How to use this Page

So in every organization, there's a flow of staff, coming in and going out. As a volunteer organization, this certainly occurs at readergirlz as every contributor is a YA author herself. It's time to say goodbye to three staff members this month.


First is Holly Cupala, our Design Diva. Holly has been our rgz face, essentially. She has donated hundreds and hundreds and hundred of hours to make posters, videos, banners, bookmarks, newsletters, and other visuals hot and engaging for our community. We will miss Holly so much! Her sweet, giving spirit is always infectious. We send her off with our best as she works on her third YA novel. Thank you, dearest Holly! Thank you, thank you, thank you! We love you dearly.



Liz Gallagher is also stepping away from readergirlz this month. She has been our head rgz HOST, networking and representing us in the industry. Her joy and belief in the organization have always been inspiring. We will miss her in the day-to-day dealings of rgz. Thank you, Liz! Here's to your next YA release! We love you much!



And then the ever-so-brilliant Martha Brockenbrough is stepping down as well. She has been our PR agent and general advisor for all things future. Between her gifts, talents, and networking abilities, she enabled the YA lit world and beyond to know the amazing things we were doing as a community. Thank you, Martha, for every effort, especially those press releases, TBD blog rolls, and Twitter hashtag posts. You-wow-me. Congrats on the sale of your first YA novel! We heart you!



Both Justina Chen and Dia Calhoun, my fellow co-founders, will be retreating toward their own writing as Holly, Liz, and Martha are doing. However they aren't too far away. :~)

So, your current rgz team will be: Micol Ostow, Melissa Walker, Little Willow, with me, Lorie Ann Grover as the representing co-founder. You'll see a few changes, fantastic new ideas and projects, and amazing blog posts as we continue to feature a different author every week.

No worries. Your rgz community is alive and thriving. Spread the word, and take a minute to give your love to our volunteer YA authors who are departing. Thankfully, they are in our Circle of Stars and will always, always, always be readergirlz. Thank you, ladies. We really do love you each so much!

Now, rgz: READ, REFLECT, and REACH OUT.

I'm very excited to get to chat with rgz co-founder and award-winning fantasy author Dia Calhoun today about her YA fantasy novel, AVIELLE OF RHIA!

Dia has the soul of fantasy as well as amazing storytelling skills (plus she always has gorgeous covers, don't you think?). Not to mention AVIELLE is engrossing, moving, and suspenseful fantasy at its best.

Dia is here to tell us about the stories behind her fantasies, writing as a way of working through grief, and her next project.

Welcome, Dia!

*****

Avielle of Rhia is about a princess who overcomes grief and fear after a deadly attack kills her family, and comes into her power as queen by learning to face her fears and love her people.


Dia Calhoun, on the story behind the story:
AVIELLE OF RHIA was directly inspired by the 9/11 and its aftermath. At first the story was too directly tied to 9/11. I had people waving the flags of Rhia and shopping after the attack to stimulate the economy. I had twin towers. All of that had to go, the story took awhile to find its own form and truth...


Read more of Dia's secrets here...

~Holly Cupala

Operation Teen Book Drop Is April 15th...


If you associate April 15th with (ick) filing your taxes, here's a better alternative--think of it as a fantastic day for teen lit. On April 15th Operation Teen Book Drop will deliver 10,000 new books to teens on Native Reservations and Tribal Lands, more than 100 top young adult authors will leave their books in public places for young readers to discover, and members of the public can buy books online and have them shipped to tribal libraries.

For this event, which coordinates with YALSA's Support Teen Literature Day, publishers donated the books, valued at more than $175,000.

“These publishers have shown astounding vision and generosity by supporting Operation Teen Book Drop,” says readergirlz co-founder and award-winning novelist Dia Calhoun. “Now underserved teens can benefit from the current explosion of high quality YA books. These teens can see their own experience, their tragedies and their triumphs in these books, books that become shining doorways to the young human spirit.”

The donations are especially significant to Native teens. “In their lives, they really don’t have new books,” says Mary Nickless, the librarian at Ojo Encino Day School, one of 44 institutions that will benefit from Operation TBD.

