girl.  Joshua Tree lovers, pelt me with your stones at will.  But wait!  Hold fast your flying rocks because I just discovered a fascinating fact.  Actually someone that I’ve now forgotten (someone at a dinner, I suspect) shared this with me very recently.  If you watch the music video for the U2 song “Ordinary Love” you will find that all the writing in it (and there’s a lot) looks a bit familiar.  Know why?  Bloody blooming Oliver Jeffers did it!  I kid you not!  Wowie-zowie.  An honest-to-goodness kidlit connection.

This man may have the most famous handwriting in the business today.

Now I’m about to go all adorable on you.  Or rather, these kindergartners are.  You may recall that a year or so ago I presented a video created by Arturo Avina and his kindergarten class from LAUSD’s Olympic Primary Center.  They had adapted Miss Nelson Is Missing and it was a great look at how you can combine digital technology, reading skills, and literature into a project.  Well, Arturo wrote me recently to let me know the sequel was out.  You betcha.  It’s Miss Nelson Is Back.  Check it out:

Says Arturo, “At first, I was skeptical about how this class would tackle it because they did not come in as high academically as last year’s class.  However, a beautiful thing happened.  When my students saw what last year’s class did, they wanted to do the same, and as a result, they stepped up to the plate and succeeded…in spades.  I am particularly proud of this class because they did not start off in third base like last year’s class.  They started off at home plate and hit a home run.The reaction to our movie has been enthusiastically positive by all who have watched it so far. At this point, several parents and teachers have contacted me to let me know that their kids absolutely LOVE it!   It is still my hope that teachers, parents, and kids are entertained by our efforts and hopefully encouraged to blend more dramatic arts into literacy activities. We also hope that this can be used a resource in the classroom.  We poured an incredible about of work and love into our project, and it is with great joy and pride that we present it to the world.”

Thank you for sharing this with us, Arturo!  You have some seriously amazing actors on your hands.  Hollywood, take note.

And since we were already talking about the Oscar nominated songs earlier, might as well play this.  It’s the fun little video all your 10-year-old daughters have already seen featuring Idina Menzel, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots.  Just cuz.

By the way, is it fair to say that Idina Menzel has spent most of her working career the idol of 12-year-old girls?  Other folks too, but to go from Rent to Wicked to Frozen . . . well, it’s impressive.

 

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Missed posting this last week.  Those Peacekeepers really look spot on, don’t they?  We’ll see how it goes but this trailer gives us a sense that The Hunger Games may be worth watching.  Would have liked to see a little Haymitch, of course.

So!  We never filmed the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival at NYPL, but fortunately Chicago had a couple cameras in the wings.  James Kennedy has posted a great little piece about all the madness that occurred, including this fabulous song by Abraham Levitan about twenty of the Newbery books featured at this festival:

The other day About.com asked me to recommend some children’s books to them.  Particularly (and this is an adorable kinda old-fashioned request) books to read after Harry Potter.  So I whipped out a list of great 2011 fantasies for kids.  Particularly, The Dragon’s Tooth by N.D. Wilson, The Floating Islands by Rachael Neumeier, Kat Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis, Small Persons With Wings by Ellen Booream, and The Ogre of Oglefort by Eva Ibbotson:

And finally, for our off-topic video of the day, Metafilter called this a “children’s book for adults”.  If you’ve been complaining that I don’t give you enough Polish filmmaking, consider your prayers answered.

Thanks to Kathi Appelt for the link!

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A regular on the top banned and challenged books list, ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING by the fabulous Louise Rennison has a cult following (um, include me in that cult!).  The book has been challenged for a multitude of reasons: age inappropriateness, profanity, and sexual content.  It has also made the Top 100 list, which we can’t help but consider a distinction!

Today’s booktalk is by the uber-fabbity-fab Sarah Bean Thompson, librarian and blogger (GreenBeanTeenQueen).  She’s also on the 2013 Printz committee!  She’s a fan of Louise Rennison’s Georgia Nicolson stories and contributed a booktalk that you can use all year long in your programming:

Join Georgia Nicolson and The Ace Gang for a fabbity fab adventure through the craziness of high school.  Georgia is madly in love with the sex god, Robbie.  Too bad Robbie has a girlfriend who happens to be the annoying wet Lindsey.  Georgia knows that she could get Robbie to fall in love with her if only she had the chance.  And if high school and love triangles weren’t bad enough, Georgia has to deal with her fat cat Angus who is always causing problems and her embarrassing three-year-old sister who is not as cute as everyone thinks.  Georgia’s adventures are always full of laughs as her entries into her diary recount her attempts to survive school, boys, and big noses.  Growing up is never easy, but at least Georgia Nicolson manages to make it fun.

