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The Princess in Black. Shannon Hale. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. 2016. Candlewick. 96 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: It was dawn. The Princess in Black had battled monsters all night. And so Princess Magnolia was tired.

Premise/plot: Fighting monsters keeps the Princess in Black (aka Princess Magnolia) exhausted, so when someone new THE GOAT AVENGER (aka Duff the Goat Boy) volunteers to fight monsters in her place, she hesitantly agrees to take a much-needed vacation. But will all go according to plan? Will the Goat Avenger face off with scary monsters? Will Princess Magnolia have a peaceful, relaxed, monster-free vacation AT THE BEACH?

My thoughts: The series is enjoyable. I love, love, love the illustrations. LeUyen Pham is my favorite and best. I adore her work. Shannon Hale's stories are nice. Are they thrilling for adult readers? Probably not. But I really like the characters--especially Princess Sneezewort--and don't mind the predictability and sameness.

(I think the all-caps are contagious.)

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Ladies and gentlemen . . . the moment I’ve been waiting for.

Wait! Wait!  Background information first!

So for years I worked as a children’s librarian and I’d get girl after girl after girl coming up to my desk asking for funny books.  I credit some of this to Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  The boys and the girls loved that series and wanted more of the same.  Sometimes they wanted it in a notebook novel format, like Kinney’s book.  Sometimes they just wanted something hilarious, and they seriously didn’t care who wrote it.  So I’d grab books for them and then it slowly began to dawn on me.  Huh.  For all that I could find some pretty fantastic and hilarious books out there for kids, where were the funny story collections written by women?  Turns out, there weren’t any.

Until now.

I would like you to join me in applauding the following authors and author/illustrators . . . .

• Cece Bell
• Sophie Blackall
• Libba Bray
• Lisa Brown
• Adrianne Chalepah
• Alison DeCamp
• Carmen Agra Deedy
• Kelly DiPucchio
• Lisa Graff
• Shannon Hale
• Charise Mericle Harper
• Jenni Holm
• Akilah Hughes
• Amy Ignatow
• Christine Mari Inzer
• Lenore Look
• Meghan McCarthy
• Mitali Perkins
• Leila Sales
• Raina Telgemeier
• Deborah Underwood
• Ursula Vernon
• Rita Williams-Garcia
• Delaney Yeager
• and Mackenzie Yeager

Each one of these women has contributed to my new book Funny Girl: Funniest. Stories. EVER.

Behold!  The cover by the aforementioned Charise Mericle Harper:

And here’s the full jacket in its entirety:

A portion of the proceeds of this book go to Write Girl, a Los Angeles-based creative writing and mentoring organization that matches girls with women writers who mentor them in creative writing.

When’s it out?  May 9th, 2017!  Feel free to pre-order it.

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Oh! And while I’m thinking of it, there’s this other really fun thing that just started that I have to let you know about.  As I may have mentioned before, my husband’s first book The Secrets of Story just came out recently and I could be prouder.  He’s already put up a couple great videos alongside it (the latest is here and is about those little moments of humanity that make you like a character).  But fun upon fun upon fun, he’s created a podcast with YA author and 90-Second Newbery Film Festival creator James Kennedy and it may well be my favorite thing of all time.  I love it when James and Matt get together because they agree on NOTHING!  And now they’ve a podcast together where they can extol the beauty of that nothing together.  It’s huge fun for me, and it ends with a little feature where they mention a story idea they had that they decided wouldn’t work and give it away (as it were) to the masses for use.  So if you like the process of writing or you just like banter, I’ve your new favorite podcast.  The Secrets of Storytelling podcast is available through iTunes.  Subscribe today!

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I’ve done it again.  Delayed my Fusenews too long and now this post is going to overflow with too much good stuff.  Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.

