YA New York

This afternoon I had the amazing privilege of meeting three amazing authors: E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, and Lauren Myracle.

Umm. They wrote that book to the left there. How to Be Bad. It’s another fantastic bathtub read, about three girls in Florida who go on a road trip and almost get eaten by alligators. (Multiple times.)

But … oh! There’s so much to tell! And I don’t know where to begin.

Hmm. If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering how three women could write one novel. Not a selection of short stories or essays, but a novel. Which to me has always seemed like a sort of solitary process. But it’s got to be especially hard when two of your writers (Emily and Sarah) are based in New York, and one (Lauren) is in Colorado.

Well, when I hung out with them at Harper Collins headquarters today — where they were lined up in a row signing a whole bunch of books to give out as contest prizes — the gals told me it was all thanks to the miracle of the internet. They got to talking in a MySpace teen lit group that Sarah started. (more…)

This New York Observer story referenced my little site here, and so of course I ended up reading it. (more…)

As I know you are all attempting to make up your mind about whether to attend the Books of Wonder reading or the Brooklyn Tee Party this Sunday, I thought I’d tell you a little bit about one of the books being featured at the Brooklyn Tee Party. (This is not to tell you that you should choose this event over the other, and I’ll be checking in tonight with a full interview/review of How to Be Bad, so you’ll be able to make a good solid decision.)

Former Gawker editor Emily Gould and current Harper Collins editor Zareen Jaffery have written this very cute tale of a young woman who has magic powers — and doesn’t want them.

Sophie Stone is the daughter of a famous horror movie director, and when her family uproots itself and moves to creepy Mythic, Massachusetts, she is anything but thrilled. Mythic was one of the places at the center of witch-hunting way back when, and as a result it’s a hokey tourist trap for folks who watched too much Bewitched as children.

The problem is, Sophie has always had this weird ability to do things, seemingly magically. And when she moves to Mythic, she finds out she really is … well, you know. A witch.

Okay, before I give too much away, I’ll just say this: The concept is fantastic. The writing totally sucks you in. My only complaint is that there’s not enough of it. I mean, I could easily have seen Hex Education as a trilogy. And I still can. A followup would be lovely, because you can’t expect me to believe that all the problems of Mythic, Mass. have been resolved in one book.

So on Sunday, if you choose to attend the Brooklyn Tee Party, you’ll get to meet authors Emily and Zareen (who looks sort of like Stacey from “What Not to Wear,” only cuter), and you’ll also get to chill with Lauren Mechling and Rachel Maude. I have so much to say about Lauren Mechling, but I’ll have to wait for a later time. All I can say now is, her new book is good. We’ll talk more about that later.

For now, go grab a copy of Hex Education. Even if you aren’t coming to either event (!?!), even if you don’t live in New York (poor thing), you owe it to yourself to check this one out. It is seriously good bathtub reading.

Instructions for reading:

1. Run bath and fill with bubbles.
2. Step into bath.
3. Crack open book.

Stay in tub until you’ve finished reading. Leave only for snacks.

Buy Hex Education from Amazon.com.

I have been remiss in updating this here blog, but I promise you two more reviews, plus an interview, by week’s end. However, for now you need to know about some upcoming events:

E. Lockhart, Sarah Mylnowski and Lauren Myracle, authors of How to Be Bad and many other brilliant YA books, will be doing a reading in NYC this weekend. 1 p.m. at Books of Wonder, 18 W. 18th St., between 5th and 6th. From everything I’ve been reading, these gals are a bucket of fun. Actually, buckets of fun, plural. Alas, I won’t be able to attend their event this weekend, but I’ll be interviewing them tomorrow, so I’ll post about it by Saturday at the latest.

Now, if for some unknown and unimaginable reason this is not your cup of tea (how could it not be? How???), you can come with me to the Brooklyn Tee Party at Etsy Labs. Same time, but at 325 Gold St. in Brooklyn. Lauren Mechling, co-author of the Social Climber series, will be reading from her new book, Dream Girl. Rachel Maude will be reading from the first book in a new series, Poseur. And Zareen Jaffery and Emily Gould will be reading from their novel, Hex Education. If you choose the Tee Party over Books of Wonder — and I won’t hold it against you either way, because personally I want to divide myself in two so I can be in both places at once — remember to bring an old T-shirt with you, so you can paint it up and do all sorts of wacky things to turn it glam.