Thanks, Sarah, for joining us!  For additional info to support your programming and curriculum, check out the Georgia Nicolson reading guide.  I’m also a bit of an evangelist for the Georgia Nicolson website so check that out for a glossary, the complete snogging scale, and quizzes.

Last but not least, I’ll leave you with the trailer for the the ANGUS, THONGS, AND FULL-FRONTAL SNOGGING trailer:

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Morning, everyone!  While exploring various French children’s literature blogs earlier this week I stumbled across this remarkable little book trailer for a pop-up book.  Love the children’s literature references, though I admit to being baffled by the inclusion of Madame Butterfly.  Ah well.

I did also notice a movie trailer of some sort coming out this week.  Perhaps you are familiar with it?

Two interesting things about it.  First, that voiceover appears to be Lenny Kravitz.  That means that this is a pep talk from Cinna, which I think is very interesting indeed.  It sort of telegraphs his importance later in the series.  Second, those four notes played at the end.  That’s got to be the mockingjay song, yes?  Suddenly I’m very excited about Danny Elfman doing the soundtrack.

Speaking of music, here’s a good old-fashioned library protest song.

Just like mother used to make.  Thanks to Playing By the Book for the link!

While on vacation I posted a review of Atinuke’s The No. 1 Car Spotter.  Little did I know that there was a video of her reciting the beginning out there.  Fantastic!  Kinda makes you want to read the book (or in some cases reread the book), yes?

And for our final off-topic video, there’s just nothing finer than seeing true dedication to a craft.  Take this stop-animated version of the classic Jonny Quest opening titles.  Now, parts of it are done on a computer, yes indeed.  But if you go here you’ll see that the bulk of the work is good old-fashioned stop animation.  Epic.

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A little more than a year ago I conducted a Children’s Literary Salon at NYPL with a bunch of talented female graphic novelists of children’s literature (Colleen AF Venable (Hamster and Cheese), Raina Telegemeier (Smile), and Tracy White (How I Made it to Eighteen)).  It was recorded for posterity (unlike most of my Salons) and that was the last I heard of it.  Then the other day I find out from J.L. Bell on Twitter that it’s up and running on the NYPL website.  Glory be, who knew!  So if you’ve ever been curious as to what a Literary Salon consists of, have at it.

Again, this was yet another pretty darn good week for videos.  Trailers abounded, and not just for movies.  The big news of the week was that a Bill Joyce picture book had been turned into what may be the most cinematic picture book app we’ve seen yet.  It’s called The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore and is so gorgeous, in fact, that I’m going to do something I’ve managed to avoid until now.  I’ll buy it.  Here’s why:

Thanks to Ben Rubin and Paul Schmid for the link!

On the book trailer side of things is this one for what I’m going to call the most anticipated fall children’s book of 2011, I Want My Hat Back:

And then on the actual movie world, two trailers were released this week.  One gives me hope.  The other . . . not so much.  So on the hope side of things is this new, longer Tintin trailer.  I was always convinced that Tintin could never be done well because who’s going to allow a kid like him to handle a gun onscreen?  I never counted on CGI to save the day.  I usually hate this style of animation but here . . . it kinda works because it acknowledges how cartoony it can be.  Oddly, I could only find a trailer online that had French subtitles.  Ah well.

Nice yes?  Well retain that happy feeling because the other trailer released was a bit of a disappointment.  I don’t know why Martin Scorsese got it into his head that the title “Hugo” sounds better than “The Invention of Hugo Cabret”.  Plain old &ldquo

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I’ve been asked in the past why it is that I don’t write up the online librarian previews by folks like those at Scholastic.  The reason is simple.  I figure that if you have access to the online previews you don’t need a recap from someone like me.  You can see them for yourself!  That said, some of you may have missed the Fall 2011 Scholastic preview that came out last month.  I didn’t think to blog it before, so go wild!  It’s up and ready for your attention, such as it is.

Book trailer time!  My respect for this one hinges on the fact that the kids in the video are as good as they are.  They’ve cultivated a kind of dead-eyed calm that I admire.

Speaking of trailers for books, here we have Liz Scanlon and Kathi Appelt discussing Scanlon’s newest title Noodle & Lou.  In it a worm and a blue jay are buds.  Any time I see a book where folks who eat or are eaten by one another are friends I think of that moment in Charise Mericle Harper’s Fashion Kitty where the main character explains how hard it is to be friends with something you want to eat.  She then shows a boy with a pet chocolate cake saying, “I love you.  But I really want to eat you.” Love that book.

Anywho, enjoy!

Thanks to Kathi Appelt for the link.