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Me stuff for the start. And in fact, there just so much Me Stuff today that I’m just going to cram it all into this little paragraph here and be done with it. To begin, for the very first time my book Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Chidren’s Literature (co-written with Jules Danielson and Peter Sieruta) was cited in an article. Notably, a piece in The Atlantic entitled Frog and Toad and the Self.  Woot!  In other news I’m judging a brand new picture book award. It’s the Hallmark Great Stories Award. Did you or someone you know produce a picture book in 2016 on the topic of “togetherness and community”? Well $10,000 smackers could be yours. In terms of seeing me talk, I’m reading my picture book (and more) at the Printer’s Row Lit Fest on June 11th.  If you’re in the Chicago area and ever wanted to see me in blue furry leg warmers, now your chance has come here.  Finally, during Book Expo I managed to coerce Hyperion Books into handing me three of their most delicious authors (Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and Eoin Colfer) so that I could feed them to WGN Radio.  You can hear our talk here, if you like.  And check out how cute we all are:

Colfer, for what it is worth, is exceedingly comfortable.  I highly recommend that should you see him you just glom onto him for long periods of time.  Like a sticky burr.  He also apparently has an Artemis Fowl movie in the works (for real this time!) and you’ll never guess who the director might be.

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This is interesting. Not too long ago children’s book author C. Alex London wrote a piece for BuzzFeed called Why I Came Out As a Gay Children’s Book Author.  It got a lot of attention and praise.  Then, earlier this month, Pseudonymous Bosch wrote a kind of companion piece in the New York Times Book Review. Also Known As tackles not just his reasons for a nom de plume (skillfully avoiding any and all mentions of Lemony Snicket, I could not help but notice) but also how this relates to his life as a gay children’s book author.

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Hey, full credit to The New Yorker  for this great recentish piece on weeding a collection and the glory that is Awful Library Books.  My sole regret is that I never let them know when I weeded this guy:

The copyright page said 1994, but I think we know better.  Thanks to Don Citarella for the link.

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Cool. The publisher Lee & Low has just released the winner of the New Visions Writing Contest, now in its third year.  Congrats to Supriya Kelkar for her win!

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New Podcast Alert: With podcasting being so popular these days, I do regret that my sole foray into the form has pretty much disappeared from the face of the globe. Fortunately there are talented folks to listen to instead, including the folks at Loud in the Library. Teacher librarians Chris Patrick and Tracy Chrenka from Grand Rapids, MI (homestate pride!) get the big names, from picture books illustrators to YA writers. Listen up!

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New Blog Alert: The press release from SLJ sounded simple. “SLJ is pleased to welcome The Classroom Bookshelf to our blog network. In its sixth year, the Bookshelf features a weekly post about a recently published children’s book, including a lesson plan and related resources.” Then I made a mistake. I decided to look at the site. Jaw hit floor at a fast and furious rate leaving a dent in the linoleum. Contributors Randy Heller, Mary Ann Cappiello, Grace Enriquez, Katie Cunningham, and Erika Thulin Dawes (all professors at Lesley University’s outstanding school of ed.), I salute you. If I ever stop writing my own reviews, you’ll know why.

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This:

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This one’s just for the New Yorkers. I’m sure you already saw this New Yorker paean to the Mid-Manhattan library, but just in case you didn’t it’s here, “unruly pleasures” and all.

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For whatever reason, PW Children’s Bookshelf always goes to my “Promotions” folder on Gmail, so I assume they already mentioned this article. Just in case they didn’t, though, I sort of love that The Atlantic (second time mentioned today!) wrote an ode to Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Thanks to Kate for the link.

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Now some Bookshare info.  The idea of providing free ebooks for kids with print disabilities is a good one.  And, as it happens, not a new one.  Bookshare, an online accessible library, just added its 400,000th title to its collection and boy are they proud.  Free for all U.S. students with qualifying print disabilities and U.S. schools, they’ve a blog you might want to read, and they service kids with blindness, low vision, dyslexia, and physical disabilities.

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Daily Image:

You probably heard that Neil Patrick Harris will be playing Count Olaf in the upcoming Netflix series of A Series of Unfortunate Events.  Now we have photographic proof.

