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Because I loved too many 2009 books to have a Top Ten…

Here is a big, whomping list of 2009 titles that I read and loved. They’re linked to my reviews, author interviews, or IndieBound, and sorted in ways that I hope will help you buy them for holiday gifts. Everyone needs books. Especially these…

For your dystopian fiction fan…
CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins (but you already knew about that one, huh?)
CANDOR by Pam Bachorz
GENESIS by Bernard Beckett
GIRL IN THE ARENA by Lise Haines

For your supernatural romance fan…
NEED by Carrie Jones
HUSH, HUSH by Becca Fitzpatrick
PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS by Michelle Zink
SHIVER by Maggie Stiefvater
THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH by Carrie Ryan
WINGS by Aprilynne Pike

For your middle grade fantasy & fairy tale lover…
THE AMARANTH ENCHANTMENT by Julie Berry
FORTUNE’S FOLLY by Deva Fagan
ASH by Malinda Lo
THE DRAGON OF TRELIAN by Michelle Knudsen

For fans of historical fiction…
ALL THE BROKEN PIECES by Ann Burg
THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE by Jacqueline Kelley
RIOT by Walter Dean Myers
WINNIE’S WAR by Jenny Moss
DAY OF THE PELICAN by Katherine Paterson
THE STORM IN THE BARN by Matt Phelan (magical, historical graphic novel!)
(and these last two are for older HF fans…)
FLYGIRL by Sherri L. Smith
BUG BOY by Eric Luper

For YA readers who enjoy a good cry…
20 BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler
JUMPING OFF SWINGS by Jo Knowles
IF I STAY by Gayle Forman

For coffee-shop romance lovers… (How’s that for a distinctive category?)
COFFEEHOUSE ANGEL by Suzanne Selfors
THE ESPRESSOLOGIST by Kristina Springer

For fans of realistic YA fiction…
ONCE WAS LOST by Sara Zarr
WINTERGIRLS by Laurie Halse Anderson
FLASH BURNOUT by L.K. Madigan
HATE LIST by Jennifer Brown
MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD by Francisco X. Stork
PURGE by Sarah Darer Littman
KING OF THE SCREWUPS by K.L. Going
HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT by Natalie Standiford
THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY by Jenny Han
ABSOLUTELY MAYBE by Lisa Yee

For tween readers…
SCAT by Carl Hiaassen
OPERATION YES by Sara Lewis Holmes
WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead
MODELS DON’T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES by Erin Dionne
ANYTHING BUT TYPICAL by Nora Raleigh Baskin
11 BIRTHDAYS by Wendy Mass
ESCAPE UNDER THE FOREVER SKY by Eve Yohalem

For fans of nonfiction…
MOONSHOT: THE FLIGHT OF APOLLO 11 by Brian Floca
ALMOST ASTRONAUTS by Tanya Lee Stone
MARCHING FOR FREEDOM by Elizabeth Partridge

For your older teen reader ready for adult books…
THE MAGICIANS by Lev Grossman
HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET by Jamie Ford

For the teacher in your life…
THE BOOK WHISPERER by Donalyn Miller

Are you still here? What are you waiting for? Go on… Get book-shopping!

Great Books Coming in 2010: WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON

When I attended NCTE last month, I came home with a pile of advance reader copies of 2010 novels. (So many, in fact, that at one point, the bag in which I was carrying them exploded in a rather spectacular fashion, strewing ARCs in about a ten foot radius around the conference center floor, but that is a whole ‘nother story.)

Anyway, because I understand how important these early copies are to authors and publishers and because I know they cost a lot to produce, I only take them with a promise to myself to share recommendations wherever I can. So this will be the first in a long-ish series of bookish thoughts from NCTE. All are from review copies supplied by publishers unless otherwise noted.

WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON is a collaboration between YA legends John Green and David Levithan, which is probably enough information to make you want to read it. But if not…also know that it is an amazing book.

A few things occurred to me after I’d read just the first couple chapters.

1. There are lots of YA books that are great to share with my 7th grade middle school students. This is not one of them. It’s really a book for high school and up.

