Writers who take on political stories—stories that focus on conflicts within and between communities—face daunting challenges. How does a writer keep the focus on the story rather than the political issue? How does he or she present background information without the story grinding to a halt? How does the reader come to empathize with individual…
FAT ANGIE Written by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo Hungry for an intimate, intense third person drama? FAT ANGIE will keep you reading, wondering – and laughing. e.E. Charlton-Trujillo has created for Fat Angie a barely functional family. Some characters are caricatures with exaggerated all-good, all-bad, qualities, which adds to the humor but doesn’t subtract from…
When I was growing up in Houston, Texas, one of the high points of my year was going to the rodeo in February. While most of my peers looked forward to the circus, I enjoyed watching the competition among the bull and bronco riders and the calf ropers. One of my early fiction efforts, a…
ROGUE by Lyn Miller-Lachmann What do ROGUE, MUTANT, BMX and ASPERGER’S plus MR. INTERNET have in common? This book. ROGUE Written by Lyn Miller-Lachmann. She does not hold back any punches but with each chapter pushes the reader further along the sharp edge of suspense, wondering, what happens next? Kiara, main character, is an eighth-grade…
“I wasn’t certain of anything anymore, except that New Orleans was a faithless friend and I wanted to leave her.” Out of the Easy, by Ruta Sepetys “Decisions, they shape our destiny.” Out of the Easy, by Ruta Sepetys “Some choices, once you make them, they stay made. And I had my reasons.” Orleans, by Sherri…
Unplug & Read Week is an annual event to encourage children and teenagers to back away from the “screens”—computers, tablets, smartphones, and television—and do something in the real world. This year’s event runs from April 29 to May 5, 2013. In the hope that reading a book will be one of the real world activities…
SWEETHEARTS OF RHYTHM, The Story of the Greatest All-Girl Swing Band in the World, What a picture book – written in verse with toe-tapping words that sing across the page, by Marilyn Nelson, and illustrated with collage, colors and scraps of historical photographs plus musical notation by Jerry Pinkney. This important part of America’s musical…
I’m a sucker for a great YA novel, so it’s no surprise that I fell in love with Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park (St. Martins Griffin, 2013). The novel, set in 80’s Nebraska, focuses on the love story between Eleanor, a new kid at school, and Park, the punk-rock, comic-book-loving geek she shares a bus…
Earlier this month, I was asked by the Children’s Book Council to contribute a post to the CBC Diversity 101 blog, which helps editors, librarians, teachers, reviewers, and authors identify basic misconceptions and problems in writing about diverse populations. My post addressed dos and don’ts in creating characters with emotional and developmental disabilities, and you…
For me, one of the biggest surprises of the ALA Youth Media Awards was the selection of Beverley Brenna’s The White Bicycle as a Printz Honor Book (for outstanding YA literature). In the past, few Printz honors have gone to books published abroad and by small presses. Published in Canada by Red Deer Press, The…
Social Widgets powered by AB-WebLog.com.