I wonder if Brett Helquist ever marvels at how much power his art has had over these various cinematic incarnations.  The lack of socks is a particularly accurate touch.

 

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Hokey dokey.  Too much stuff here to cover very well, but try we shall.  Hold on to your hats, folks!  It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

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First off, you know how I was talking the other day about constructing the ideal educator website of children’s literature resources?  Well, this might have to be one of said resources I’d include.  Called Uncover the Past, the site is dedicated to “helping library and education professionals teach history through children’s literature!”  The booklists are particularly interesting.
Thanks to Rebecca Redinger for the link.

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Next up, one for the “how cute is this?” files.  I don’t know why the idea of Mary Blair tableware isn’t commonplace, but so far this is the first place I’ve seen it done properly.  Blair, as you may recall, worked as a Disney animator for years before becoming a children’s book illustrator.Take the survey and you might win a set of your very own.

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Mmm.  Process.  Sweet, delicious process.  What’s better than watching an Art Director explain how they came up with a YA cover?  Watching an Art Director explain how they came up with a YA cover after considering LOADS of alternatives.  Chad Beckerman shows us how The Haters came to be.  I don’t usually do YA, but in this special case I am making an exception.  You bet I am.

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Oo.  Auction. Now normally one wouldn’t have the money for such a thing, but this one’s special.  What we’re talking about here is a Refugee Benefit Auction, created by authors Shannon Hale and Mette Ivie Harrison.  100% of the proceeds go to Lifting Hands International, a charity that gets life-saving supplies directly to refugee camps.  As for the things you could get, they’re pretty fantastic.  My personal favorite?  A pole dance (or fan dance, they’re easy) performed by Shannon Hale and Daniel Handler.  “Negligible nudity assured”.  Oddly, this item has yet to secure an initial bid.  Would someone like to lend me $10,000?

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The Fictional Book Characters Who Sparked Our Sexual Awakenings. Meh. None of these ranked in my book, but it’s interesting to see the fellers other gals were into.  And, happily, it reminded me of one of my favorite Toast pieces of all time: Things I’ve Learned About Heterosexual Female Desire From Decades Of Reading.

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I think I’m the last one to link to the Alexander London piece Our Stories Are As Unlimited As Our Selves or Why I Came Out as a Gay Children’s Book Author.  A great piece and one that ties in nicely with the GLBTQ chapter of Wild Things.  Should we ever update that book, this is going in.

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Oo!  Eisner Award nominees.  Love that stuff, I do.  And check it out!  Not only is Nathan Hale nominated in the Best Publication for Kids category (for The Underground Abductor, naturally) but he’s also in the Best Writer / Artist category as well.  He is the ONLY children’s book creator in that category, by the way.  Regardless of whether or not he wins, that is significant.

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Travis Jonker. He comes up with so many good ideas.  Have you seen his Endangered Series, uh, series?  Well, it’s a great idea.  Series that once were strong but now are waning are given a close examination.  Cam Jansen was the latest to fall under scrutiny.  I suspect The Kids of the Polk Street School already hit the dust, but if not then this would be an ideal candidate for a future post.

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Wow.  Two thumbs up to the ALSC board for voting to cancel the National Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina.  American Libraries Magazine has the scoop.  Thanks to Jules Danielson for the link.

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How on this good green earth did I miss Rick Riordan’s letter to kids who are faced with the dire prospect of being shown one of the Percy Jackson movies in school?  I’ve seen authors dislike their books’ adaptations before, but nothing quite matches this.  Thanks to Monica Edinger for the link.

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“With such a huge international variety of books and illustrators on display in Bologna, are there differences in illustration styles among individual countries?” Yep. Moving on.  Oh, wait . . . no, let’s dwell on this idea a bit longer.  Four German children’s book publishers were asked this question and they gave their responses.  The thing is, here in the States we’re seeing some remarkably high quality German children’s book fare on a regular basis and it’s GREAT!  I’d love this question to be regularly posed with folks from other countries as well.