In its third year, Operation TBD is part of a massive effort by librarians, young adult authors, and avid readers to spur reading on a nationwide scale. The day aims to encourage teens to read for the fun of it.

The effort is coordinated by readergirlz, the Young Adult Library Services Association, GuysLitWire, and a new partner, If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything, a national reading club for Native children.

Kudos to participating publishers! They include: Abrams Books; Bloomsbury/Walker Books/Candlewick Press; Chronicle Books; Hachette Book Group; Boyds Mills Press; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Milkweed; Mirrorstone Books; Orca Book Publishers; Scholastic; Simon & Shuster Children's Publishing; Tor/Forge/Starscape/Tor Teen/ Roaring Brook Press, an Imprint of the Macmillans Children's Publishing Group; and Better World Books.

For more information, visit www.readergirlz.com and http://readergirlz.blogspot.com, or contact [email protected]

We readergirlz girlz tore up the keyboards last night talking everything from writerly schedules (thank you, Little Willow, for offering to make me breakfast); TV shows ("So You Think You Can Dance" rocks supreme); the joint appearance by Erin McIntosh and Melissa Walker in the newest six-word memoir book (oh, baby); certain showcase dance number videos that will never be aired (thank you, Mercy, for keeping our secret our secret); the emergence of Priya as a readergirlz street girl; favorite bands (yes, mine is still and will always be Bruce Springsteen); landscape as character (thank you, Nicole, for the question); favorite editors, past and present; how I stink at the samba (just ask Jean Paulovich); whether I will every write fantasy (thank you, Maya and Hipwriter Mama for your faith in my abilities); whether I've watched "Glee" (I'm so sorry, Lorie Anne); and why Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia's Schuylkill River was perhaps the most challenging and most rewarding book that I've yet published, though 2010 and beyond is filled with books and potential books that were probably even harder. All along Dia Calhoun and Holly Cupala were tossing out not just literary questions but riotously funny—and unexpected—images.

Which is all to say that if you haven't participated in a readergirlz chat, you really ought to. They happen twice or month or so. They will keep you at the edge of your fingertips.

I have returned this moment from Radnor Middle School, where I left three copies of House of Dance along the bus line. The former Dr. Dewsnap teaches there now, having moved there awhile ago from the high school where she inspired me and, ultimately, many pages in my first young adult novel, Undercover.

The books are there to be discovered. They are there as part of the terrific national program, Operation Teen Book Drop, which celebrates its second anniversary today and owes its birth to the extraordinary founders of readergirlz.

I borrow the following text from the readergirlz press release, so that you might know more and celebrate with all of us who are honored to reach out to younger readers.

In its second year, “Operation TBD” (short for Teen Book Drop), puts free books donated by 18 book publishers into the hands of many teens most in need of escape, inspiration and a sense of personal accomplishment. Books with exceptional characters and fabulous stories can provide just that for teens and their families dealing with difficult, long-term hospital stays.

At a time when philanthropic giving is down, readergirlz co-founders have been inspired by overwhelming industry support for Operation TBD. “readergirlz is always looking for innovative ways to connect teens with literature, “ said Dia Calhoun, co-founder of readergirlz and acclaimed young-adult author. “We’re honored that publishers have supported this goal by giving so liberally this year.”

Operation TBD also aims to encourage all teens to choose reading for pleasure as a leisure activity, over other entertainment options. Inciting the broader teen community to participate in Operation TBD in its drive to spur reading on a national scale, readergirlz has launched a trailer on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/readergirlz) inviting teens and YA authors to leave a book in a public place on April 16. When visiting www.readergirlz.com, participants can download bookplates to insert into the books they’ll leave behind, which explain the surprise to the recipient and tell them to read and enjoy.