Choices, people. You have a lot of choices to make. And I’m certain you’ll make the right one. You have two choices. Not three. The third choice, the one you don’t have, is to stay home on your sorry butt and eat potato chips while watching re-runs of Gilmore Girls on your DVR. No, trust me. You will have way more fun if you go to one of these readings.

By the way, last time I was at Books of Wonder for a reading, there were lots and lots of free delicious baked goods. Just saying.

All right, my friends. Cory Doctorow read from his YA novel, Little Brother, yesterday at Books of Wonder in Manhattan.

First of all, I feel the need to scold you for not showing up. I mean, lots of folks did, but they were all, like, grown-ups. Now, I know it was Memorial Day and you had your barbecues, but really. You missed out on a good time. I’ll tell you all about it inside. (more…)

Today is Sunday, also known worldwide as “Homework Day.” But I’ve decided to transform the phrase. In the YA Mansion, Sunday is the day to catch up on books that have been out for awhile but that you might have missed when they first appeared.

Since I was up until about 4 a.m. last night reading the works of Sarah Beth Durst, I’ve decided to begin with one of YA’s new classics: Into the Wild.

Meet Julie, daughter of Rapunzel, adoptive sister of Puss in Boots, granddaughter of a reformed wicked witch. She’ll be your guide through “The Wild,” a place where fairy tales repeat themselves again and again, with each character stuck in his or her own story.

It all starts one night when Julie, Zel and her grandmother Gothel are entertaining the seven dwarves for dinner. They’ve asked the three bears — yes, the ones from Goldilocks — to watch over a wishing well at the rundown motel Gothel runs. Problem is, someone drugs their porridge, makes a wish, and brings The Wild to life. Which is exactly what our fairy tale friends don’t want, because they spent hundreds of years trying to escape their endlessly repeating stories.

This novel is witty (at times, downright hilarious), full of references to all our favorite childhood stories, and also kind of heartbreaking. Fairy tales must have heartbreaking moments, no? It’s required.

Into the Wild came out in June of last year, so you probably think you’ve got plenty of time to read it. But you’re oh-so-wrong. Because Sarah’s sequel, Out of the Wild, comes out next month. Yes, you heard me right. It’ll be available on June 19.

Yes, yes, I know. I tell you every day to please read this book or that book. And it’s true: I do want you to read every book I recommend here. But you’ve got to prioritize. Anything with a sequel due out in less than a month? Move it up the list. If you’ve read it already, start thinking about re-reading it, because you’ll want it fresh on your mind when Sarah’s second novel hits the shelves.

Buy Into the Wild or pre-order Out of the Wild from Amazon.com.

Meg Cabot once wrote that Stephen King was to the 20th century what Charles Dickens was to the 19th. In that case, I must say that Meg is our era’s Jane Austen. In fact, Meg Cabot is none other than High Priestess of YA and chick lit, and YA chick lit to boot.

Her new book, Airhead, ventures into the land of amnesia and brain transplants, when nerdy Em Watts dies and inherits the body of bitchy supermodel Nikki Howard.

Airhead is the first in a series, which is a good thing, because there’s no way we’d be able to wrap our heads around this situation in only one tome. Indeed, any reader can tell halfway through the book that it’s going to take more than a regular sitcom half hour to resolve this mess.

Em — or Nikki — must learn the ins and outs of being a supermodel and a super-celeb. She’s got suitors to deal with, contracts to uphold, and … oh. High school to attend. Because she insists she wants to finish her education, though everyone who knows party girl Nikki Howard assumes it’s a publicity stunt on her end, after she’s gone MIA for a month.

We’re on familiar ground here. Looks versus brains, popularity versus nerdiness, and the question of why the twain shall never meet. Only Meg is determined that they will, and I for one am very interested in seeing how it plays out.

Buy Airhead from Amazon.com.

FYI, Cory Doctorow will be doing a reading and signing here in NYC at Books of Wonder on Monday, May 26 from 5 to 7 p.m. 18 W. 18th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues.

Cory is going to be promoting Little Brother, a book about teen hackers who get taken in by Homeland Security when the Bay Bridge in San Francisco is blown up. This is his first YA book, but by no means his first book. In fact, Cory is no ordinary novelist. He is the King of Geek, one of the most acclaimed and awesome computer wizards of this day and age. (Thus the book about hackers? Mayhaps.)

I’ll be at the signing with my camera and notebook in tow, but until then … get this … you can download Cory’s book for FREE. This is because he released it under a Creative Commons license, hoping to make his work available to as many people as possible. You’ve got to admit the guy’s got moxie.

