A Post Made of Awesome

John Green is made of awesome. (Now if you find yourself scratching your head and wondering what the heck that means, you must not be a Nerdfighter.  But, don't fret, if you’re reading this blog, you're well on your way to becoming one.)

So, today’s post is all about John Green and his awesome books and will be brought to you in three parts:

Part 1 - Q&A with John Green

Part 2 - Paper Towns Review

Part 3 - Special Information about his Book Signing at Books & Books

A Short Q&A with John Green:

Who pwns everything?

I'm a big believer in checks and balances, so you can't have a single individual who pwns everything, or else it would inevitably lead to a totalitarian state.

If someone suddenly threw a wad of twenty thousand dollars at you, how would you respond?

Well, that all depends on the currency involved. If someone threw 200 100-dollar bills at me, I hope I'd have the courage to hand it over to malaria research. If someone threw two hundred thousand dimes at me, I would probably die beneath a pile of dimes.

If 'they' decided to make a movie of your life, which actor would you want to play you? Hank? Yeti?

Fortunately, 'they' won't ever get to make a movie of my life, because I own the rights to my life, and I'm not interested in selling. If 'they' made a movie of my life, it would inevitably lead to me being known by people who I don't want to know me. (I would hate hate hate being a celebrity.) So I think we'll just keep playing ourselves in our little videos, at least until we go broke and sell out.

What's the most random question you can think of? Answer it.

How fast can a one-day-old gazelle run?

23 miles per hour.

Can you do the Time Warp again?

Sure, of course. It's just a jump to the left...

Now that you have experienced a small taste of the hilarity and awesomeness that characterizes this author, are your ready for more? 

Erika’s Paper Towns Review

Amazing. Words can barely describe how awesome Paper Towns is. I can honestly say that John Green is a complete genius. Every word and sentence fits perfectly and there isn’t a single line that doesn’t draw you in or make you think.

My own Paper Towns reading experience took place on a plane ride back from Japan and trust me when I say that it kept me entertained for half the flight (which is very hard to do). My sister even got slightly annoyed at me after about two pages. If I see a line I love, I usually say to whomever’s close to me, “Listen to this…” and then read it out loud. In the first two pages of Paper Towns, I had already bugged her three times. The book did not get any less remarkable after those two pages, though I restrained myself from bothering her.

Paper Towns is about a boy who is in love with a girl, but it’s also so much more than that. When Margo, randomly crawls through Quentin’s window one night – like she used to do when they were young – mild-mannered Quentin finds himself whisked away from his warm bed for a night of mayhem and adventure. The next day however, Margo doesn’t show up for school. Quentin is sure something is wrong and sets out on an adventure of his own to try to find her.

A must read for anyone and everyone, even if you’re thinking Paper Towns is not the kind of book you would “usually pick up.” Green’s distinctive voice and captivating story is something everyone can connect with in some way.

Books & Books Paper Towns Information:

Mark your calendars for October 22! John Green himself will be at the Books & Books in Coral Gables to discuss Paper Towns and more. You can R.S.V.P. (but it is not required) on the Facebook page or the Eventful page (click widget on the sidebar).

It’ll be awesome! We’ll make sure of it!

And finally, Hank (John’s brother) decided that for John’s birthday in August he would give John bestsellerdom. (It was supposed to be a surprise, but John already found out, so it’s safe to talk about.) We decided that we wanted to help out. Why? Because John deserves bestseller status and everyone needs to read his books!

So, if you pre-order Paper Towns from Books & Books, which comes out October 16^th, you will be entered to win an iPod Shuffle!

If this is the first you're hearing of this "did-we-mention-he-is-awesome" author and want more before October 22^nd, watch John and Hank's YouTube vlog and/or go to their website.

Special thanks to John Green for answering our questions, coming in October, and being awesome. We hope to see everyone on October 22^nd!

-The YAthenaeum Team

The Rain People

Today we have a special piece by a young adult author, Crissa-Jean Chappell, who wrote the book Total Constant Order. You can visit her on her website: Crissa-Jean Chappell.