Last month, my mom and I road-tripped to Seattle for author Justina Chen Headley's book launch party for the release of her novel North of Beautiful. Sweet friend Holly Cupala had invited us to stay with her and her lovely fam to surprise Justina. And Justina was definitely surprised. :)
Justina's been a friend and mentor for a couple of years now, and the one best word to describe her is inspiring. She is the epitome of inspiring. I have such a deep love and admiration for her, and am happy to say she is one of the most amazing people I've ever met.I also got to see some of my other brilliant friends/heroes again. Janet Lee Carey:
Lorie Ann Grover and daughter Ellen (they both have fantastic style, yes?):
A fellow Shan-fan and great online friend:
Dia Calhoun:
Jackie...who I don't seem to have a picture of. *frown* And of course Holly Cupala (who also has rockin' style):
One of the ways North of Beautiful inspired me (besides the desire to travel) is to take up collaging. In that vein, I made a collage for Justina, as well as a soundtrack for the novel (which I will post soon).
I also proceeded to sing "For Good" which made people (um...including myself) cry. But that's okay because I meant every word, singing it in front of people who have given me so much, much more than they will probably ever know.

(Now you know what this was referring to.)

There was hardly a soul in the restaurant last night by the time my husband and I made our way to it. The streets were thick with ice and the snow that had been falling all day long kept rising back up with the wind and snapping. I had my blackberry with me because I always do, because it is my one connection across hundreds of miles to my son; I want to be near if he wants to talk. And so there we were, and there was the blackberry, and there was cold outside and a certain emptiness in my heart—a sadness stemming from news encountered earlier in the day.

Toward the end of the meal (appetizers, only), that little red blackberry light went off, and I checked to see to whom it might belong. It was Little Willow, of all people, a forerunner blogger of forerunner bloggers, who was out there doing smart book talk in advance of most of the world.

Guess who has a book recommended in this month's issue of readergirlz? she wrote. You do! You do! The postergirlz picked UNDERCOVER as a recommended read, along with our main March pick, THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX by Mary E. Pearson.

I try hard not to cry at things that are not life and death related, but no amount of resolve stopped my tears with this. Because who are those readergirlz? They are Lorie Ann Grover, dancer, writer, illustrator, thinker. They are Justina Chen Headley, former executive and now author of such supremely successful and lovely, intelligent books as NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL, her latest, which earned three starred reviews and is getting incredible responses across the blogosophere. They are Melissa Walker, and we all know Melissa—beloved author of the VIOLET series and fashionista, who reports on her Manhattan travels so that the rest of us can be voyeurs. They are Dia Calhoun, the acclaimed authoress, and Holly Cupala, whose first novel is due out in 2010. And in essential supporting roles there are those like Miss Little Willow herself, HipWriterMama (a blogger I admired for so long from afar, a writer, and interviewer extraordinaire), and the delightfully popular Miss Erin, rising actress and poet and friend (and daughter of sometimes actress, rising photographer, and always friend Sherry!).

They are, in other words, women I have long respected. Women who are out there making a difference with their voices and their opinions.

UNDERCOVER stands as a March pick among books that I'd be proud to be associated with on any day of any week: MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC, FRANKENSTEIN, GRACELING, NOT QUITE WHAT I WAS PLANNING: SIX-WORD MEMOIRS BY WRITERS FAMOUS AND OBSCURE, and WALDEN.

I don't know about you, but sometimes electronic hugs, as first delivered upon my heart by Anna Lefler, are not enough.

Still:

(((thank you)))

Meeting Shannon Hale and Libba Bray was only the beginning of my Seattle fun! I also was so blessed to be able to celebrate my 17th birthday while there. I hosted a little party, and in attendence were: Three readergirlz divas (Janet Lee Carey, Dia Calhoun, Lorie Ann Grover), Holly Cupala, Jackie, Ellen and Emily (Lorie Ann's daughters) my aunt, my grandma and my mom.

The party was a blast! There were lots of fun games (you can read about one game over at Holly's blog)....

And lots of laughing....

One readergirlz diva, Justina Chen Headley, was out of town, and therefore unable to attend. However, Lorie Ann dialed her up on her cell and I was able to talk to her! That was very cool and happymaking.
Janet is bold and funny....
Lorie Ann is just wonderful....
Dia is so sweet....
I also performed a couple of Wicked (the musical) songs for them, including "For Good". Which made everyone (including myself...didn't know if I could make it through, for a sec) choked up, but in a good way.

It was a very special day, and I'm so thankful to have been able to finally meet these amazing mentors and friends!

