Here is a short list of fun and informative tweets from some of your favorite people in YA Lit: Goodbye Cruel World – a blog…
Continue reading The Hub Tweets of the Week – February 4, 2011
Comments closedHere is a short list of fun and informative tweets from some of your favorite people in YA Lit: Goodbye Cruel World – a blog…
Continue reading The Hub Tweets of the Week – February 4, 2011
Comments closedThis first novel by Maureen Daly is often considered one of the first YA novels. It’s been nearly seventy years since Seventeenth Summer was published;…
Continue reading Book Review: New to Me–Seventeenth Summer
4 CommentsThe time is upon us. Black History Month. A month that is ever filled with Rosa Parks skits and recitations of speeches and essays by…
Continue reading Reading Black History Month in a Different Way
5 Comments2011 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: Part IV: Zombies, Werewolves, and Things with Wings While we all love vampire novels, we really thought we should…
Continue reading Zombies, Werewolves, and Things with Wings
Comments closedSo I don’t know about you but I LOVE the movie Groundhog Day. If you’ve never seen it, it’s about a Pittsburgh weatherman named Phil…
Continue reading Deja Vu All Over Again!
5 Comments2011 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: Part III: What If… In our third list we decide to compile a list of some the popular paperbacks…
3 CommentsHave you ever wished that you could participate in choosing the best books of the year? Now you can! YALSA is pleased to announce its…
Continue reading Attention Readers of Teen Books!
1 CommentIn a recent blog post on the Booklist website, author Daniel Kraus listed many grievances against YA literature. Among these grievances was his annoyance with…
Continue reading Authentic Voice
Comments closedAs a librarian, I know I should be the first to admonish “don’t judge books by their coversâ€. But who am I kidding? I love judging books by their covers! It’s right up there with judging figure skaters based on their outfits rather than technical skills! So I’m always extra-interested when a book is released in a short span of time with two different covers. Frequently this happens when the paperback edition of a new book is released. The cover makeover that most recently caught my eye and provoked strong emotions is Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis, published by Alfred Knopf, a division of Random House. Let’s start with the facts: Mare’s War is a great story. Not just in my humble opinion, but also according to the Coretta Scott King award committee, which awarded it an author honor in 2010. However, in spite of the critical acclaim and some featured spots in past YA displays, it has circulated at my library a total of 1 time. I think I blame this cover:
The artwork skews much younger than the teens it could appeal to. There is also something about the way the eye is drawn to the central figure of Mare that screams “I am Historical Fiction!†and makes it really easy to overlook the contemporary characters depicted below. Now, some people including myself are ardent fans of historical fiction, and maybe to us this book looks great. But we’re not the ones who need to be sold on a title like this. So how do you draw in readers that are maybe more attracted to the contemporary storyline, without overlooking the importance of the historical subject matter? I give you the brilliance that is Cover #2:
For one thing, it’s simpler than the original, streamlined, and graphically packs a bigger punch. Continue reading Judging (and Re-Judging) Books By Their Covers
6 Comments2011 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: Part II: What’s Cooking? Each year the Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults committee searches for the most popular paperbacks…
Continue reading What’s Cooking?
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