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Title: Shade Me
Author: Jennifer Brown
Published: 2016
Source: Edelweiss

Summary: When the popular girl is murdered, Nikki feels strangely drawn toward the case, even getting entangled with the girl's sexy older brother.

First Impressions: Meh. I know she's supposed to be Tough and Independent but she was awfully cagey with the cop for no reason. And the book treated synaesthesia like a superpower or something. Just weird and unsatisfying.

Later On: Generally I really like Jennifer Brown's stories. She focuses tightly on characters and character development, and how relationships grow and change, especially under the pressure of horrible situations.

This shift to a more plot-heavy mystery didn't work at all for me, especially since the things that were so strong in her other stories suffered for Plot Reasons. We never meet the murdered girl, but somehow Nikki felt a connection, even though her assessment of the murdered girl before she was murdered was decidedly negative. There was a romantic subplot and I know I was supposed to feel a connection to it and to the romantic lead (whose name I can't even remember), but I really didn't.

I know it's fashionable, especially in noir stories, to mistrust the police, but I couldn't figure out any earthly reason for her not to bring the cop in on her suspicions, even partially. He wasn't actively undermining her, gaslighting her, or at any time seemed to be one of the bad guys. In fact, he kept coming around to say, "Look, can I help? I'm doing this; this is my actual job and I'm really trying to do it here. I have information, do you have information?" And she would say no because . . . suspense?! It was unsatisfying.

Finally, my issue with the use of Nikki's synesthesia. Brown did acknowledge it as something that has given Nikki learning difficulties, but it also functioned as a magical signpost to Things That Were Important to the mystery, and a connection to the murdered girl, who (minor spoiler) had synesthesia herself.   But my understanding, which because I'm not a neuroscientist is not exactly thorough, is that synesthesia works differently for different people. How could the dead girl possibly have known what would jump out at Nikki and what wouldn't? Just a little too convenient.

I'll read Brown's next book, but only if it's not a noir mystery.

More: Kirkus Reviews
Disability in Kidlit on repackaging disabilities as superpowers, which is not always a bad thing, but annoyed me in this book

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Some day I'll be too old for this. This insistence (within myself/for myself) that I live each minute, see each place, feel each thing I can find my way to.

But I'm not there yet. I'm still the woman who arrives mid-afternoon to New York City, checks into a hotel with her husband, and starts to walk. This time to the Columbia University campus, which I had never seen (that old library, now the administration building, soars). To the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Past the fruit vendors on upper Broadway.

Then a subway ride to Columbus Circle and the Museum of Arts and Design (where an exquisite Wendell Castle show is in place). Then a walk-run (to the extent possible) through Times Square, and then more underground tunnels to the World Trade Center, where we were stopped by the power of those two pools, the remembered names, the roses and calla lilies left in respect and honor. Art can speak, and this art does—the down and the down of the water, the sound of that water, the return of the water, and the light behind the names.

It was the hour of the gloaming. The stone buildings burned red-orange inside the blue glass of the new tower, and that big Calatrava bird, soon to be the World Trade Center Transportation Center, was already soaring.

We walked a long length of Greenwich, then, met our son for dinner, watched him take off in an Uber for a date, made our way all the way back to 103rd Street, where all night long we listened to the trash trucks, the buses, the NYC talk just outside our window. I rose in the dark, put on a dress, and as soon as the sun was up I was walking again—finding a French bakery, buying an almond croissant, and working my way toward Central Park, where the early dog walkers were out and about and I could see the river just beyond them.