A new Harry Potter trailer was released this week.  I have resigned myself to not seeing it until it comes out on DVD.  Le sigh.

Thanks to Early Word for the link.

And finally for the off-topic video, I know that Stephen Colbert briefly linked to this video once.  It’s just so doggone Russian and so doggone cheery (two phrases I don’t tend to pair together) that I can’t help but make it my song of the day. La la la la la!

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Got a treat for you kiddos today.  You may have seen that charming It’s Kind of a Funny Story movie trailer they’ve been showing in front of films these day.  You know.  This one:

Cute.

Anyway, this film is based on a teen novel by Ned Vizzini.  And Mr. Vizzini, believe it or not, once spoke on a Children’s Literary Salon panel in my library a year or so ago.  Recently I spoke with him about how his book become a movie, and since there’s a chapter in my upcoming Candlewick book about author cameos in screen adaptations I asked if Mr. Vizzini had one of his own.  He shared with me this story, and it’s just so darn good that I had to present it to you here today with his permission.  This is pretty cool, folks.  From Ned:

“When word got out that my book It’s Kind of a Funny Story was being turned into a film, people asked me, “Will you have a cameo?” This struck everybody as a good idea, but it worried me — ideally, I don’t want anyone to come to my books with a preconceived notion of what I look like. Picture this: a reader familiar with my work drags her/his friends to the opening night of It’s Kind of a Funny Story, the film based on my novel. In the middle of the film, my dumbass face appears. The reader recognizes me and grabs her/his friends: “That’s the author!” The friends (who couldn’t care less about me) think: “So this is the doofy white guy responsible for this stuff…” Now, what if these friends are Czech? Chilean? Kiwi? What if they’re 62? 17? 45? I’m a 29-year-old Italian-WASP from Brooklyn; it’s very specific. By staying hidden, I increase my chances of a reader empathizing with my characters without prejudging me. For this reason, I took a pass on the whole film cameo thing. However, when I saw a screening of It’s Kind of a Funny Story, I was pleasantly surprised to see that in place of me, one of my books has a cameo. My second book and first novel Be More Chill (2004) is featured in a scene being read by Craig Gilner, the main character, played by Keir Gilchrist. The directors, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, put this “Easter egg” in the movie without telling me — I love it. Now, in my scenario, the fictional reader grabs her/his friends: “That’s the author’s other book!” And the friends know what to buy.

I did get to participate in It’s Kind of a Funny Story in two ways besides the Be More Chill Easter egg: One of the producers of the film, Ben Browning of Wayfare Entertainment, asked me in the middle of shooting, winter 2009, if I had a T-shirt with a band name on it that I could “clear” for him. He wanted a character in one scene to be wearing a band T-shirt but he didn’t want to bother the Pixies. I was happy to oblige. I had a shirt from a band I love, Drunk Horse, a San Fra

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All righty.  Fun movie trailer time.  Thanks to 100 Scope Notes I was made aware of the brand new Voyage of the Dawn Treader trailer that’s out and about (better check and see how many copies I have ready to go on my library shelf).  It’s a nice enough preview but I do have one objection.  That trailer needed about 500% more Eustace Scrubb.  He sort of gets forgotten in the midst of it all.  One hopes he’ll make a bigger presence on the screen.

And while we’re on the topic of movies, Debbie Reese of the American Indians in Children’s Literature blog recently posted this trailer for a documentary about how American Indians tend to be portrayed in cinema.  She says, “I think it holds great promise for helping critique portrayals of American Indians in the books we give to children.”  I for one like the editing.

I think I’ve cracked the whole can-only-embed-YouTube-videos conundrum.  My evidence: This interview between Jarrett Krosoczka and a fellow who goes by the moniker Daddy Clay from a V-Blog site called DadLabs.  Full credit to DaCla (and I shall now refer to him).  He knows how to pronounce “Krosoczka”.  Now let’s get Scieszka and Telegemeier on the show as well!

I was pleased as punch to see that Peter Sieruta of Collecting Children’s Books has gotten into the video game.  Not . . . not into a video game.  That would be bizarre.  Especially if it was Joust.  I mean, he’s gotten into creating his own videos for YouTube.  In this one, he shows us a gorgeous bookshelf-lined room, then pans across his collection of first edition (FIRST EDITION!) Newbery Award and Honor books.  Hoo-wee, mama!  Talk about a dream collection.

Recently I’ve started receiving books from the publisher Zondervan.  Generally speaking, Christian publishers don’t tend to dip their toes into the greater world of the Kidlitosphere, but Zondervan appears to be different.  For one thing, they’re not afraid to send a couple copies of titles to a relatively secular blogger for review.  For another, they get big names.  Names like “Nikki Grimes” and the l

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