So, without further ado, here's a short story from her current work-in-progress:

The Rain People

“I always get freaked out walking through Wynwood at night,” Morgan tells me. She clops along in her wooden flip-flops and huddles under my umbrella. “Do you ever get freaked out, Aaron?”
“Sometimes,” I say.
Skully takes the lead, waving a glowstick like a baton. “I bet it’s the next block,” she says, as a Honda speeds past us, throbbing with bass. Words thread the air—a techno remix of a 1980s pop ballad.
“I don’t want to lose your love…tonight.”
At the party house, we push through the crowd of people on the lawn. By this time, the rain has slowed to a drizzle. A couple dudes are blowing up soda bottles in the backyard. They roll sheets of tinfoil into ribbons and cram them into plastic liters of Coke.
“What’s that blue stuff they’re dumping in it?” Morgan asks me.
“The Works,” I say.
“What?”
“Toilet cleaner.”
Skully grabs one of the steaming bottles, pops on the cap, and shakes it. She laughs and tosses it into the air.
“Run,” she screams.
We run.
The explosion rattles my teeth.
“That was intense,” Morgan says, covering her ears. “Let’s go. Skully is majorly getting on my nerves.”
She leads me to a metal staircase that slopes toward the roof. A few people have already climbed up there. A girl rushes past us, sobbing into her cell phone.
“The least you could do is call a cab,” she says with a sniffle.
Morgan plods across the roof. “There’s a soft spot. Be careful,” she says, tripping a little. She tugs me closer. It’s starting to pour again. Cold needles of rain. Now we’re stuck, peering down at the scattering crowd.
I catch sight of someone walking alone, smoking a cigarette. He watches me watching him. He looks up and for a second, it’s as if we know each other. That’s when I realize: It’s not me he’s watching.
“You know that dude?” I ask Morgan.
She shrugs. “The guy with the dirty mustache?” She tries to force a laugh, but it sounds fake as hell. “Not anymore,” she says. “I mean, can you ever really know someone?”
“I guess so.”
“You guess so?” she says, grabbing my hand. She squeezes it hard. “You don’t know so?”
“I already told you.”
“Liar,” she says.
The bottle rockets boom-hiss in slow motion, spewing melted hunks of plastic in the grass. In the morning, there will be flecks of tinfoil glinting in the sun, ultra blue puddles on the sidewalk. There will be more questions, but I don’t have the guts to ask.

Wasn't it great? Not only were we given that amazing scene to post, but Crissa was also kind enough to include one of her drawings of one of the characters:

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks again to Crissa-Jean Chappell for sending them to us to post!

In other YA news, the Paolini event was awesome; there will be more on that to come as well as other special posts in the near future.

-The YAthenaeum Team

INTROS-Julie

Julie is an editor for Yathenaeum and Erika’s sister She’s a freshman in a very small school you may or may not have heard of. She likes drawing a lot, but doesn’t do any artwork for Yathenaeum because Lorena is a whole lot better than her. Julie is also a very competitive golfer and between golf and school its a wonder how she gets to read at all, but somehow manages, although not as much as she'd like.

.:Top 5 books:.

• Hoot - Carl Hiaasen
• Paper Towns - John Green
  
• The Tell Tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe (short stories count too, right?)
• To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
• (Gosh this is really tough for her to only chose 5) Ophelia-Lisa Klein
  

.:5 Random Facts:.

• Her favorite animals are owls
• For almost every word with an “s” in this intro she typed an “a” in the place of the “s”.
• Can’t sing and should never be asked to sing.
  
• Her favorite character in Twilight is Jasper because in the summer of 2007 she had a huge fight over Edward with her sister and ended up with Jasper.
  
• She remembers how to spell Yathenaeum by thinking of the Greek goddess Athena.

Want to see my posts? Click here!

Want to browse my home library? Visit my catalog!