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The site Brightly has had a couple good articles up lately.  I liked 8 Surprising Facts About Your Local Librarian not the least because I knew the librarians quoted.  NYC pride!

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Daily Image:

I almost never do images of books here for the Daily Image since it’s sort of a case of bringing coals to Newcastle.  But then I saw that one of my greatest picture readalouds, one of my core books, a title I’ve loved for years, is getting a sequel.  At long long last I have an answer for those kids who have been asking me, “Is there a sequel with the tractor?”

Yes, children.  Yes there is.  And life is good.

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I just discovered The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale with illustrations by LeUyen Pham!  I'm in extreme LIKE!!!  This series for our youngest chapter book readers is funny and feeds into the princess-mania that makes some grandmothers - those who came of age in the 1960s, for instance - break out in rashes.  Princess Magnolia is dimply, pink and perfect UNTIL the kingdom's goats are threatened by MONSTERS.  And then, she and her unicorn, Frimplepants, transform into an amazing duo of monster repelling powers.  I love the name Frimplepants.  Just saying.

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Shannon Hale has unveiled the cover for The Princess in Black Takes a Vacation. We’ve embedded the full image for the jacket design above—what do you think?

LeUyen Pham served as the illustrator on this middle grade novel. Candlewick Press has scheduled the publication date for Feb. 9.

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Marvel Press has announced plans for five young adult and middle grade projects. These novels will be published throughout the year 2016.

According to the press release, Margaret Stohl, best known as the co-creator of the Beautiful Creatures series, has signed on to write a new story starring Natasha Romanov entitled Black Widow: Red Vengeance. It will serve as a sequel to the previously released Black Widow: Forever Red. Tom Angleberger, best known for the Origami Yoda series, will work on a story starring Rocket Raccoon and Groot entitled Rocket & Groot: Stranded on the Planet Strip Mall.

Eoin Colfer, best known for the Artemis Fowl series, will write a story starring Iron Man (a.k.a. Tony Stark). Shannon Hale, best known for the Princess Academy series, and her husband Dean will collaborate on two books. One will star Captain Marvel (a.k.a. Carol Danvers) and the other will shine the spotlight on Squirrel Girl (a.k.a. Doreen Green).

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Shannon Hale is the New York Times best-selling author of fifteen children's and young adult novels, including the popular Ever After High trilogy and multiple award winners The Goose Girl, Book of Thousand Days, and Newbery Honor recipient Princess Academy.

Even as a little girl, Shannon was aware of gender and that girls were treated differently than boys.

Messages girls hear growing up: marry rich; boys are smarter than girls; your value is in your looks; even the things women are supposed to best at, men are better. These are the things Shannon had mulling inside her.

Shannon just unraveled a string of her rejection letters across the entire ballroom stage!

When THE GOOSE GIRLS came out, there was the assumption that boys do not read books about girls, so Shannon believed she wrote books that boys would never read.
When Shannon wrote RIVER OF SECRETS with a male protagonist, boys still did not read the book because she was woman.

If Shannon knew what a big deal the PRINCESS ACADEMY title would be, she wouldn't have title it  that.

(Note: Shannon has the room clapping and cracking up!)

A teacher once told Shannon: "When I tell I class I'm going to read the Princess Academy, the girls go ________, and the boys go___________." (Just like the room could here, you can fill in the sounds made by the girls and boys.)

Shannon asks the boys: Boys, why are you so scared of princesses?

She asks the girls a long list of questions about choices they can make (Can you wear blue? Can you wear pink? Can you be a race car driver? Can you be a clothing designer?) Then asks the boys: Who told you can only do half the stuff?

Shannon tell us, women have half the audience. It's how it is. We have labeled book by and about girls for girls, and girls only.

Shannon has a collection of great slides, showing that you can't get cooties from reading PRINCESS ACADEMY. This all started with Jon Scieszka. Love it!



Men as mentors is so critical. A boy who loves reading turns to his dad and asks, "Dad do you like to read?" Dad answers, "No, not really." Boy responds, "Me neither."