By 8:15 I was dancing with the extraordinary educator/advocator Susannah Richards in the lobby of Bank Street. Dancing, yes. I swear we danced. (Susannah is especially good at the twirls.) At Bank Street, a remarkable cast of writers, illustrators, educators, librarians, and book people were convening for what, in my book, is the best gathering of storytellers ever anywhere. Here the conversation circles around Thoughts as opposed to Marketing Platforms. The forum encourages conversation, consideration, a maybe this or a maybe that. This is hardly accidental. This reflects the good work of those who assemble this program, moderate the panels, conduct the keynote (thank you, Rita Williams-Garcia), and say yes. I bow down to you, oh Bank Street, with thanks especially to Jennifer Brown and Cynthia Weill, and then to my fellow panelists Daniel Jose Older and Tim Wynne-Jones—the three us led toward greater understanding about narrative risk by the exceptionally thoughtful questions of Vicki Smith of Kirkus Reviews. And with thanks to Chronicle Books, who said yes to the event.

When it was done, when I hugged my old and new friends goodbye, I was running again, to the subway, to the PATH, and toward my husband and son, where we walked some more, had an early dinner, and watched the lights of the World Trade Center blink on.

(Can I just thank here the little boy on the incredibly crowded train who must have read the panic of this claustrophobe on his face and said, "Miss? Do you want my seat?")

We drove home in the dark. I slept. I actually slept. The sleep of a satisfied woman.

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A few months ago I received an invitation from one of my very favorite people in all of young people's literature, Jennifer Brown. If our friendship has evolved over time, my respect for Jenny was immediate. As a Shelf Awareness reviewer, prize adjudicator, discussion leader, Bank Street visionary, and all-around children's books advocate, Jenny's opinions have mattered. She has welded intelligence with kindness and become a force. Today she serves as vice president and publisher of Knopf Books for Young Readers at Random House Children's Books—a position that is such a perfect fit for her myriad talents (and soul) that one imagines it was waiting for her all along.

Before Jenny took on that new role, she designed the 2015 BookFest@Bank Street and extended the invitation I noted above. Featuring Rita Williams-Garcia in a keynote, the day will include insights from scholars and writers Leonard S. Marcus, Adam Gidwitz, Elizabeth Bluemle, Cynthia Weill, Christopher Myers, Shadra Strickland, Raul Colon, Sara Varon, Joe Rogers, Jr., Laura Amy Schlitz, Jeanne Birdsall, Kat Yeh, Liz Kessler, and Monica Edinger. BookFest will also feature a panel titled "Pushing Narrative Boundaries in Teen Literature," moderated by the reliably smart and provocative Vicky Smith, the reviews editor of Kirkus.

I'm thrilled to be joining Tim Wynne-Jones and Daniel Jose Older on that boundaries-pushing panel. I was thrilled even before I'd read their new novels, The Emperor of Any Place and Shadowshaper, respectively. But now, having spent the last few days immersed in both, I'm even more eager. This will be a conversation. The kind of conversation that I crave like I crave a perfect peach or a ripe Bartlett pear.

The Emperor of Any Place is a work of supreme art. A nested story within a story (and, one might suggest, within another story) that carries the reader in and out of history. There's the present-day reality of a teen named Evan who has lost his father and must now endure (within the knot of his grief) the arrival of his once-estranged grandfather. There is, as well, the story inside the book Evan's father was reading when he died—the diary of a Japanese soldier stranded on a small Pacific island during World War II. The soldier is not the sole inhabitant of that island, nor is he the only one who ultimately writes inside those diary pages. As Evan reads the book, many mysteries emerge. Why was his father obsessed with this story? Why is his grandfather obsessed, too? And what is the truth inside these diary pages that were annotated, later on, by another visitor to that island?

Emperor is grounded in the fear of war and the haze of solitude and the ingenuity of survivors, both contemporary and historic. It is wholly conceived and executed, yet it trembles with mystery and a touch of magic. It is brilliantly structured but its power does not rest on its conceit. Tim may have pushed the narrative boundaries but he has not taken a single short cut, not expected the readers to follow just because he's feverently hoped they will. Every element adds to every element here. There are rewards for those who ponder, and, indeed, you could ponder all day and never find a fault line in this complex novel's execution.

