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Hurts Like a Mother: A Cautionary Alphabet by Jennifer Weiss and Lauren Franklin (Illustrated by Ken Lamug) (Doubleday) Fifty-three years after Edward Gorey’s delightfully subversive alphabet…

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen adaptations have been very nearly done to death. It is a testament to its classic status that Pride and Prejudice has made it gracefully through such a broad gamut of re-envisionings and reinterpretations, from a Bollywood setting to a zombie mash-up to a modern-day vlog.

Marcia Williams’s Lizzy Bennet’s Diary (Candlewick, April 2014) is another installment of this tradition. The diary not only tells the familiar story of Austen’s novel — more digestible for young readers in this simplified first-person format — but embroiders the story with rich details of life in Regency England, without appearing didactic. Lines from the novel are woven smoothly into the diary entries, and letters are included as nice pop-out elements, complete with faux seals and addresses. Though “Lizzy’s” drawings are stylistically far from period-appropriate, they are true to the tongue-in-cheek humor of Austen’s original text. However, the inclusion of scanned period documents (like a playbill from Lizzy’s trip to London) or pressed flowers pulled me out of the flow of the story rather than adding to the experience.

Though this may stem from my bias as a veteran reader of the novel (and a lit student to boot), I found the Lizzy of Williams’s Diary a shallower and less mature girl than the Elizabeth of “not yet one-and-twenty” whom I have come to know and love. The publisher pins the target audience age for this rendition as 8–12 years, but does that mean the heroine should be dumbed down?

That aside, the book will easily serve young readers as a good stepping stone into the wonderful, wide world of Austenania — and when they’re ready the original Pride and Prejudice will be waiting for them.

P.S. I highly recommend checking out the “Lizzie Bennet Diaries,” if you missed them while they were airing. I warn you that the serial installments (like the near-daily entries of Williams’s Diary) can get pretty addicting. (I watched 35 in one day!)

The post Lizzie Bennet’s Diary appeared first on The Horn Book.

The model made popular by the Choose Your Own Adventure middle-grade books comes to a teen audience in two new paperback series with massive appeal for reluctant-reader girls.

Bridie Clark’s Snap Decision series, which debuted last summer with Maybe Tonight? (Roaring Brook, August 2013), places the reader in the driver’s seat to navigate life at a prep school. In breezy second-person narration rife with timely pop-culture nods, “your” choices involve glamorous friends, glitzy parties, hot guys, and fabulous trips. The second installment, You Only Live Once­­ (is “YOLO” still everyone’s favorite acronym?), publishes this month.

In Summer Love (Speak/Penguin, May 2014), first in her Follow Your Heart series, Jill Santopolo takes the formula on a summer beach trip during which readers (fresh from a sweet sixteen party “six — no, seven — days ago”) flirt, date, and look for love at every turn. Ideal for fans of Sarah Dessen and Gayle Forman (included on the “other books your may enjoy” list in the opening pages), this is a diverting prescription for summer-vacation reading.

The post Choose your own teenage dream appeared first on The Horn Book.

by Salina Yoon

Toys, toys, toys! I love toys! They are often the inspiration to my novelty books—board books with interactive features. They are designed to be touched, pulled, squeezed and played with, so my books and toys are like cousins.

Colored stacking rings, the Connect Four game, wooden puzzles, rubber duckies, and even a football has inspired a book idea! And sometimes, it’s not even a toy at all. Random objects will inspire me. My husband’s toolbox, kitchen utensils, scrap fabric, a greeting card, and even a funny jack-o-lantern on Halloween! I can’t get away from ideas creeping into my head because I’m surrounded by objects. Needless to say, I develop a ton of ideas every year. About a dozen are usually good enough to publish. And the others crawl back into my deep, dark dummy closet of doom. (See photo!)

My books are concept- and format-driven, so I’m not looking for story ideas. I look for fun concepts that allow a child to interact in a meaningful way from the physical design of the book. Rock & Roll COLORS is an excellent example. The book has a hidden track within each narrow page that allow a shiny disk to roll back and forth when the book is tilted. It makes a nice, satisfying clunking sound when the disk hits the edge. Each side of the page has an image with die-cuts, so the foil comes shining through. Each spread focuses on one color, and both images on the page are that same color. It’s so simple, but effective!

So how does this help you if you’re not developing novelty books? I say keep an open mind! Even simple objects can inspire, if you let them. For the PiBoIdMo challenge, all you need are concepts.

Surrender to your imagination! I don’t actively try to create ideas as much as allowing ideas to come into my head. Allow your mind to be free! Relax. Smile. Enjoy the process. Like the Chinese finger trap, the harder you pull, the stronger it resists. Don’t stress too much about trying to think up great ideas. When they come a-knockin’, just invite them in!

Salina Yoon is the creator of over 150 innovative books for young children. She has been named a finalist for the CBC’s Children’s Choice Book Awards for K-2nd Best Book of the Year, for Opposnakes (S&S/Little Simon), received the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal awards for Little Scholastic TOYS (Scholastic/Cartwheel) and Rock & Roll COLORS (Scholastic/Cartwheel), and the Nick Jr. Fam