Are you giving books about girls to boys, and saying, "I think you'll like this book because it's funny, etc." We need to do this. We must!

Reading novels creates empathy. We are asking boys to live in a world that is 50% female while telling them not to read books about them. This needs to change.

A must-read post about the time Shannon spoke at a school and the boys were not invited.

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Best YA and Middle-Grade novels selected by Pete Hautman. His latest book is Eden West, the story of a boy growing up in an isolated doomsday cult in Montana.

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• When two people sent me this link I assumed that everyone must have already seen it. But when it didn’t show up on PW Children’s Bookshelf I decided that perhaps I might have a scoop. At the very least, it appears that when people think Nick Cave meets Dr. Seuss, I’m the logical person to send that link to. And they’re right. I’ve been hoping for years that some karaoke bar I wander into might have “Red Right Hand” on the roster. So far it hasn’t worked out but I live in hope. Thanks to Stephanie Whelan and Marci for the link.

• Good old Kelly Gallucci at Bookish was kind enough to write a piece called 5 Reasons Why the Children’s Choice Book Awards Are Better Than the Oscars and All Other Awards Shows. She’s right about many things, particularly the food. It’s rather superb.

• There was a nice obituary in SLJ about Marcia Brown, the woman who currently holds the title of Most Caldecotts Ever Won By a Single Person (though David Wiesner looks to be catching up). She’s a former co-worker of mine, if by “co-worker” you give or take 50 years (we both worked in the Central Children’s Room, now called The Children’s Center at 42nd Street). Jeanne Lamb of NYPL gave some great background in this piece. I did speak to someone recently who was surprised that the Shadow controversy hasn’t come up in any obituaries discussing Ms. Brown’s life. I suspect that has more to do with our shortened memories than anything else, but it may be an indication of folks wishing to remember her in the best light.

• You know, just when you think Travis Jonker has come up with all the brilliant posts he’s going to, something like this comes along and blows it all out of the water. You, sir, are a certified genius. You, and your little Aaron Zenz too.

• Work on Funny Girl, my anthology, continues unabated. In that light, Shannon Hale’s magnificent post Stop Shushing the Funny Girls is particularly pertinent. Consider it your required reading of the day.

• “Social fluency will be the new currency of success.” The Shelftalker blog said that Jewell Parker Rhodes’s closing keynote, “Diversity and Character-Driven Stories,” at this year’s ABC Children’s Institute was worth reading and seems they’re absolutely right. Downright inspiring too.  Maybe this should be your required reading.

• Nope. I was wrong.  Those two posts are your required reading, on top of this one from Art Director Chad Beckerman.  His Evolution of a Cover post on Me and Earl and the Dying Girl makes you wish he wrote such things daily.  It also clarifies for many of us the sheer amount of work a single book jacket takes.

• This is coming to America next year. As such, I must respectfully ask the universe to please make next year come tomorrow. I am willing to wait 24 hours. See how patient I am?  I think I deserve a treat.

• Let’s say you work in a library system where, for whatever reason, you need to justify a massive summer reading program. And let us say that what you need, what you really and truly want, are some cold, hard facts to back up the claim that there is such a thing as a “summer slide” (summer slide = the phenomenon of children sliding back a grade or two over the summer if they don’t read during that time) and that summer reading prevents it. Well, thanks to the efforts of RIF, we now have research to back us up. So for those of you fond of cold, hard facts, tip your hat to RIF.

• Celebrity selfies photoshopped to make them look like they’re reading? Oh. You know you want it. Minh Le, bravo.

There’s just something about that Alligator Pie. When twenty-five graphic novelists were asked to name their favorite children’s books, not one but TWO of them mentioned Alligator Pie by Dennis Lee, illustrated by Frank Newfeld. Canadian to its core, it’s one of those classics that most Americans, heck most U.S. children’s librarians, just don’t know. Next time I’m in Stratford, Ontario I’m picking up a copy. After all, any book that influenced both Mariko Tamaki and John Martz has got to be doing something right.