Shadowshaper casts its own marvelous spell, builds its own mystique, is the sort of original work you would expect from an author who is also a musician who is also an EMT who is also a commentator on social order and disorder. Daniel has built a book about a young girl who discovers within herself a legacy power—and who must learn to harness it for a greater good. Sierra Santiago is a painter who can see, within the art of others, shadow lives and shapes, art that fades, murals that shed real tears. She is a daughter and a granddaughter in pursuit of hidden grace. She chases, and she is being chased. She rises to the challenge.

Sierra does all this within language steeped in salsa rhythms and Brooklyn gaits. She does this while pondering the color of her skin, the explosive nature of her hair, the discrete borders inside the border lands of race. Daniel is not just weaving a magical story here. He is telling his readers something about how it feels to live today within the fractures of society. About how it is to hope, despite the noise of now.

Authors of books that break the rules must know, to begin with, what the prevailing rules have been. They have a special obligation to steer their projects toward a higher grace, so that the strange ultimately does collide with a deep emotional truth, so that the fiction feels real, so that the experience of reading the story goes beyond admiration and straight into embrace. Fiction comes from a human place. The best fiction elevates the idea of the humane.

We'll talk about this and much more, I'm sure, at Book Fest. I'll learn; I'm sure of that, too.

Registration information for Book Fest is here.

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There was no evidence of a bicycle, but Bill Cunningham, New York Times style photographer and the subject of this amazing documentary (watched here because Melissa Sarno gave me the word), was out among the nearly 200 craftspeople at the 38th Annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show.

He just kept passing by—lanky and tipping up on his toes, camera in hand, a coy smile when someone called out, "Are you Bill Cunningham?" Oh, jeepers, his smile said, recognized again. He just kept looking and nodding, his presence electrifying the crowd. Bill Cunningham in Philadelphia. Yes, we Philadelphians felt proud.

Meanwhile, I bought a glorious something from Cathy Rose of New Orleans (worth taking a look at this link, truly her work is remarkable)—an addition to my small but growing doll and mask collection. Meanwhile, my husband and I went off for a Reading Terminal lunch—Salumeri's, of course. Meanwhile, we returned to a lit-up sky and I slipped out for a Kelly Simmons rendezvous—a gir's afternoon, silver and gold. When I returned home, walking a brisk dark, a full moon rising, my son called with deliriously good news. You want to know the definition of perseverance, creativity, optimism, extreme hard work, and lessons in hopefulness? I will tell you the story of these past few months and my son. I will tell you everything he taught me, and I will say, again and for the record, I would be half the person that I am without him.

Today I'm off to the woods to teach memoir at the Schuylkill Center, part of the Musehouse Writing Retreat. I'll slip away afterward to see my friend Karen Rile. And then I'll come home and get ready for tomorrow, when I'll see my dear friend Jennifer Brown moderating the Caldecott panel—Chris Van Allsburg, David Wiesner, and Brian Selznick—at Friends' Central School in Wynnewood. (Two o'clock, and hosted by Children's Book World.)

And then I, like the rest of the world, will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I will just sit and think on it all.

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We woke to a deep mist here, a roiling fog.  It seems the skies understand, that they, like us, are weeping. 

It will be difficult for any of us to move forward.  To stop putting our imaginations elsewhere, and grieving.  And maybe that's okay.  Maybe we do just need to stop.

On this necessarily quiet day, I want to thank two extremely generous people for kindness—an attribute more important to me than any other.  The first is Michael G-G, always a smart writer and blogger, always a dear soul, who read two of my books at the same time and had this to say.  Michael understands my relationship to the color blue.  His words on this and on so much more touched me so deeply—and arise out of the mist.

The second is Jennifer Brown, a former school teacher and now the woman I love to call (because it is so true) "the ambassador for children's books."  She was a terrific panel moderator at the Publishing Perspectives conference held a few weeks ago, just after the storm Sandy stopped us all in our tracks.  She reports on the conference today in Shelf Awareness in the meaningful way that she does all things.

Love, and (somehow) healing.