So spend this weekend reading his latest, and then meet up with me at Books of Wonder on Monday. I mean, what else have you got to do? Go to a barbecue? Pah!

PS. Scott Westerfeld himself told me to (a) read Little Brother and (b) attend Cory’s reading. And honestly? If Scott Westerfeld told you to jump off a bridge, you would, wouldn’t you?

I started crying on page 202, and I’ve only just managed to stop, a full fifteen minutes after having finished Lucky by Rachel Vail.

Okay, I have to admit that my first reaction upon picking up this book was, “Eww. It’s about eighth graders. It’s middle-grade fiction! This is going to suck.”

Clearly I need to get over my snobbery. Because how old was Sara Crewe in Frances Hodsgon Burnett’s classic A Little Princess? She was, I believe, a whopping seven years of age.

So age isn’t everything, and just because the heroine of a novel happens to be in eighth grade doesn’t mean she should be ignored. In fact, any gal who can make me cry for thirty pages should be taken very seriously indeed.

Back to the book: Phoebe Avery is accustomed to being lucky. At fourteen, she is one of the five most popular girls in the eighth grade, and president of her class. She lives in a large house outside New York City, with a swimming pool and a nanny and a housekeeper.

We meet Phoebe just as eighth grade is coming to a close, just as she and her girlfriends are planning their graduation party — the party of the year.

Only one little hitch: Phoebe’s family is suddenly … well, you know … poor.

YA authors break a lot of rules, one of which is that you never talk about money. Or if you do happen to write a book about a young girl finding herself in reduced circumstances, you make sure she gets a fairy tale ending. Essentially, a gal can’t be poor for very long, or it’s just plain depressing. Sara Crewe? I mean, you might not know this if you haven’t read A Little Princess, but she’s totally glam again by the end. And that’s what we love about it, right?

But Rachel Vail — quite a prolific writer, by the way, with a whopping thirteen other novels under her belt already — broke that rule, and she did it with style. No, Phoebe doesn’t get rich again, but Vail’s story is still wonderful and heartwarming, and even the not-quite-fairy-tale ending rocks. I won’t tell you how, but I think you’ll agree after you’ve finished Lucky.

“Talking about money is tacky,” Vail wrote in a note to reviewers. “Not talking about it can be shattering,” she said, adding that she herself experienced family financial woes as a fourteen-year-old. “The money/class taboo is what drove me to write my new trilogy.”

Ahem. Which means we’ve got two more awesome books headed our way. And I personally can’t wait to read them.

Buy Lucky from Amazon.com.

One last thing: Isn’t that little green dress on the cover to die for???

So Random House has created an online MASH game to go with the paperback release of E. Lockhart’s The Boy Book, which is a sequel to The Boyfriend List.

I always loved and hated MASH when I was a kid. (If you missed this bus, we used to make these paper flower-like things, and we’d write boys’ names, occupations, house types, cars and the number of kids we’d have on the inside. The outside flaps would be different colors, and we’d count to a random number until we determined the entire path of a girl’s life with bad origami.)

I still love/hate it. Because, according to the folks at Random House, I am going to marry Tom Petty, have one child, and be a housewife in an apartment in Boston. I’m not sure how I feel about all that. I mean, Tom Petty is way older than me, and how are we going to raise a child together if he’s like, seventy years old when the kid is ten? Also, he’s lived in LA for years and years. What would compel him to move to Boston? Or me?

E. Lockhart, on the other hand, has a more interesting destiny: She’s going marry Robert Downey, Jr. and be a Broadway star in Bangladesh! I don’t know if that’s awesome or weird. It’s definitely one of the two. But it does make me sad that neither of us will end up living in the YA Mansion here in Brooklyn.

Anyway, while we’re on the topic of E. Lockhart, I have to very strongly recommend The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, which is in my opinion Ms. Lockhart’s best work yet.

Frankie (a girl, just in case you were confused) is a sophomore in boarding school who discovers a secret society and sort of infiltrates it. The book is hilarious, touching, and has a sneaky little bit of social criticism going for it, too.

The novel is in stores now and has been since March, so I won’t go on about it for too long. But it’s probably my favorite release of 2008 thus far. As in, number one on the top ten list. You should know that I have impeccable taste, which means that I’m never wrong, which means that this is the best book of the year. In other words, why haven’t you read it yet?