Did you hear about the diversity survey Lee & Low has spearheaded? Did you read the comments on the article? And do you know whether or not any of the big five have agreed to participate yet? Inquiring minds want to know.

• Sure, this news already ran in PW Children’s Bookshelf, but hearing it more than once never hurt anybody. We all have our pet favorites. Mine just happen to be German sometimes:

NorthSouth Books’ Associate Publisher, Andrew Rushton, has acquired a second book by German author/illustrator Sebastian Meschenmoser. Gordon & Tapir, which tells the comical story of odd-couple housemates (a particular penguin and an untidy tapir), received a Special Mention at the Bologna Ragazzi awards (category Fiction) and is short-listed for the German Children’s Book of the Year Award. The author will be on tour in the US this June ending at ALA in San Francisco.

• I miss Peter Sieruta. I miss him a lot. Nobody else had his wit and timing and sheer, crazy historical knowledge in strange obscure areas. So it was with great interest that I recently discovered Second Look Books. Librarian Carol Matic highlights older gems each week, giving a bit of context and history along the way. Good for those still going through Collecting Children’s Books withdrawal.

• Hooray! A new Children’s Books Made Horrific is always cause for celebration. Ever wanted Goodnight Moon to give you nightmares? Well consider your prayers answered . . .

• Daily Image:

Need I say more?

Jules, I thought of you. Thanks to Stephanie Whelan for the image.

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Check out this great discussion between SCBWI Team Blog's Martha Brockenbrough and best-selling and award-winning author Shannon Hale.

Shannon shares from the heart why she's taken a stand against gender bias in our culture and especially our books. Here's just a taste:

"If I make one change in the world, I hope it's getting more people to question why boys are shamed for/kept away from reading books about girls. The more we question the idea that it's normal and natural and fine, the more we'll realize it's not and things will slowly start to change."
–Shannon Hale

Shannon will be giving a Sunday keynote address "Opening Up The Clubhouse: Boys, Girls, and Genderless Books." She will also be leading a Sunday afternoon workshop, "Writing With Kids: The Marvelous High Wire Act of Writer Parents" and a half-day intensive workshop on Monday, "Building Worlds From The Dust."

Here's the description of that intensive:

E. Shannon Hale – Building Worlds from the Dust

There's nothing like creating a whole new world inside your fantasy or science fiction novel. We'll examine other fictional worlds and discuss tricks and tips to building your own. Assignment: Come with a page or two describing the fictional world of your work-in-progress and be prepared to discuss some of your favorite world-built novels.

Many of the intensives have already sold out, but there's still space as of this writing in others, including Shannon's.

You can find out all the conference details and register here.

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We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending April 19, 2015–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.

(Debuted at #1 in Hardcover Nonfiction) The Road to Character by David Brooks: “Looking to some of the world’s greatest thinkers and inspiring leaders, Brooks explores how, through internal struggle and a sense of their own limitations, they have built a strong inner character. Labor activist Frances Perkins understood the need to suppress parts of herself so that she could be an instrument in a larger cause. Dwight Eisenhower organized his life not around impulsive self-expression but considered self-restraint. Dorothy Day, a devout Catholic convert and champion of the poor, learned as a young woman the vocabulary of simplicity and surrender.” (April 2015)

(Debuted at #7 in Middle Grade Readers) The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale: “Princess Magnolia is having hot chocolate and scones with Duchess Wigtower when…Brring! Brring! The monster alarm! A big blue monster is threatening the goats! Stopping monsters is no job for dainty Princess Magnolia. But luckily Princess Magnolia has a secret —she’s also the Princess in Black, and stopping monsters is the perfect job for her!” (April 2015)

(Debuted at #11 in Hardcover Fiction) The Liar by Nora Roberts: “Shelby takes her three-year-old daughter and heads south to seek comfort in her hometown, where she meets someone new: Griff Lott, a successful contractor. But her husband had secrets she has yet to discover. Even in this small town, surrounded by loved ones, danger is closer than she knows—and threatens Griff, as well. And an attempted murder is only the beginning…” (April 2015)

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A few weeks ago author Shannon Hale blogged about showing up for a school visit and learning that only the girls would be attending her lecture. The assumption that boys don’t want to see a “girl book” author is wrong in a million ways, but enough people have responded to this outrage, and I don’t need to add to the chorus.