Dia Calhoun is the winner of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature. She is the author of five young adult fantasy novels, three of which are ALA Best Books for Young Adults. Her books are Avielle of Rhia (Marshall Cavendish, 2006), The Phoenix Dance (FSG, 2005), White Midnight (FSG, 2003), Aria of the Sea (FSG, reprint edition 2003), and Firegold (FSG, reprint edition 2003).

Dia is also one of the four readergirlz divas (www.readergirlz.com). Readergirlz is featuring The Phoenix Dance in May for National Mental Health Month. When she isn't writing, Dia sings Italian arias, fly-fishes, and canoes down the Pacific Northwest's beautiful rivers. She lives with her husband and two frisky cats in Tacoma, Washington. Learn more at www.diacalhoun.com.

Let's focus on your latest release, Avielle of Rhia (Marshall Cavendish, 2006). Could you tell us a little about the story?

Avielle of Rhia is about fifteen-year-old Princess Avielle who is an outcast among her people because she looks like her Dredonian great-great grandmother Dolvoka, an evil woman with magical powers who cursed and killed all the birds in Rhia. Avielle fears that Dolvoka's evil may rise in her. Avielle lives isolated in the High Hall, persecuted by her older brother, Crown Prince Edard.

One night the Black Cloaks, an evil sect of wizard-priests from Dredonia, blow up the High Hall: only Avielle survives. She takes refuge with a kindly weaver named Gamalda who helps Avielle develop her magical gift for weaving. Avielle struggles with her grief, with her fear of being like Dolvoka, and with her fear of the Black Cloaks, all of which prevent her from coming forward as queen to lead her people.

Hiding her identity, Avielle meets the common people, such as Master Steorra, the absent-minded astronomer, and Tinty, a girl whose magical power runs amok. Slowly love blossoms inside her, and this love brings her the power to face her fear of Dolvoka, defeat the Black Cloaks, come into her power as queen, and at last bring the birds home to Rhia.

What was your initial inspiration for writing this book?

9/11 inspired me to write the book. I was profoundly shaken by 9/11, personally and artistically. Many people made eloquent speeches exhorting us all to be courageous. We were all told, as I have come to think of it now, "to go marching bravely on," to go on with our lives to show the terrorists they hadn’t won.

However, as one speech followed another, I felt hollow. What, I thought, if you can't go marching bravely on? What if you do feel despair? I felt awful having these feelings because they seemed so unpatriotic. Un-American. I was letting the terrorists win.

I kept waiting to hear some one talk about these feelings I was having. Oh, there were occasional news-reports by psychologists about people being depressed by the events of nine-eleven, but there were no great speeches, there was no hero for the frightened and the despairing. Who spoke for me?

Being a writer, I turned to my writing to make sense of what was happening to me. I wrote a truly terrible middle grade fantasy novel. It was nine-eleven, thinly veiled. I had to wait two years before the book would begin to transform into a real story, and oddly enough, the story that I really needed. Like me, Avielle wonders who speaks for her in her despair. Eventually she learns that it is she who must speak for her people, the despairing as well as the brave.

I wrote this book for three reasons. First, because I needed someone to speak for me, to speak for my experience of nine-eleven and terrorism. I had to create Avielle to do it. Second, because I wanted to speak for those like me, those who were too frightened to go marching bravely on. The third reason I wrote this book is that I want to be like Avielle.

By the end of the book, Avielle has acquired the Magnificent Heart. She has one shining magnificent moment when she does not wish for revenge upon the terrorists. Instead, she wishes them true strength. She wishes their hearts to be opened. That is her true heroic moment. I wish I could have a moment like that. I hope that when people read the book, they will have such a moment.

What was the timeline from spark to publication, and what were the major events along the way?

As I mentioned, the first draft was far too close to the real events of 9/11. I had twin towers blown up. I had poison in the flour—the anthrax scare. I had people flying the flags of Rhia to show their support for their besieged kingdom. It just didn't work!

Eventually the idea that Avielle should be a princess rather than a commoner came to me, as did the idea to make her loss immense. I really wanted to explore the psychological trauma of someone dealing with a major cataclysmic loss--so I had her whole family die when the Black Cloaks blow up the High Hall.

Then one day, out of the blue, the birds and Dolvoka flew into my mind and that element transformed the entire story. Margery Cuyler, my wonderful editor at Marshall Cavendish, asked inspired questions that spurred me to new insights. So I would say the book took nearly five years from the initial idea until publication.