2. This is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. Laugh-out-loud, snorting-milk funny. And smart.

3. Personally, I wish this book could be required reading for anyone who still believes that it is somehow okay not to give gay people the same rights as straight people. It’s a book that fosters understanding and empathy as well as anything I’ve ever read.

What else is WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON? It’s about two guys named Will Grayson who meet serendipitously. It’s written in both their voices (John Green writes the Will Grayson who writes with both upper and lower case letters, I confirmed when I asked about it via Twitter)

It’s a book about friendship and looking for love, about finding it and losing it, about dusting yourself off and trying again. It’s about skipping in the parking lot and singing — loudly — no matter who’s listening or what they say.

There’s a Broadway-esque musical within the novel that pretty much captures the whole spirit of the thing. You know those great Broadway shows, where the ending is so feel-good and cheesy but at the same time, so amazing and perfect that it couldn’t have ended any other way? And then when it’s over you just want to stand up and hug the stranger next to you and rush out and change the world? It’s like that.

It’s a wonderful, wonderful book. (Coming from Dutton in April 2010).

NYC: A story of snow, signing, sparkles, & soup dumplings

This weekend’s Books of Wonder signing in Manhattan was one of those author-moments I’ll tuck away and keep for pretty much ever. It was just that special, in part because we made a family weekend of the event, driving down to New York Saturday afternoon. We actually stayed here…

…in a tiny bed & breakfast that a delightful artist runs out of her three-bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side. The place was beautifully decorated, cost about a third of what a hotel room would have run on this busy weekend and gave us a view of city life that you don’t get staying at a midtown high rise. Plus, it was only a block from the train, so right after we unloaded the car, we hopped on the subway and headed downtown to see the lights.

We walked to Rockefeller Center in the snow-sleet-rain-slush mix to see the Christmas tree.

It’s a little blurry because I was shivering.

So we hustled a few blocks over to Joe’s Shanghai for some of these soup dumplings that I learned about from Alvina Ling on Twitter.

These are the crab soup dumplings. To eat them, you plop one in a big spoon and sort of nibble a bite out of the top to let the soup inside cool a little bit. Then you can slurp it out and eat the noodle and the rest of the filling. They were delicious and warmed us right up.

Sunday was a day of strolling along Fifth Avenue, checking out the window displays until we made it down to Books of Wonder on 18th Street, where I was signing THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. along with seven other debut authors and their awesome books.

2009 Debut Author Event

MICHELLE ZINK – Prophecy of the Sisters
 JON SKOVRON – Struts and Frets
 MEGAN CREWE – Give Up the Ghost
 SARAH CROSS – Dull Boy
 SHANI PETROFF – Daddy’s Little Angle: Bedeviled #1
 KATE MESSNER – The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z
 NEESHA MEMINGER – Shine Coconut Moon
 DEVA FAGAN – Fortune’s Folly

My family actually ran into Deva Fagan, the author of FORTUNE’S FOLLY, at City Bakery right before the event, so we walked over to the bookstore together and were greeted at the door with this big, beautiful display.


Here’s Peter Glassman, the man behind the incredible Books of Wonder. He introduced our panel to the audience, and everyone gave a short reading before the Q and A session.


Here’s part of the audience for the panel – and check out the cool children’s book art on the walls!


Here I am with Anna Dalziel, publicist for Bloomsbury/Walker, who wore her autumn leaves shirt just for the occasion. (Thanks, Anna, for coming out to the event on your day off!)


Here’s Anna with Rebecca Stead, whose 2009 novel WHEN YOU REACH ME is one of my all-time favorites.

It was so great to see all the authors who came out for the event (wishing I’d taken more photos!) like Laurie Calkhoven and Heidi R. Kling. I also had a chance to chat with Barry Lyga, whose YA novels I’ve admired for a long time. I’ve said it before, and I thought it a million times this weekend… The people I’ve met through my books are truly one of the best gifts of writing.

Thanks so much to everyone who came out on a busy Sunday for our Books of Wonder event…and know that if you missed it but want a book signed by any of the authors, you can call Books of Wonder (212-989-3270) to order one, and they’ll happily send it your way.

