(Premise: Thrift store finds inspire writers to create works of short fiction. The objects are then sold on eBay, accompanied by the short stories. So if you place a bid and win, you get both the vase Lauren wrote about and a copy of her story.) One hundred authors contributed to this project, including Lauren and Meg Cabot.

PS. Lauren and Meg are the only YA writers whose names jumped off the page at me, so if I’ve missed someone, please feel free to post a link in the comments.

I’ve done shockingly little reading this week. Well, okay. I did read Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd, which was hard to understand because I was the wrong kind of nerd when I was in high school. What I mean to say is, I didn’t play D&D or watch anything with “star” in the title. I was the president of the Latin Club. Also, I was into several different kinds of debate. Political nerds just aren’t the same, though.

Anyway, the reason I didn’t post or read is that I was in California. I drank coffee and shopped at used bookstores and hung out with Yvonne Prinz, whose upcoming book The Vinyl Princess is super awesome. I spent a bit of time interviewing her, but we also ate shaved fennel and talked about movie stars (Joseph Gordon Levitt: hot. Tom Cruise: not.) and swapped music trivia. Well, actually, Yvonne, who not only wrote a YA book about a delightful music geek girl but is also the co-owner/founder of Amoeba Music — pics to come — had much more musical trivia to share. I just sort of listened and tried to remember the names she was throwing at me.

Right. So, now I’m back. Flew in on the red-eye this morning. Expect to hear from me soon. Probably with more info on Geektastic, because even if I’ve never been to a sci fi/fantasy convention, I at least know who “The Doctor” is.

The linked article discusses books that have been relegated to a back room because they have been deemed too offensive for the public. There are few requests (eleven since 2005, one of which was to John Green’s Looking for Alaska).

People have objected to the book, as you probably know, for denigrating religion. That seems weird to me, as it grapples with a teen who believes in Some Kind of God and is actually trying to figure out what that God means to him. And, you know, John Green is Christian. Silly people. I know there was a bit of a furor over Looking for Alaska, but it just seems completely unwarranted.

Of course, the panel that reviews books for … removal … generally sides with the book. Don’t worry: John Green will stay on the shelves. New Yorkers aren’t dumb enough to remove a fantastic read like Looking For Alaska from their general collections.

Anyway, I’ve decided that one of my projects this fall will be to make an appointment to visit the Brooklyn Public Library’s Hunt Room. I want to see which books have been relegated to their vault of objectionable material. And I’ll write here about it, of course. (Although I’m guessing folks will be flooding to the Hunt Room now that there’s an article about it.)

But on his own blog he says of the undead, “You shouldn’t be glutted with vampires: they should be a spice, not a food group.”

I think Neil’s right. But in the last few years, we’ve gotten to meet some pretty awesome vamps thanks to the overwhelming popularity of the species.

A few of my favorite vampires:

• Lucius Vladescu, the snarky love interest from Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey.
• Mina Hamilton from Sucks to Be Me by Kimberly Pauley. Actually, her entire vampire ‘verse is pretty cool and unusual.
• Balthazar, the cool vamp from the Evernight series by Claudia Gray. Vastly preferable to that Lucas character, in my opinion. Also love the hilarious aged vampires who don’t understand modern technology.
• My favorite vampire? Would be Spike from the legendary Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series. (Did you know there’s a whole host of Buffy teen novels out there? I didn’t. But I’m going to pick some up.) Anyway, I can’t imagine why Neil Gaiman didn’t mention Buffy or Joss Whedon. The man is truly responsible for bringing back vamps. Anyway, Spike is by far the best vampire ever. He’s snarky, he’s evil, he’s comic relief, he’s wise without knowing it — in all, I think he’s probably the most well-rounded character on the series, and the one who evolves the most with the passage of time. (Forget Angel. He’s a sap.)

***

In other news: We’re all poor nowadays, right? Well, if you’ve yet to read Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, Simon and Schuster is giving away a .pdf version for free. I should mention that this promotion is in advance of Scott’s upcoming book, Leviathan. For some reason I have a hard time with this title, as it always makes me think of (a) Thomas Hobbes and (b) David Levithan.