I know Shannon Hale is popular with young readers, as her name always comes up when I poll groups of kids on their favorite books, but I’d fallen into the same benign sexism as the school: assuming that something that looks like this had no interest to me.

But in following this story, I read a synopsis of Princess Academy and was intrigued. It sounded far more interesting than I would have guessed from the title and cover. Now, after reading it, I know it a thoughtful critique of the “princess” ideal with a strong feminist theme. Its popularity with girls shows that they are quite ready for this message.

Hale’s way into this topic is intricate: girls competing against one another, tempted by materialism, made to feel ashamed and undeserving. Every element feels natural in the story but could lead to rich discussions about how own culture treats girls. It could even be assigned reading in a college class on women’s studies or gender issues. But the sociopolitical aspects are so well integrated with a good story, it doesn’t feel like the whole book is just a frame for a lecture. I’ve read few children’s books that are as deceptively simple on the outside and run as deep.

After a childhood of Disney princesses, girls really need books like Hale’s. I think boys should read it too: because it’s an enjoyable book, and to have an idea of what girls are going through. We know many men arrive at college belligerent and hostile to feminism; why not begin those discussions sooner?

Besides that, few quote/unquote “boy books” show heroes as reflective and conscientious as Miri. Boys steeped in the personal exceptionalism and power fantasies that often shape “their” stories will be ill-equipped for the real world; Miri is a much better role model for all children.

How do we make the leap to a world where boys can read a book called Princess Academy without fear of bullying and scoffing? Men need to read books by and about women, showing that it’s expected of men to care about women, and boys about girls. And schools need to encourage boys to see brilliant authors like Shannon Hale when they’re lucky enough to have her instead of keeping them in class.

Filed under: Miscellaneous Tagged: boy books, girl books, princess academy, shannon hale

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Author Libba Bray has announced the title for her next book, Lair of Dreams. According to Bray’s blog post, this sequel to The Diviners has “been moved on the schedule so many times we have lost faith in the old gods of the book pub-scheduling universe.” Little, Brown Books for Young Readers has set the release date for August 25th.

When Bray isn’t using her voice for writing, she puts it to work by singing and standing up for her beliefs. She recently stood with three fellow authors (Gayle Forman, E. Lockhart, and Shannon Hale) to protest against the act of assigning genders to books. Over the weekend, Bray gave a moving speech about this issue at the 2015 NYC Teen Author Festival.

Here’s an excerpt: “Does sexism exist in YA? Abso-fucking-lutely. Everyday we see ourselves reflected back to us in ways that are reductive and foreign. And it’s tough when we are continually dismissed and told that our experiences aren’t real. It makes us doubt our reality; to the point where we have to keep turning to each other and saying, ‘Wait, is this true? Are these my hands? Are these hands worthy?'”

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I'm just saying. @gayleforman @libbabray @HousingWorksBks pic.twitter.com/Har5rG2w4i

— E. Lockhart (@elockhart) February 28, 2015

Gayle Forman, E. Lockhart, and Libba Bray appeared together at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe last week. The trio of young adult authors were celebrating the release of Forman’s new book, I Was Here. When they first presented themselves to the audience, the three women were wearing fake mustaches.

Forman explained that they were protesting against the act of driving young boys away from titles that are considered to be “girl books.” The group strongly agrees with the sentiments that fellow novelist Shannon Hale expresses in a recent blog post. Hale felt compelled to discuss this because of her recent experience during a school visit where only female students were given permission to meet her. Below, we’ve collected several of the writers’ tweets with their opinions on this subject in a Storify post.