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Today, another short note, a simple reminder:

I have the great privilege of joining David Levithan, Ellen Hopkins, Eliot Schrefer, and Jennifer Hubbard this coming Friday, 7 PM, at Children's Book World in Haverford, PA.  CBW is billing us as the Fab Five, and I have Philomel publicist (every author's dream publicist and my good friend) Jessica Shoffel to thank for making me Feel So Fab.

I hope that you will join us. The photograph above was taken during the Publishing Perspectives "What Makes a Children's Book Great?" conference held earlier this summer, where I had so much fun joining moderator Dennis Abrams on the author panel.  The smart and savvy notables from left to right are Roger Horn (The Horn Book), Pamela Paul (New York Times), David Levithan (Scholastic editor and author phenom), and my good friend Jennifer Brown, a former school teacher, editor, reviewer, and jury panelist (not to mention head of children's books for Shelf Awareness) whom I always rightly refer to as this country's ambassador for children's books. 

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Within every story there are stories, and this morning I am deeply blessed by the chance, in Shelf Awareness, to remember my grandmother and to reflect on the passion I have for creating young adult stories in which time works differently.  Jennifer Brown, the children's book review editor for Shelf Awareness, opened this door to me.  Her kindness toward me and Small Damages has been remarkable.

Pictured above is my beautiful grandmother, whom I lost on Mischief Night when I was nine. She sits beside my grandfather, who holds my brother on his lap.  I am sitting with my beloved Uncle Danny.  My mother's family.  Sweet memories.

Thank you, Jenny Brown and Shelf Awareness.  These are the opening words of my Inklings essay.  The rest can be found here:

My books for young adults are frequently shaped by relationships between those who have so much wanting yet ahead and those looking back, with pain and wonder. Time works differently in books like these, and so does memory.

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Twenty by Jenny is home to some of the most thoughtful reviews of books written for children and teens—anywhere.  That is because Jenny Brown, its creator, has cared about youth literature for all of her adult life—as a teacher sharing stories, as an editor producing them, and as a critic and enthusiast writing for countless publications, including Shelf Awareness.  Jenny Brown trails golden light.

But I did not know, until late last night, that Jenny Brown, who had written the exquisite Shelf Awareness review of Small Damages, had also taken the time to reflect on Small Damages in Twenty by Jenny.  Her essay is called "Regeneration."  It is, in every way, stunning.  It taught me about my own book, made me step back with new understanding.  This kind of reflection is built of love.  And I am so grateful, Jenny Brown.  I am.

I am so grateful, too, to the ever-vigilant Serena Agusto-Cox, for letting me know.

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When I mentioned to friends that I had seen Kristi Yamaguchi at the BEA, I heard a collective sigh.  Yamaguchi is that kind of loved—a talented athlete, a dedicated artist, a philanthropist, a wife, a mother, the sort of celebrity one hears only good things about.  I had grown up figure skating, which means I had grown up watching Kristi.  And when she danced with Mark on Dancing With the Stars, I—a lover of ballroom dance (if not precisely a ballroom dancer)—watched with special fervency.

The tremendous Jennifer Brown, the children's book editor for Shelf Awareness and a very dear soul, had the honor of interviewing Kristi at the BEA about Kristi's second Poppy book.  I was on hand to write the story for Publishing Perspectives.  You can find the piece here.

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My friends:  I'll be at the BEA on Tuesday, June 5, 2012, working for Publishing Perspectives, the fabulous book news pub for which I have written about Pamela Paul (New York Times Book Review children's book editor), Jennifer Brown (Shelf Awareness children's book editor), Lauren Wein (Harcourt Houghton Mifflin editor), Alane Mason (WW Norton editor, not to mention my first editor), and others.  I'll be getting the inside scoop on some important stories.  But I'll also be looking for you.

If you'll be there, let me know?

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As some of you know, I have been having a lot of fun writing for Publishing Perspectives—interviewing book editors like Michael Green, Tamra Tuller, Lauren Wein, and Alane Salierno Mason, review editors (and trend makers) Pamela Paul and Jennifer Brown, and technologists/book lovers like Eric Hellman.