What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, logistical) in bringing it to life?

I did more research for Avielle of Rhia than I had ever done for any of my previous novels--and had great fun doing it, I might add! I researched weaving, astronomy in the time of Galileo, candlemaking, stained glass window making, silversmithing, and letterpress printing.

Psychologically the book was difficult to write because I was continually immersed in my feelings over 9/11. Avielle's journey is not easy, and the issues of prejudice and terrorism she deals with are quite serious ones for our times.

The themes of darkness and light reappear in all my novels. I think the reason for this is my struggle with bipolar illness, which is a constant swing between an excess of darkness and an excess of light--see my book The Phoenix Dance (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005). I think my expressions of greatest darkness exist in Avielle of Rhia, but also my greatest image of light: Avielle at the end of the book with her radiant cloak woven of love and light and wings. That image still fills my mind. It fills me with hope.

How long have you been writing with an eye toward publication? Looking back, what were your greatest triumphs and challenges along the way?

I began writing seriously in about 1990. I got up an hour early every morning and squeezed in an hour of writing before going to work. It may not seem like much time, but an hour a day--more on weekends--adds up.

It took about five years for me to write my first fantasy novel, Firegold, (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux 2003) originally published by Winslow Press in 1999. It took me five years to find a publisher for it.

During that time I kept writing--I increased my hours to two a day--and wrote Aria of the Sea (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2003) and part of White Midnight (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2003). My publisher subsequently took those books as well.

One great moment was that first letter of acceptance--how I celebrated! Another great moment was after Winslow Press went bankrupt and Farrar, Straus, & Giroux picked up my books.

I've been honored to work with my editor Wes Adams at FSG. Perhaps my greatest triumph was winning the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature for Aria of the Sea (Farrar Straus & Giroux 2003).

I find that my greatest challenge now is to write without worrying whether my books will continue to be successful. That kind of worry poisons the process.

What do you love about the writing process and why?

I love the "Ah-ha!" moments, the moment when ideas link, when images dawn, when a character suddenly acts on her own. Those moments send chills down my spine. They seem to be gifts from the blue, but they are really little rewards from my subconscious for working diligently.

Some books come more easily than others. My easiest book was White Midnight (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003). The rough draft poured out in two months! But I'd been thinking about that book for years before I sat down to write it.

I also love the process of polishing and revising, or crafting sentences until they sing. I read all my work aloud. I think if I hadn’t been a writer I would have been a singer--there is such music to language, such soul to voice.

What about do you wish you could skip and why?

I loathe doing character charts, but I do them. Some of the best secondary characters I've ever created are in Avielle of Rhia (Marshall Cavendish, 2006). I used to ask boring questions like, does the character like lime-Jell-O or strawberry Jell-O better, and would get nowhere.

Now I ask questions such as, what is missing in the character? Or, what would she like to change about herself? I seem to get further with that kind of approach. But I still loathe doing character charts!

How about publishing? What do you love about it? What do you abhor? And again, in both cases, why?

What I love about the publishing process is working with my editor. Here at last is someone who, if you're fortunate, loves your book almost as much as you do, and will discuss it with you as endlessly and minutely as though you were two fourteen-year-old girls chatting about their friends on the phone. I love what another creative eye, gently nudging me forward, can do for the story.

What I dislike—truly, madly, deeply—is the marketing aspect of publishing. I would much rather stay home curled up with my laptop and my cats in bed writing another novel, than going to bookstores and trying to look literary and charismatic. It's the Author-as-Used-Car-Salesman that I really abhor.

What advice do you have for beginning novelists?

Beginning novelists in any genre should try to work on their novels a little bit every day. I firmly believe that this keeps the waters of creativity flowing. This practice builds a tsunami in the subconscious that will reward your persistence.

I firmly believe and testify to all who will listen that the subconscious will do most of your work for you if you feed it. So even on days when nothing happens, sit before the screen. Try out ideas. Discard them all, if you have to, but think, imagine, and dream even if your ideas seem stupid, random, farfetched, or trite. Then leave it all. Take a walk, garden, cook, enjoy a storm. Somewhere inside you the wave will be building, drop by drop, to rush onto the page.