INTROS- Emily

Emily puts the "adult" in Young Adult - well, not really. But, she is the oldest of the YAthenaeum team (she won't reveal how old, but let's just say she's going to her 5th year college reunion this year).

Emily was the children's and YA events coordinator for Books & Books in Miami for four and a half years. In that time, she was lucky enough to meet more amazing authors and wear more outrageous costumes than she ever believed possible. One of the highlights of her Books & Books' career has been meeting the AWESOME girls who have become the YAthenaeum Team. If only she were that motivated and engaged in high school!

Emily is now a virtual member of YAthenaeum since she has left Books & Books to become the executive director of the Boston Book Festival, to debut in Copley Square October 24, 2009. There isn't much call for wearing costumes in her new role, but she does still get to meet some pretty wonderful authors.

.: Top 5 Books:.
About her reading tastes? Emily likes to read fiction of any kind, and she is an evangelist for John Green and his amazing novels. It's really hard for her to pick her 5 favorite books (she's a Libra) but from what she's read in 2008 here are YA books that took her breath away (in no particular order):

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Savvy by Ingrid Law
• Impossible by Nancy Werlin
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• Paper Towns by John Green

Want to see my posts? Click here!

INTROS- Erika

Erika is a co-founder of YAthenaeum. She’s the “girl” in the once upon a time story in the very first post and brought up the idea for a blog. She currently attends Boston College and because of her schoolwork load doesn’t have as much time as she wishes to read for pleasure, which is quite depressing. She still reads whenever she can though. She’s nice, sometimes people say too nice and hates writing introductions and talking about herself…

.:Top 5 Books:.

She cannot choose five books, so instead we’ll list a bunch of her favorite authors in no particular order and may still forget some:

John Green, Meg Cabot, Maureen Johnson, Scott Westerfeld, Libba Bray, E. Lockhart, Melissa Marr, Holly Black, Jane Austen, Ann Brashares, Sarah Dessen, Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, Melissa de la Cruz, J.K. Rowling, Marianne Curley, Laurie Halse Anderson, Nancy Werlin…

She likes most YA books in mostly all genres…

.:5 Random Facts:.

• As previously mentioned, she has too many favorite authors and cannot seem to choose a few.
• She probably does more community service than is possible (well almost, since she actually does it).
• Her bookshelves are in alphabetical order by author and even overflow in alphabetical order.
• She’s a fairly good photographer… Or at least that’s what people tell her.
• Her favorite color is purple.

Want to see my posts? Click here!

Want to browse my home library? Visit my catalog!

INTROS- Brigitte

Brigitte is an editor of the YAthenaeum. Expect nothing but tough honesty and cut dry remarks from her. She is currently a senior at an impossibly large high school. She is studying diligently to become a doctor or something else within the medical field. While preferring classics to contemporary works she will, on occasion, read them on her own.

.:Top 5 Books:.

• Count of Monte Cristo - Alexander Dumas
• The Gargoyle – Andrew Davidson
• Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
• The Stranger - Albert Camus
• Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell

.:5 Random Facts:.

• She watches movies and reads books over and over again to the point of memorization
• She proudly claims to have done the Time Warp with Libba Bray
• She likes to study religions and languages in her free time
• She has no musical ability but wishes to learn how to play the piano, the guitar and the violin
• She plays video games compulsively

Want to see my posts? Click here!

Want to browse my home library? Visit my catalog!

INTROS- Lorena

Lorena is a co-founder of the YAthenaeum, as well as its art director. She designed the blog and tends to post any and all pages from her sketchbooks pertaining to YA books. She's a Fine Arts Major in Carnegie Mellon University where she hopes to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. She keeps an even balance between classic and contemporary literature, but she'd be lying if she denied a preference to 20th century Romance novels.
.:Top 5 Books:.

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
• Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
• The Gargoyle – Andrew Davidson
• Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
• An Abundance of Katherines - John Green

.:5 Random Facts:.