On May 31st, I'll have a chance to represent for this fine publication as one of the speakers at the inaugural Children's Publishing Conference 2012, to be held at the Scholastic Headquarters.  I'll be joining (among others) Pamela Paul of the New York Times Book Review, Jacob Lewis, CEO of Figment, Kevin O'Conner, who directs business and publishers relations for Barnes and Noble, NOOK Kids, and agents Rosemary Stimola and Ken Wright.

I hope those of you interested in the future of children's books will consider registering for this event.  I know that I am looking forward to it.

For a full press release, please go here. 

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Not long ago, I wrote a piece for Shelf Awareness, that fantastic e-newsletter for the publishing trade, about the future of young adult books—underscoring trends, suggesting new possibilities.  Publishing the essay was, of course, a privilege.  But the greater privilege was all that went on behind the scenes, as I worked with Jennifer Brown, the SA children's editor.  It wasn't just a back-and-forth about a story's shape and timing.  It was a conversation—wide-ranging, funny, thoughtful, perpetually kind.  I frankly couldn't get enough of Jenny, and when I asked Ed Nawotka of Publishing Perspectives if I might interview her for a profile, he said (thank you, Ed) yes.

Here, then, is Jennifer Brown—editor, reviewer, advocate, enthusiast—whose impact on children's books is the stuff of which legacies are made.  She could, I've often thought, write the definitive book on the history of books written for the young.  For now, though, she's focused on brightening the future.

A brief side note.  Yesterday, Laura Geringer, who asked me to write for teens in the first place and edited five of my YA titles, mentioned in a note that an animated short with which she had been involved had been nominated for an Oscar.  The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (which is glorious, and can be watched here) is dedicated to Bill Morris, a man who mentored Jenny for many years.  Paths cross and tangle in publishing.  I am grateful to be knotted in.

My previous Publishing Perspectives stories can be found here:

Unglue.it: Changing the future of e-books....

The Value Rubric:  Do Book Bloggers Really Matter?

The Attraction-Repulsion of International Literature: My conversation with Alane Salierno Mason

Transforming Children's Book Coverage at the New York Times: My conversation with Pamela Paul

Success is when the world returns your faith:  My conversation with editor Lauren Wein

Between Shades of Gray:  The Making of an International Bestseller  

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photo by StrebKR www.flickr.com

Today is a Wacky Wednesday post because I have a few things to discuss that don’t really go together, so that’s why it’s wacky! First I want to introduce to you my new website! I have been using this blog as a kind of website for a while (so you’ll see some of the same information in both places), but I hope to use my website more for books and speaking and my blog more for my opinions and ideas on education, books, and world issue’s as I get more books published! That’s the goal. Please take some time to check out what a wonderful job webmistress Elaine Lanmon did–I love the stars! Margo’s new website

As for my book, I know many people are wondering WHEN IS IT COMING OUT? Believe me, I have wondered the same thing. I recently heard from the marketing director at White Mane Kids, and she said, “We have had a few kids reprints that we are currently working on and that bumped back the new title setups.” So, that’s all I know as of now. Thanks for your support!

Onto the next subject, Verizon
and JuiceBoxJungle sponsored me to write this post, and they want me to write about the ways my smart phone affects my life as a parent. First, I have to clarify that I actually have a regular Verizon phone (which I love), and then I also have an iPod Touch (the smart phone without the phone part). I could not live without either of them. But how does it affect my life as a parent? Well, I’m not sure about affecting my life as a parent, but here are ways that I have used my iPod Touch with my stepson:

*He has listened to albums I downloaded on it when I had a doctor’s appointment and meeting with an editor, so he was entertained and didn’t have to listen to boring adult talk.

*We have looked up movie times to make sure we could get to the movies on time. The same goes for ice skating and roller skating rink times. This is VERY convenient!

*I use the timer on my iPod Touch when we are at the park to play a game. We set up an “obstacle” course, and then he goes through the course while I time him. He tries to beat his time.