• Secret Society by Tom Dolby (coming in October)
• The Secret Society Girl series by Diana Peterfreund — not YA, as the books are a bit more sexy than most YA is, and they’re about a college gal. But by a YA author, and seriously delicious. I read the first two books in one day. Read 152 pages of book the first in the store while waiting for the rain to slow to a drizzle so I could go outside.
• Recipe for Disaster by Maureen Fergus (out in September)
• Bite Me by Melissa Francis
• The following Elizabeth Scott books: Stealing Heaven, Love You Hate You Miss You, Something, Maybe
• Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin
• The Real Real by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
• Hancock Park by Isabel Kaplan

That’s only a partial list — literally just the books that are sitting here in the living room. Next time I’ll catch you up on my bathtub reading and then my bedtime reading. Also all the books I’ve stuffed into IKEA bags because I can’t find a place for them on my shelves.

Reviews to come soon, I promise. I just need to get organized first. Anyone have any idea where I might have put my house keys? I already looked in the refrigerator.

I’ve been recovering from yet another bout of illness, this time necessitating a brief stay in the hospital. (The food there was awful, I must say!) Anyway, that is to explain my recent absence, and I must admit I’m not yet up to updating regularly.

But there are more important things afoot: My alma mater, New Rochelle High School, has removed pages from Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, which seniors are reading in class. The offending pages? Mentioned oral sex.

Oh noes! S-E-X? The horror!

Now look here: There are plenty of teen books that are much more graphic than Girl, Interrupted, which is really a fantastic memoir about struggling with borderline personality disorder — although I must admit I disagree with some of Kaysen’s conclusions, it’s a good book and a fascinating read.

I don’t disagree with her inclusion of the topic of S-E-X, though. Because, let’s face it: teens know about these things. Indeed, when I was a wee girl of seventeen — a very bratty one, too — my health teacher went into quite a lot of detail about various sexual acts. Of course she provided these details so that we students would be able to protect ourselves from STIs, but she provided the info nonetheless.

And you know, not everything we read in high school was so very chaste. I vividly remember a discussion about The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, in which some of us couldn’t help but wonder if the book featured a woman having … err … improper relations with a young boy. There was also the day, when I was a lass of fourteen, that my English teacher stood in the hallway ringing a bell and shouting, “It’s the sex scene! It’s the sex scene!” because we were watching Romeo and Juliet (the awesome seventies version) and our teacher wanted to make sure everyone was in attendance that day. When we did indeed watch the sex scene.

We watched Schindler’s List, too, unedited. And we read other inflammatory books.

The school administration’s decision to bowdlerize a book is not something I appreciate. Ripping pages out? Really? This is what you do to protect teenagers? And from what, exactly?

I should mention that New Rochelle, New York is a rather liberal city. It’s not a bit podunk or backwater or anything like that. And I don’t recall there being any censorship issues with the school newspaper or the school literary magazine when I was there oh-so-many years ago.

Which makes it even more disappointing that the district would rip pages out of a book.

But let’s face it: censorship is a rite of passage. All our favorite teen authors have been banned somewhere by someone. When Rachel Vail wrote recently of her children’s book being banned, I was of half a mind to congratulate her and half a mind to console her.

Although, at the end of the day, the “rite of passage” argument doesn’t make it any less frustrating that people can be closed-minded and, frankly, idiotic.

ml,
brina

The Canadian tourism board wants you to know that this year is the 100th anniversary of the publication of Anne of Green Gables. They’ve been emphasizing this important data point all year long, hoping that it will pan out in tourism dollars. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and take a peek.

So you see, yes, Carrots herself is alive and well, and inspiring consumer spending in a time of economic woe, to boot. I find this funny, because Anne Shirley and her creator, Lucy Maud Montgomery, only ever inspired me to sheer audacity. I wanted to be wild and creative, and have adventures that involved bosom friends, raspberry cordial, and cute boys (possibly not in that order) just like Anne. (Well, OK, once I was also inspired to donate money to PBS because I got sucked into a fundraising drive while they were airing those Sullivan miniseries based on the Anne books, too. But that’s about it).

I like adaptations of YA novels. And when they’re done right, they’re just right, and you know it in your Story Gut. Kevin Sullivan’s Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea, are not stringent in their adherence to the novels, but they do manage to get Maud’s world correct. They’re quality entertainment in their own right, but they’re also really fun to juxtapose to the books. I’m cool with this form of “Maud” pop culture because those two films are clearly respectful of their source. Of course, then a few years ago the Sullivan team went and totally lost my support by releasing a third Anne miniseries. I’m still heartily boycotting it because it’s original and not based on any of Montgomery’s Anne novels. I can handle creative license in an adaptation, but messing with beloved characters in a totally new story that is positioned as “canon” really frosts my cookies. This was a horrible idea. “Why would they do this???” I wondered. “Where’s Mrs. Lynde when you need her? Someone needs to tell these heretics where they can put that third film!”