• She was an art/film student at DASH
• She refuses to grow up and continues to expand her collection of Disney movies.
• She wants to become an animator for movies previously mentioned.
• She takes every chance she’s given to dress up.
• She jumps from book to book, sometimes leaving them during the climax to go read something else.

Want to see my posts? Click here!

Want to browse my home library? Visit my catalog!

Paolini and Art Contest!

Christopher Paolini!

Yes, you read that correctly…. Christopher Paolini, the author of Eragon, Eldest, and now the newest book in the Inheritance Cycle, Brisingr! He’ll be in the Miami area, this Friday, September 26^th at 7:00 at:

The Lincoln Theatre
541 Lincoln Road
Miami Beach, FL 33139

From The Books & Books website:

“Oaths are sworn . . . loyalties are tested . . . forces will collide. This evening, internationally bestselling author Christopher Paolini introduces his legion of fans to Brisingr (Knopf, $27.50), the much-anticipated third book in the Inheritance Cycle, which began in 2003 with Eragon, Paolini’s literary debut. The story of fifteen-year-old Eragon – the farm boy turned Dragon Rider – has captivated millions and became a worldwide phenomenon when Eldest was published in 2005. In Brisingr, Eragon is once again the greatest hope to rid the Empire of tyranny. Following the colossal battle against the Empire’s warriors on the Burning Plains, Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have narrowly escaped with their lives. Still there is more at hand for the Rider and his dragon, as Eragon finds himself bound by a tangle of promises he may not be able to keep. Can this once-simple farm boy unite the rebel forces and defeat the king? This event is presented in collaboration with The New World Symphony. You will receive two free tickets with the purchase of Brisingr from any Books & Books location.”

There will be copies of Brisingr sold at the event. So, if you cannot buy it ahead of time to receive tickets, don’t worry, you can get them there. Can't wait to see everyone!

If you do not live anywhere near Miami and you have questions you’d always been dying to ask Christopher, leave them in the comments or e-mail us!

On a side note: We’d like to congratulate Lorena on winning Melissa Marr’s art contest!!! We’ve always known she was awesome; just look at our incredible banner! Congrats to all the other winners as well!

So, leave questions for Christopher and stay tuned; we have a special post in the works for Friday!

-The YAthenaeum Team

YAthenaeum's Arrived!

It’s finally here!
The blog we’ve all been waiting for!
What? You weren’t aware that this blog was in the works?
(Those of you just coming out of comas are excused.)
Well, crawl out from under the rock where you’ve been hiding and be introduced to:

YAthenaeum (pronounced: yeah-then-ay-um)

1. Impossible to Pronounce.
   
2. Delightful to Read.
   
3. It’s your one-stop-shop for all things YA.
   

An athenaeum (in case you don’t know) is a place that promotes literacy and reading, and that’s just what we’re hoping to do for the young adult readers of the world. We’ll have author interviews, signing recaps, flash fiction pieces by REAL authors, book reviews, galley giveaways, and much much more.

How did this blog come to be, you might ask?
Once upon a time, there was a girl who liked to read. One day, as she was browsing the shelves of the coolest bookstore on the planet, she met an event coordinator. The girl asked the event coordinator for information on an up-coming author event. The girl got more than she bargained for.

The event coordinator invited the girl to plan the booksigning. The girl agreed, and then enlisted (*cough* forced) her sister and friends to help her.

This go-get-‘em gang proceeded to pull off a totally awesome event.

The event coordinator signed them up to help out with future awesome events and signings and to bring the wonderful world of Young Adult books to teens everywhere.

Which brings us to today.

We decided that there should be a website where YA book-lovers around the world can satisfy all their YA needs.

For our first few weeks we already have some awesome posts planned, including recaps of past events, an exclusive piece from a favorite YA author, and lots of other random things that pop into our heads.

We’d love to hear your comments, suggestions and recommendations. You can e-mail us anytime at yathenaeum@yahoo.com.

We hope that this blog helps to scratch your YA itch.

Welcome and enjoy the ride!

-Erika, Lorena, Emily, Julie, Brigitte