What do you do when you're not writing?

When I'm not writing, I sing! I just can't get away from the sound of the human voice. Italian arias are my favorite. I live in the Pacific Northwest so I also do a lot of hiking, canoeing, and fly-fishing in our beautiful mountains.

My husband's family has a commercial apple and pear orchard in the Methow Valley in Eastern Washington, and I love to spend time there. The magic of the orchard inspired two of my books, Firegold (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003) and White Midnight (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003).

What can your fans look forward to next?

My next book is something of a departure for me. The Return of Light: A Christmas Tale (Marshall Cavendish, October 2007) is still a fantasy, but it is a short fable for all ages.

It is written from the point of view of Treewing, a young Christmas Tree who lives on a Christmas Tree farm on Faith Mountain. The magical Christmas Deer chooses him for a special destiny, and he is cut down and put on sale in an urban Christmas Tree lot. There he longs for a happy family to take him home.

This doesn't happen, though, and to his despair, he's left all alone on Christmas Eve. Then, with the help of a boy named Luke, a special baseball, and a group of homeless people, Treewing brings the Return of Light to those who need it most. Again in this book, I explore themes of light and dark. It does seem to be my topic!

The Seven Imps have an interview up with John Green. I usually can't get to their interviews right away, but for reasons that will become clear in my next post, I'm a little ahead with my blog reading today so I went for it.

This guy sounds so interesting that I'm left feeling really sorry I didn't like Looking for Alaska more than I did. I have hopes for An Abundance of Katherines, but I haven't read it yet.

I felt the same way after reading Miss Erin's two-part interview with Dia Calhoun. Calhoun's sincerity in wanting to write about her response to the attack on the World Trade Center was very touching, and I wished I liked the result, Avielle of Rhia more than I did.

Readergirlz on Readergirlz:

Dia Calhoun is the winner of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature. She is the author of five young adult fantasy novels, three of which are ALA Best Books for Young Adults. Her books are Avielle of Rhia (Marshall Cavendish, 2006), The Phoenix Dance (FSG, 2005), White Midnight (FSG, 2003), Aria of the Sea (FSG, reprint edition 2003), and Firegold (FSG, reprint edition 2003). When she isn't writing, Dia sings Italian arias, fly-fishes, and canoes down the Pacific Northwest's beautiful rivers. She lives with her husband and two frisky cats in Tacoma, Washington. Learn more at www.diacalhoun.com.

Janet Lee Carey spends her time crafting magic on the page. She's published five books including Wenny Has Wings (Atheneum, 2002), winner 2005 Mark Twain Award, The Beast of Noor (Atheneum, 2006), a fall Book Sense pick, and Dragon's Keep (Harcourt, 2007), which has a Booklist starred review. She also teaches novel writing to writers young and old, speaks in the U.S. and abroad, and yes, she even cooks and cleans and takes out the trash now and again because writers don't live in ivory towers. Her website is www.janetleecarey.com.

Lorie Ann Grover is the author of three Margaret K. McElderry-Simon & Schuster verse novels: Loose Threads (2002), a Booklist Top Ten First Novel for Youth; On Pointe (2004), a Bank Street College Best Book of the Year; and Hold Me Tight (2005), a VOYA Top Poetry Pick. Visit her at www.lorieanngrover.com.

Justina Chen Headley is the author of Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies)(Little Brown, 2006)(author interview), which was sold at auction. It's been named New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, a Borders Original Voices nominee and a Book Sense pick. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two children. Learn more at www.justinachenheadley.com.

Congratulations on the launch of readergirlz! Could you tell us more about it?

Dia: Readergirlz is a new-online book community celebrating gutsy girls in life & lit. We want girls to read and reach out--and be tomorrow's history. That's why every month we're featuring a different YA novel with a super strong female protagonist AND a related community service project.

Each month an issue goes up on our website (readergirlz.com) with a book party package. The package includes discussion questions; menu, decorating ideas, and playlist related to the book; an interview with the readergirlz divas and the author; a list of related books; and the community service project. We host a discussion forum on our MySpace group site (groups.myspace.com/readergirlz) where girls can discuss the book with the author, the readergirlz divas, and each other. We also have a LiveJournal page at readergirlz.livejournal.com. We have all kinds of ways for girls to participate.