So I guess you can imagine my horror when I came across Budge Wilson’s Before Green Gables, an Anne prequel novel, floating around my local Borders a few months ago. “WTF?” I wondered: “Is nothing sacred any more?”

Subsequent “How could this happen?!?” internet searches resulted in some exciting revelations. One, the prequel novel is very real, and has also been optioned by Nippon Animation, based in Japan, for a TV follow-up to their previous Anne of Green Gables anime series. Two – wait. “WHAT?” I pondered. “There was a previous Anne anime series?!?!?!”

Ahhh.  And there you have it. I discovered Akage no Anne, an anime series from 1979 that tells the Anne of Green Gables story in excruciating detail, and is just as weird, trippy, retro, and beautiful as you’d expect. It’s a true adaptation, done with respect, but also heavily influenced by the culture producing it. And its frickin’ gorgeous.  Bonus: the infamous Hayao Miyazaki (some claim he’s the Walt Disney of Japan – I’m not sure that’s the best description, but he’s certainly an amazing animator) worked on the project. It’s pretty cool, and if you poke around the internets, I’m sure you can find a torrent file, like I did, possibly even one with English subtitles! You can also rummage around YouTube and get a taste of it there, too. Great stuff for a rainy afternoon. Or, for celebrating an anniversary that’s a lot less about dollars, and more about well … story sense.

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born on November 30, 1874.  Try celebrating the anniversary of Maud’s birth by curling up with Anne, Emily, or Pat, or by climbing your own Alpine Path. It’s all about girl power and audacity. Own it, ladies.

HOWEVER, I am inviting you to send me your pictures. If you go to the film on opening night, e-mail me pics of the crowd. I want to see any and all wackiness, from lines extending down three blocks to people in vampire and werewolf outfits to … well, you get the idea. I’ll post the best pics here on YA New York. Please be sure to include you names (or your internet handles) and locations, so I can give you attribution. A short description wouldn’t go awry, either.

Now, it’s the weekend. I may or may not be attending one or more events this weekend, and I may or may not tell you about them come Monday. For now, everyone go re-read E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks.

Much love,
brina

Hi guys, it’s Jami B. again.

I did some Nancy Drew style sleuthing and uncovered a link to the Ryan Seacrest/Obama interview that I mentioned in my last post right here.

If you’re curious, The Seacrest also does daily readings on his morning show from Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight, in anticipation of the upcoming film release. There are links to some of his recent reading passages on the same webpage if you scroll a bit. Good for a chuckle, since he has some colorful commentary.

And finally, I’d like to get some thoughts about Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist off my chest. I had high hopes for this film. The novel, coauthored by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, is pretty kickass. Like seriously. Kick. Ass. Reading. So the suggestion that some Hollywood studio might smear this adorable, yet meaty book with bubblegum pop music and cheescake tween idol actors really gave me pause. What if they f’ed it up? Really, I was concerned.

I’ve seen the movie, though, and it’s actually pretty good. Its not 100 percent accurate to the book, but it does get the important stuff right. As a screenwriter who loves YA books, I was ready to roast this film if need be, but it’s really been done right. The lead actors (Michael Cera and Kat Dennings) deliver spot on, emotionally real performances as the titular Nick and Norah. The soundtrack, of course, is respectable. And the big diffs — including edits to the Tris and Caroline characters — mostly result in more laughs for the audience or help to trim bulky plotlines to make the 2 hour movie work. I also just liked it because the chemistry between the two leads totally crackled, and that’s how it comes off in the book! Finally, a movie that gets it! GETS that they have to make the audience feel what it feels like to be living-reading-breathing it as if you’re on your own night-in-the-life of adventure!

Bottom line: It’s a good adaptation, because it gets the feelings and tone of the book down pat. In Hollywood, that’s almost unheard of. So bravo Columbia Pictures, director Peter Sollett, and screenwriter Lorene Scafaria. Let’s hope others follow your lead and we get more great page to screen adaptations like Nick and Norah and a lot less like … City of Ember.