I have to mention two last things.

1. The Book


Books of Wonder has a big, beautiful book of author/illustrator autographs from its events over the years, and we all got to add our notes of thanks. It was pretty cool to be signing a book with Suzanne Collins and Ann Martin just a page or two away…

and 2. The Other Book


The one that my E had signed by Deva at the event. She read it all through dinner.

Thanks, Deva! And thanks to Sarah, Neesha, Michelle, Jon, Megan, Shani, Peter and all the other Books of Wonder people, and everyone who came out for our event. It was an afternoon to remember, for sure.

Twitter, Teaching, & Books of Wonder

Today is a mish-mash of teaching-writing-bookish things.

December 6th
Sunday
1:00 – 3pm 		2009 Debut Author Event

MICHELLE ZINK – Prophecy of the Sisters
 JON SKOVRON – Struts and Frets
 MEGAN CREWE – Give Up the Ghost
 SARAH CROSS – Dull Boy
 SHANI PETROFF – Daddy’s Little Angle: Bedeviled #1
 KATE MESSNER – The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z
 NEESHA MEMINGER – Shine Coconut Moon
 DEVA FAGAN – Fortune’s Folly

We’re giving short readings and having a whole bunch of giveaways, and we’d love to meet you (and your students!) if you live in the area!

Novels in verse, discovery drafts, writing music, & Skype

A few weeks ago in the advanced creative writing class that and I co-teach, one of our 7th grade girls had a question about writing novels in verse that stumped us. "Is it better for me to just write these poems as they come to me, do you think? Or should I have an outline first?" Having never written a novel in verse, I wasn’t sure how most people approach the process, but never fear… a talented author and Skype came to the rescue!

Lisa Schroeder, the author of I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME, FAR FROM YOU, and the soon-to-be-released CHASING BROOKLYN, woke up bright and early on the West Coast to join us for a 9AM class in Northern New York.

Since Skype is already installed on my desktop computer, we didn’t need to do anything special to prepare. When Lisa called us at the appointed time, we projected her onto the big screen, and the kids came up to the computer one at a time to ask their questions.

Lisa chatted about her writing with my 7th grade writers with a genuine thoughtfulness and warmth that stayed with the kids long after their Q and A session was over. (In fact, I saw the girl from this photo in the library later on. "That Skype chat was awesome!" she said. "I was thinking about it all through math class.")

Some highlights? Lisa shared her process for writing novels in verse, including the fact that music plays a role. She mentioned bands like Lifehouse and Evanescence that help to inspire her words. She encouraged our young writers to read and read and read some more and shared some of her favorite authors, too — like John Green, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Sarah Dessen. I saw a couple of our kids smile great big smiles when Lisa admitted that she doesn’t always know all the answers when she starts writing a book. It felt like she was giving them permission to do that "discovery draft" as well, to figure things out along the way and then go back to revise.

After our Skype session, our students tweeted what they felt were some of the key points on our class Twitter account (@MessnerEnglish), so that schools that haven’t tried Skype chats could get a sense of how valuable (and fun!) they can be. Thank you so much, Lisa, for sharing your time and talent with our kids!

If you’re a teacher, librarian, or author looking for more resources on how all this works, here are a few links to check out:

Lisa Schroeder’s Skype an Author page (And she’s fantastic with kids!)
The Skype an Author Network
School Library Journal technology feature on Skyping authors: "Met Any Good Authors Lately?"
An updated list of authors who Skype with Book Clubs

GIANNA Z. Event at Books of Wonder in NY Sunday Dec. 6th!

This coming Sunday, December 6th, I’ll be in New York City signing copies of THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. with a whole group of 2009 debut authors from 1-3 at Books of Wonder. Here’s the official Facebook invitation in case you’d like to RSVP there…and by all means, feel free to pass along the invitation to any FB friends who might be interested.