Our inaugural March issue features Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) by Justina Chen Headley, which has an ugly racist incident. So the featured community service project is for girls to apply for Mix It Up grants at Tolerance.org to tear down racial and social boundaries at school.

What are the particular needs of girls who read?

Janet: Girls who read are thinkers and dreamers. They know how to climb into another person's skin--that ability builds compassion. Girls who read need ways to express what they're learning. By providing cool community service choices with every book, readergirlz gives them a chance to move beyond the books and take action. That's empowerment!

What was your initial inspiration?

Justina: When I was out on my book tour last spring, I made an effort to visit urban high schools that couldn't otherwise afford an author. I was shocked and heartbroken--all these incredibly insightful kids with incredibly impoverished libraries and schools. I knew that I could figure out a way to provide teens--regardless of their socio-economic situation--with a rich author experience.

What was the timeline from spark to launch, and what were the major events along the way?

Lorie Ann: Justina conceived the idea for readergirlz nine months ago while touring for Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies). Her charitable visits to inner city schools inspired the idea of reaching teens across the country despite socio-economic status.

Listening to librarians at a NCTE panel further motivated Justina to take action. Four months ago, she approached Janet, Dia, and me with the concept. We divied up duties according to our skills and set to work creating our sites, logo, materials, and marketing plans.

Our first celebration in January was a sneak peek at the Midwinter ALA conference. The reception from librarians was unbelievable! Offering a book club, with party ideas, and community service interested many.

Webdiva, Little Willow, soon joined our ranks, and our website became a reality. Our MySpace members rose to 500, and the press began to take notice in February. The divas were busy with multiple interviews in one week!

Quickly, our March 1st launch arrived. Our inaugural issue was posted at our website. With 848 members, 109 comments gathered, and 446 readergirlz chatting about gutsy girls in lit, readergirlz was a reality! I love zipping over to our forums and seeing the great dialogue being exchanged. There's the heart of our work in action!

What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, logistical) in bringing it to life?

Dia: There were--and still are--many challenges! The literary challenges--choosing the right books for the readergirlz list. We are reading like crazy and consulting children's literature experts—librarians and bloggers--and teens themselves to find the right books. We think that there are twelve things that girls need to be armed with before they launch into the real world, among these are tolerance, healthy bodies and spirits, and self-acceptance. You'll see books that reflect these core values.

We had huge technical challenges--none of the readergirlz divas was very tech savvy, and we needed a website, a MySpace site, and a LiveJournal site. Major kudos to Lorie Ann Grover for becoming our technical wizard. Thanks also to Little Willow, our wonderful and generous webdiva. There were many other challenges: marketing, designing a logo, making promotional materials; handling appearances and press relations; e-newsletter and database management; and copywriting. And finally, the biggest challenge of all—trying to keep writing during the onslaught of readergirlz work!

What are your hopes and plans for readergirlz in the future?

Janet: Strong girl characters empower girls everywhere. I hope readergirlz builds a worldwide community of thinking girls who read and respond--girls who cheer each other on and support each other’s dreams.

Lorie Ann: I hope that girls across the country form readergirlz groups, where they can discuss great books, feel empowered, and reach out into their communities. I hope the solitary readers connect through our sites and feel a sense of belonging. Bottom line: I hope we all inspire each other to be our best.

Could you briefly tell us about your own books?

Janet: Dragon's Keep is the story of a princess with a dragon's claw--a tale combining beauty and beast in one person. At its core it is a story about self-acceptance. Rosalind feels she is unlovable because of her deformity. She must be perfectly beautiful in order to be loved. Sound familiar? Girls in our culture are taught "Beauty equals Love" from the cradle. If you are not a perfect 10, you're not good enough. Dragon's Keep turns this cultural myth on its head!

Dia: I write YA fantasy novels. They are Avielle of Rhia, about a princess struggling with terrorism; The Phoenix Dance, a retelling of Grimm's fairy-tale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, about a girl with bipolar illness; White Midnight, about a girl who dreams of owning her own land, Aria Of The Sea, about a dancer trying to find her true voice, and Firegold, about a mixed race boy seeking self-acceptance.