*I use the notes feature ALL THE TIME. It is probably one of the most popular apps for me. I take notes on book titles we want to buy or check out from the library, things we need at the grocery store, present ideas (when he tells me he is interested in something, I make a note of it for future gift ideas), and songs we like that we hear on the radio and want to download.

*I would like to download some of the “learning game” apps and use those with my stepson whenever we are waiting for something like a movie to start. I always carry my iPod Touch around with me, and so I could just whip this out, and he could play and learn at the same time. I think I’ll look into that today!

Once you have a tool like a smart phone, it is hard to imagine your life without it. Isn’t it funny how we become so dependent on our electronic gadgets? (GPS comes to mind, too!)

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photo by tibchris www.flickr.com

I am so happy to hold this contest on my blog today for Hate List by Jennifer Brown. I am IN LOVE with this book. It is perfect for tweens and teens, and I think all parents and teens should HAVE to read it. It’s great for a mother-daughter book club. So, I am going to give my copy away to a lucky winner. All you have to do is leave a comment about the book, about the photo I posted here (this is not the author, but this picture just reminded me of Hate List so I posted it), about high school, about your teenager or teaching teenagers, or a pick-me comment. Contest will close on the day we celebrate LOVE–February 14 at 8:00 pm CST.

*Young adult contemporary novel
*Senior girl as the main character
*Rating: Hate List will grab you from page one and keep you riveted until the end. It’s tragic and heartbreaking and shows there are no easy answers when it comes to being a teen. (Starred review from School Library Journal.)

Short, short summary: Valerie is getting ready to start her senior year in high school, which would normally be an exciting time for any girl. But this is not the case for Valerie. From page one, you learn that at the end of her junior year, her boyfriend Nick pulled a gun in the Commons and shot their classmates as revenge for the way he and Valerie were treated. Nick wound up shooting Valerie in the leg when she tried to stop him and then took his own life. Besides dealing with mental and physical pain, Valerie must also deal with the fact that many people at her high school and in her community (including her own family members) think she knew what Nick was planning and that she was a co-conspirator. Turns out, Valerie and Nick had a “hate list,” a notebook full of people they hated, and those same people were targets of the shooting. In Hate List, Jennifer Brown reveals what happened on that tragic day last May and how everyone is dealing with the aftermath. You follow Valerie through this book, hoping that somehow she can overcome one of the worst nightmares anyone has ever had to face.

So, what do I do with this book?

1. When you read a book like this with teenagers, they are bound to have strong opinions on Nick, Valerie, and the “bullies.” Some people will identify with Nick and Valerie; others will identify with the victims of the shooting. Brown does a good job of showing the reader that everything is not always as black and white as it seems, and I think this will bring out even stronger reader reactions because Brown has written a realistic book. Students and teens will need plenty of time to process, write about, and discuss this book. As a teacher or parent, you will want to give them space and time to express themselves without being hurtful to others. Set some ground rules, suggest students jot down notes or even free write before discussions take place, and try not to let it get too personal (as in naming teens) in your classroom. Students who need to talk personally could schedule a time with you, or you could put together a small group that you think would work for this type of discussion. Some themes to discuss: forgiveness, bullying, hate, divorce, honesty, and friendship.

2. Valerie uses art to help her through the healing process. You can do several things with this theme, depending on if you are using this book in a classroom, homeschool, or mother-daughter book club. In a smaller setting, you could give teens an opportunity to paint eith

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I've been watching the reviews float around the blogosphere for this one and it's definitely getting a lot of positive press. Jennifer Brown has taken an incredibly serious and tragic subject and transformed it into story based on a girl very involved in a horrific crime and though I don't totally "buy" the way the story turned out, it made for a pretty good read.

Publisher's description:
"Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life."

The reader is given a unique perspective on the topic of school shootings - from someone who essentially helped to plan a school shooting, without really helping to plan it at all. Valerie was a depressing character, but with good reason and though I wasn't overly engaged in the first half of the book (I thought it a bit too long), as Valerie started to heal, it became more interesting.