The event will feature an eclectic mix of middle grade and YA folks, including Deva Fagan, Sarah Cross, Neesha Meminger, Michelle Zink, Megan Crewe, Shani Petroff, Jon Skovron, and me. We’ll be having a Q and A session with door prizes and bookmarks and other goodies, and we’d love it if you could join us. I’ll be bringing my rough draft of GIANNA Z. complete with the editorial letter and notes for those interested in the writing process. And if you’re a teacher or librarian, please pass the invitation along to your students, too!

If you can’t make it but would like to order signed copies of any of these books, just give Books of Wonder a call at 212-989-3270. But if you live in the NYC area, we’d really love to see you there!

Thankful for Books, Kids, and a pumpkin named Gianna Z.

Since I got home from NCTE Saturday night, I’ve been devouring books. This happens to me when I’ve just finished a big project (I turned in the final revision for SUGAR ON SNOW after an afternoon of work in a Philly coffee shop!) – I have a sudden need to go on a reading binge before I move on to something else, so that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve finished Cynthia Omololu’s fast-paced, compelling YA debut, DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, which comes out from Walker in February. Then it was Bonnie Shimko’s upcoming MG novel, THE PRIVATE THOUGHTS OF AMELIA E. RYE, which releases from FSG this spring and has a main character with one of the greatest voices of all time. Really. And finally, Elizabeth Partridge’s MARCHING FOR FREEDOM, an amazing narrative nonfiction account of the children and young people involved in the Civil Rights march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. All of these books are wonderful in wildly different ways, and I’ll be blogging about them all soon in more detail. For now, I’m just thankful to have read them.

I’m also thankful for these kids…

…who joined me for an author presentation at Dodge Memorial Library in Rouses Point, NY on their day off today. One boy, who was already waiting on the carpet when I arrived to set up my projector, looked up and asked, "So you write books?" I nodded and handed him copies of my two regional historical novels as well as THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. He started flipping through one of the books, and his eyes got huge. "You wrote ALL THIS?" Sometimes as authors, published or unpublished, we forget what an accomplishment that really is.

And one last thankful moment…that came in my email from a teacher in Kansas. Her school library did a great project where kids got to create pumpkins that looked like their favorite book characters. Guess who this is:


Yep…it’s my main character from THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. See the resemblance?

I love the way this reader/pumpkin artist captured Gianna’s crazy red curls and her creative spirit, and mostly, I’m honored that she connected with the character enough to turn her into a pumpkin. Moments like this, so wonderfully quirky and unexpected, have been the very best part of this book journey. Much to be thankful for, indeed.

I hope your Thanksgiving is full of wonderful people, good food, and great books!

Holiday Book Recommendation: The Espressologist

I am a writer who is mighty attached to my mocha lattes…so when I heard about Kristina Springer’s YA debut, THE ESPRESSOLOGIST (FSG, 2009), I couldn’t wait to read it. The premise? A teenaged barista does some match-making with her customers, based on their favorite coffee drinks and ultimately, finds love of her own.

This book made me want to be sixteen again (just for a minute, because most of sixteen was traumatic) so that I could get all my friends together to read THE ESPRESSOLOGIST and then meet them at the local coffee shop to talk about it. Then, of course, we’d start our OWN notebooks to match people up based on their favorite coffee drinks, just like the main character, Jane.

This YA novel is romantic fun at its finest – with great teen characters, a delightful budding romance, and enough humor to make it a sweet, sweet read.

Looking for a great holiday gift for a coffee-lover? Pair this with a gift certificate to the local coffee shop, and maybe slip in a bag of chocolate covered espresso beans. Click on the book cover to order through IndieBound!

Stories and Standards: Pairing Fiction & Nonfiction (from NCTE)

On Friday afternoon, I was part of an author panel at NCTE on the topic "Stories and Standards: Pairing Fiction & Nonfiction" along with Loree Griffin Burns, Jenny Moss, and Tanya Lee Stone. We spoke about curriculum connections for our books and suggested other titles that would pair well with them in the classroom. Here’s the presentation, via SlideShare.

Our facilitator for this session was the Goddess of YA Literature herself, Teri Lesesne, (she’s here on LJ) who generously posted all of her NCTE presentations to slideshare as well. Check out her SlideShare site for a ton of great book suggestions!