Lorie Ann: On Pointe is a verse novel about my experience wherein I grew too tall to continue my professional ballet track. In our age where kids are told they can be whatever they imagine, I wanted to offer a realistic book where a character's dreams aren't reached. My hope is to encourage readers to keep going and dream again. There are so many ways to express yourself. Through a seemingly dead end, the world may open.

Justina: Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) features a half-Asian, half-white girl who yearns to be someone she's not. In the course of a summer--at math camp, no less--she figures out how cool it is to be no one but herself. My forthcoming YA novel, Girl Overboard, is about a snowboard girl who learns to value herself off the mountain.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Justina: We challenge authors of middle grade fiction to create something similar to readergirlz for kids ages 8-12. Give kids a rich author experience! Tie books to community service! That would truly thrill us.

SEATTLE, March 1--In honor of Women's History Month, four young adult authors are launching readergirlz, a new online book salon celebrating gutsy girls in life and literature.

Starting on March 1, readergirlz founders Dia Calhoun, Janet Lee Carey, Lorie Ann Grover, and Justina Chen Headley will unveil a monthly book selection, featuring young adult novels with gutsy female characters.

More than just a book club, readergirlz aims to encourage teen girls to read and reach out with community service projects related to each featured novel. As well, readergirlz will host MySpace discussions with each book's author, include author interviews, and provide book party ideas, including playlists, menus, and decorations. All content will be available through the readergirlz website (www.readergirlz.com), MySpace (www.myspace.com/readergirlz and groups.myspace.com/readergirlz), and Live Journal (readergirlz.livejournal.com).

"We want girls to be the best women they can be," explains Headley. The inspiration for readergirlz came from Headley's book tour last spring where she made a special effort to visit urban communities that couldn't otherwise bring in authors. Headley spoke at November's NCTE conference in Nashville and also attended a rousing session about teen literacy led by three librarians (Lois Buckman, Bonnie Kunzel, and Teri Lesesne). Inspired, Headley recruited three critically-acclaimed novelists—Calhoun, Carey, and Grover—to start readergirlz as a way to talk to teens about reading and writing.

"Readergirlz is a way I can connect wonderful books to girls I'd never be able to meet otherwise," agrees Calhoun.

The founders hope readergirlz will change the way girls experience literature and see themselves. "I want to challenge girls to go for their dreams," says Carey. "I learned how brave girls can be through books, and I want to share the power of literature with girls, wherever they are."

Using MySpace and a website, the readergirlz founders, dubbed the divas, plan to provide a rich literary experience for teen girls online. "We already have over 750 friends on MySpace. From surveys to playlists to author interviews, we'll provide young adult readers with fun, meaningful content," explains Grover. "Why not harness the power of MySpace to get girls to think critically about what they want to be in the future?"

Each book selection will dovetail to a topic, identified by the readergirlz divas and prominent children's lit bloggers as topics teen girls should know about in this millennium.

The first topic is Tolerance, a theme explored in the kick-off book selection for readergirlz, Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies). As prominent blogger, Jennifer Robinson of http://jkrbooks.typepad.com, noted, teens "need to know that when they are mean or intolerant to other people, they're doing damage."

In conjunction with the first novel, teen girls will be encouraged to visit www.tolerance.org to learn how to safely stop bullying and to apply for one of the organization’s Mix It Up grants to break social and racial barriers within their schools.

About the Readergirlz Founders

Dia Calhoun is the winner of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature, and author of five young adult fantasies, including Avielle of Rhia and The Phoenix Dance.

Janet Lee Carey won the 2005 Mark Twain Award for Wenny Has Wings, and her forthcoming young adult fantasy, Dragon's Keep, has already received a starred review in Booklist.

Lorie Ann Grover is a former ballerina-turned-verse-novelist whose acclaimed work includes On Pointe and Loose Threads, a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.

Justina Chen Headley sold her first two novels at auction, including her debut, Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies), named Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best.

For more information about readergirlz, please visit their website (www.readergirlz.com), MySpace (www.myspace.com/readergirlz and groups.myspace.com/readergirlz), and Live Journal (readergirlz.livejournal.com).