I wasn't sure what to think about the main character becoming friends with some of the kids that terrorized her and actually returning to school. Part of me thought that it was totally crazy and would never happen, the other half liked reading about the process, in order to see what actually would happen if a child made a decision to return to school after a tragedy such as this.

Teens will enjoy this book and it would make for a nice discussion starting point on how we deal with tragedy, as well as the topic of hate lists. I liked the cover design too - very cool!

To learn more, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.

Hate List
Jennifer Brown
416 pages
Young Adult
Little, Brown Young Readers
9780316041447
September 2009

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It’s a Gift! Will You Unwrap it?

 

As a dedicated humor writer, I tend to concentrate on the absurd. I look for absurd situations (such as me getting stuck in the orange tunnel at Atilla T’Hunnel Torturetown on a spring break rumpus with the kids), and when naturally absurd situations allude me, I create them (by, oh, I don’t know… replacing Hubby’s coveted bottled water with tap water for two weeks…?). I practice one-liners all day long (thank goodness for Twitter, where I can find homes for sentences such as, “Now that I think about it, Humpty Dumpty was a real wimp”) and spend hours refining my timing. I read humor how-to’s and biographies and scour humor websites and enter humor contests. I’m all about the funny.

 

But I’ll admit, while writing a weekly humor column was a goal of mine, it was never my ultimate writing goal. I’m a fiction lover, through and through. Fiction of all types, styles, and genres. I love to read it. I love to write it.

 

It’s just that when I try to infuse humor into my fiction… something bad happens. It’s like watching Charles Manson do a stand-up routine. It ain’t funny, people.

 

So last year I did something frightening and scandalous. I embarked on a writing project that was so out of my comfort zone—a serious young adult novel that popped into my head one morning in the shower. I wrote clandestinely, as if I were Agent 007 (shoot, who’m I kidding? I haven’t been a 7 since before the kids were born…). I lived in a constant state of writer panic for six months, sure I was barking up a tree when I wasn’t even qualified to walk into the forest. After I’d finished the novel, I practically hyperventilated while emailing it to my agent. Oh boy. Is that my career I smell burning?

 

Three weeks later my novel—my so-not-funny novel!—was in the middle of an auction between three major publishers.

 

So how is it that a humor writer who’d never even heard of young adult fiction (back when I was a young adult, they were still called… books) ends up signing a contract with a major publishing company for a serious young adult novel containing zero punchlines or comic scenarios?

 

Simple: I opened the gift.

 

That’s how I see my young adult novel, as a gift that was given to me. And when it arrived, instead of look at the tag on it and say, “Oh, this gift isn’t for me. I write HUMOR, not this stuff,” I simply said “Thank you,” and began writing. I took a chance and dove into a long project that didn’t look like a slam dunk to me. I wrote the story that wanted to be written. I asked my agent to take a look at a novel that was nothing like the work she took me on to represent. I embraced the gift, that story idea, and ran with it with all my might and… it worked.

 

I stopped trying to force what I “knew I could write,” what I thought “I should write,” what people “expected me to write” and instead wrote what I wanted to write. What I felt was the next story for me to tell.

 

Who knows, maybe this is one of those gifts that keeps on giving, and I end up regularly writing in a genre I never knew I could. Maybe this was a one-time gift and I’ll find my next gift wrapped in a whoopee cushion with a rubber chicken tied on top. Maybe I’ll be given another gift, in another genre entirely. Poetry, maybe? Hmm… There once was a girl from Nantucket…Maybe not.

 

I don’t know. But I do know one thing. I love gifts. If one shows up on my doorstep, I’ll unwrap it every single time. Will you?

____________________

 

Jennifer Brown is a two-time winner of the Erma Bombeck Global Humor Award (2005 & 2006) and freelance writer in Liberty, Missouri. Her column currently runs in The Kansas City Star, and she is the Saturday Featured Blogger on www.Mom2MomKC.com. Jennifer’s young adult novel, Hate List, is scheduled to be released in September 2009, through Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Check out more of Jennifer’s work and contact her through her website at www.JenniFunny.com.

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