Here’s an excerpt from Hale’s blog post: “Let’s be clear: I do not talk about ‘girl’ stuff. I do not talk about body parts. I do not do a ‘Your Menstrual Cycle and You!’ presentation. I talk about books and writing, reading, rejections and moving through them, how to come up with story ideas. But because I’m a woman, because some of my books have pictures of girls on the cover, because some of my books have ‘princess’ in the title, I’m stamped as ‘for girls only.’ However, the male writers who have boys on their covers speak to the entire school.”

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We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending December 07, 2014–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.

(Debuted at #7 in Paperback Fiction) The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami: “A lonely boy, a mysterious girl, and a tormented sheep man plot their escape from the nightmarish library of internationally acclaimed, best-selling Haruki Murakami’s wild imagination.” (December 2014)

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The Princess in Black. Shannon and Dean Hale. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. 2014. Candlewick. 96 pages. [Source: Review copy]

I loved everything about The Princess in Black. That doesn't surprise me. I tend to love Shannon Hale's work. I also tend to love, love, love LeUyen Pham's work. It is an early chapter book. It stars Princess Magnolia, Duchess Wigtower, and Duff the Goat Boy. It also stars some monsters and goats.

Princess Magnolia is everything a princess should be by all appearances. But Princess Magnolia has a secret. Duchess Wigtower loves secrets. She loves discovering people's secrets. On the day this book opens, Duchess Wigtower and Princess Magnolia are having hot chocolate and scones. All was going smoothly, until...her glitter-stone rang. This ring alerts her to danger, the danger from monsters. When she hears the alarm, Princess Magnolia sheds her princess-y identity and becomes the mysterious-clever-and-strong Princess in Black.

Readers get to see the Princess in Black in action. The whole book is just fun and silly and oh-so-right and just-about-perfect. I loved the writing. I loved the descriptions. I loved the characters. I loved Duff the Goat Boy more than I thought I would. I expected to LOVE the main character. I didn't expect to LOVE Duff the Goat Boy too. Overall, it's just as charming and delightful as can be.

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

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Title: Dangerous Author: Shannon Hale Publisher: Bloomsbury Publication Date: March 4, 2014 ISBN-13: 978-1599901688 416 pp. ARC provided by publisher I hadn't read any Shannon Hale novels before (although I did enjoy the Austenland movie), but I knew she was a writer who used humor and girl power in her work. And Dangerous did not disappoint. In fact, I freaking loved Dangerous. The

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For graphic novel fans there's a new Zita the Spacegirl book from Ben Hatke, and, for younger readers, Mo Willems has the bestselling duo Elephant & Piggie meeting a new friend. Fans of Dork Diaries, Magic Tree House and Spirit Animals will be super excited to see new books, too.

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The Goose Girl (Books of Bayern) by (the amazing, hilarious, and wonderful) Shannon Hale

Review by Welly-Bell, Age 7

Crown Princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee is princess of Kildenree. She can talk to birds. She is traveling with fifty guards and the key-mistress' daughter, Selia. On the way to Bayern, Selia and most of the guards betray Ani.

They try to kill Ani, but she escapes. After a few days of wandering in the forest, Ani finds a little cottage.

Gilsa and Finn live in the cottage. Ani helps them with the chickens and goats in exchange for a bed and food. Ani goes to the city with Finn.

On market day, Ani goes to see the King. She realizes she is going to have to come back. The King gives her work in the geese pen with Conrad.

Conrad is grumpy most of the time. Enna and Razo and Beier and some others also work there.

Princess Selia tells the King that Kildenree is planning to attack Bayern.

Read the book and find out what happens to Ani. Some of the characters I really like are Enna, Gilsa, and Finn.

***Check out my interview with Shannon Hale here!

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I read Austenland by Shannon Hale a few years ago and thought it an interesting work. I have to say, though, for me the big draw for the movie is Jennifer Coolidge. However, Jane Seymour looks pretty commanding in the one trailer I've been able to find.

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