YALSA Election: An Interview with Printz Award Committee Candidate Lalitha Nataraj
Get ready to vote! The YALSA election runs from March 19 through April 25, and to help you be an informed voter, we’re sharing interviews with each of the 2014 candidates for YALSA Award Committees.
This week we are focusing on the Michael L. Printz Award Committee, which honors the best book and up to four honor books written for teens, based entirely on literary merit, each year.
Candidates, who will be presented in alphabetical order, were asked to craft “Twitter-length” responses (i.e. around 140 characters). Full biographical information on all of the candidates can be found on the sample ballot.
Today we have an interview with Lalitha Nataraj.
Given the central role that the Internet plays in so many people’s lives these days, it is hard to believe that this has been the case for less than 20 years. As with all great technologies, it has brought with it a whole spectrum of positive and negative changes, and has fundamentally altered the way that people meet friends, keep in touch across great distances, and express themselves.
Whether you want to keep in touch with friends both far and near, feel awkward in social situations, or are simply interested in connecting with others who share your specific interests, the Internet offers a whole new way to socialize, communicate and create. read more…
*At least, they used to be friends.
Funded by an unprecedented Kickstarter campaign, the Veronica Mars movie, which opens in theaters today, continues the adventures of Veronica Mars, girl detective, and her circle of friends and enemies (who are sometimes one and the same.) The television show (which lasted three seasons) was originally imagined as a novel– not surprising since series creator Rob Thomas is the author of, among other things, Rats Saw God (it’s not just a VM episode, it’s a classic!) In addition to the movie, a two book series was announced last summer, beginning with The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham, which comes out at the end of March.
The Veronica Mars movie picks up ten years after the end of the original series. Veronica, Logan, Wallace, Mac, and the rest of the gang are headed to Neptune High for their high school reunion, and since it’s a day that ends in “y” that means Logan’s in trouble, Veronica’s conflicted, and fans might finally get to find out what happened next. In honor of this completely auspicious occasion I decided to share a fantasy with you. (I’m not the only one who does this, right?)
Here’s the scene: Amber light streams through sunburst windows of stained glass, softening the edges of the large desk, the book shelves, the arm chairs. Everything glows with that too-bright light that signifies a flashback, dream, or hallucination (and I’m not telling which one this is) but the librarian sitting at the desk is somehow shadowed. (You don’t know this, but that librarian is me, and I have a secret–it’s Neptune, after all.)
The scene changes. Close up on the librarian, a look of…terror? concern? joy? on her face. She folds a piece of paper into a small rectangle and slips it into the book she’s reading behind the reader’s advisory desk. Someone approaches, momentarily blocking the light from the high windows. The music asks a question (but you aren’t sure what it is) and then– a montage. One Neptune High student after another approaches the desk, has a short conversation, then walks away, book in hand. Inevitably these clandestine visits overlap and the day comes when the music swells, the surf crashes, and the whole lot of them collide on the broad front steps, a mass of excuses and averted eyes that eventually turns into confessions, acceptance, and a rousing book discussion. Or possibly someone dies and/or gets arrested and/or tragically breaks off an epic romance.
It could happen. Right now, in fact, as I write this before the Veronica Mars movie opens in theaters, anything could happen.
But back to my fantasy.
As the librarian at the Neptune library I’ve been recommending books to the teens of Neptune for years. I’ll share a few with you, and give you a head’s up on what I’m passing on when the gang comes back to visit me during reunion weekend.
Despite 
the rather disparaging comments she made about her library job at Hearst College, Veronica Mars actually loved the library in Neptune. She didn’t have a lot of time to read between school, working for her dad, and her job at Java the Hut, but she managed to squeeze in a couple of books here and there. Melina Marchetta’s Printz Award winning title, Jellicoe Road, was the first book we bonded over. I didn’t even know her mom was missing when I gave it to her, and I certainly didn’t realize how much she’d connect with Taylor and Jonah’s story. I knew she’d like Printz Honor book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart and she did. Veronica and Frankie have a lot in common.
I’m really looking forward to seeing Veronica again and I can’t wait to hand her Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs read more…
Missed something in YA lit or pop culture this week? Let me catch you up with some recent tweets!
Books
- when @TaherehMafi wrote a scene for Internment bk 3 she thought it was a funny joke but I just CPed it into the word doc. It’s chapter 4 now – @LaurenDeStefano
- L.A. Times Festival of Books Adds Indies http://shar.es/RdyKP via @sharethis - @alv65
- An excellent post on how to support authors and books you love by the wonderful @clairelegrand http://tmblr.co/ZQuoiv19tdxq9 - @LBardugo
- I’m proud I learned to write w/ fanfiction. As usual, here’s a fab post from @sarahreesbrenna on the topic… http://tmblr.co/Z3dHXs1A1tkm6 - @stdennard
- Let’s Talk About…Casting: The Complicated World of Casting Our Favorite Book Characters! http://wp.me/p3PZaR-1O2 - @anerdgirlsays
- Let’s talk about female friendship in YA fiction with @jessica_shea today. Where is it? Is there any? http://stackedbooks.org - @catagator
- cannot waiiiit for @corey_whaley‘s amazing new book, NOGGIN, to hit shelves everywhere. loving the trailer! http://on.mtv.com/1kmTqNq - @TaherehMafi
- SLJ’s Battle of the Books: Round 1, Match 3: Doll Bones vs Eleanor and Park — @SLJsBoB http://ow.ly/uw0wo #sljbob - @sljournal
- Book Discussion Guides for #SVYALit – svyalitchat: There are a wide variety of books in the #YALit category… http://tmblr.co/Z2Ipfr19s0__j - @TLT16
Get ready to vote! The YALSA election runs from March 19 through April 25, and to help you be an informed voter, we’re sharing interviews with each of the 2014 candidates for YALSA Award Committees.
