Tag: Jennifer Longo

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2021) Nominees Round Up, October 30 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Best Fiction for Young Adults nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh
Dutton Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House
Publication Date: September 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-0525556206

In the Igbo language, “Ada means first daughter, means oldest girl, means pressure, means you do as expected, to do a lot of things you don’t want to do because the honor of this family rests on your back.” Ada’s story unfolds in vignettes from different time periods in her life, as she searches to find her true self despite the expectations placed upon her by others.

Continue reading Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2021) Nominees Round Up, October 30 Edition

2015 Young Adult Services Symposium: Book Blitz!

On the Schedule at a Glance in the Symposium’s program, Saturday’s list of events included a “Book Blitz” from 5:00-7:00 p.m. The only information about this event were a few pages in the program dedicated to Book Blitz Author Bios and a small box that stated: Each attendee will receive 6 tickets to exchange with these authors for free signed books!

ya_symposium_2015

Symposium veterans knew what to expect from the Blitz, but newcomers could be heard Friday evening and Saturday afternoon pondering, “What is this Book Blitz all about?”

This tweet from attendee Lauren Regenhardt sums up the experience pretty well:

Continue reading 2015 Young Adult Services Symposium: Book Blitz!

Jukebooks: Six Feet Over It by Jennifer Longo

Six Feet Over ItIt really isn’t fair. Leigh’s dad buys a graveyard (why not a Taco Bell? why not a Ferrari?) and guess who ends up working the office? Fourteen year-old Leigh, that’s who. Never mind child labor laws. Never mind the incongruity of pushing aside Algebra homework to sell cemetary plots to sobbing customers. Leigh’s cup runneth over. Until tragedy makes her realize how good she really had it.

The song that goes with this book is completely improbable. It’s based on a conversation Leigh has in a Spanish class that goes like this:

Me: ¿Te gusta musica?
Ken Dale, my Spanish partner: Sí, yo prefiero Sade. Mucho gusto “Smooth Operator.”
Me: Sí. Yo también.
Ken Dale: ¿Vamos a la playa ahora? ¿O quizás Taco Bell?
Me: Bueno! Sí, como no. ¡Vamos!

It was Sade Adu’s performance of this song that captured the attention of Epic Records. “Smooth Operator” is included on Sade’s first album, Diamond Life, released in 1984.

-Diane Colson, currently reading Breaking Butterflies by M. Anelais