This week we are focusing on the Michael L. Printz Award Committee, which honors the best book and up to four honor books written for teens, based entirely on literary merit, each year.
Candidates, who will be presented in alphabetical order, were asked to craft “Twitter-length” responses (i.e. around 140 characters). Full biographical information on all of the candidates can be found on the sample ballot.
Today we have an interview with Kelly Jensen.
One of my favorite types of books in the contemporary genre is the dual or multi-narrative. I’m sure I will revisit this topic again in future posts about contemporary YA fiction, but these were the first five titles that popped into my head when I started to make my list. I know I am missing a lot, so maybe this will just be part one?
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (2011 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults and 2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults)
Told from the point of view of two Will Graysons whose lives change drastically when they meet. Both Wills are trying to find their way, and share how their lives are affected by knowing one Tiny Cooper, who is not tiny in any sense of the word.
Clean by Amy Reed (2012 Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers)
Five different points of view from teens while in rehab. They are forced together to face their demons, their sobriety, and who they are without the addiction. read more…
image from Aunti P’s flickr
The teen sleuth has a long history in children’s and young adult literature. During the twentieth century, popular children’s fiction became an increasingly profitable market. Large companies like the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its publishing partner Grosset and Dunlap produced masses of series fiction, finding especially great success with adventure and mystery series for children and teens. Though these titles were first published in the 1930s and ’40s, many of the characters remain well-known cultural figures. For example, Nancy Drew continues to appear in novels, video games, and even a feature film as recently as 2007. Kid and teen detectives from Encyclopedia Brown and the Red Blazer Girls to the Hardy Boys and Gallagher Girls continue to fly off the shelves in libraries and bookstores.
In middle school, I devoured every Nancy Drew book I could get my hands on before moving on to the murder mysteries of Agatha Christie and Martha Grimes. But I’ve always been looking for a new smart & savvy teen sleuth–and when Veronica Mars premiered during my final years of high school, I knew I’d found my girl. The character and the show appealed to me then as a young adult and a mystery reader–and it continues to appeal to me now, as a fan of the genre and young adult literature as a whole. Veronica Mars is simply a terrific example of storytelling for and about young adults–in addition to being a great mystery series.
The series can trace a connection to young adult literature back to its initial creation. Before he brought the teen sleuth back into popular culture, Rob Thomas wrote and published a young adult novel, Rats Saw God, a 1997 Best Books for Young Adults selection, recently re-released in a new edition. In an interview with The Austin Chronicle, Thomas explains that his creation of Rats Saw God–and later Veronica Mars–drew on his experiences during his first post-college job as a high school journalism teacher. So what qualities did Thomas’ writing include that made the show work so well in the world of young adult media? read more…
Get ready to vote! The YALSA election runs from March 19 through April 25, and to help you be an informed voter, we’re sharing interviews with each of the 2014 candidates for YALSA Award Committees.
This week we are focusing on the Michael L. Printz Award Committee, which honors the best book and up to four honor books written for teens, based entirely on literary merit, each year.
Candidates, who will be presented in alphabetical order, were asked to craft “Twitter-length” responses (i.e. around 140 characters). Full biographical information on all of the candidates can be found on the sample ballot.
Today we have an interview with Franklin Escobedo.
Seventeen-year-old Danny Wright had a plan for his future. It included fixing up a mechanics shop and making a decent life for himself and his high school sweetheart, JoBell. To get a little money to fund his dream, Danny signs up for the Idaho National Guard. That’s when his future gets seriously whacked.
The president of the United States has signed a bill that will require all U.S. citizens to carry a government ID card. The governor of Idaho disagrees with this law, calling it an invasion of privacy. Little does Danny suspect that when this disagreement heats to the point of violence, he will be the one to fire the first shot.
A major theme of the book is the definition of patriotism, as the people of Idaho are forced to choose between loyalty to their president or loyalty to their governor. As an antidote for this violent divisiveness, here’s Lee Greenwood’s classic, God Bless the USA.
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-Diane Colson, currently reading Vengeance by Megan Miranda
Get ready to vote! The YALSA election runs from March 19 through April 25, and to help you be an informed voter, we’re sharing interviews with each of the 2014 candidates for YALSA Award Committees.
This week we are focusing on the Michael L. Printz Award Committee, which honors the best book and up to four honor books written for teens, based entirely on literary merit, each year.
Candidates, who will be presented in alphabetical order, were asked to craft “Twitter-length” responses (i.e. around 140 characters). Full biographical information on all of the candidates can be found on the sample ballot.
Today we have an interview with Rob Bittner.
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