This Week in YA- November 29, 2008

Random things:

• Lauren Myracle is giving away shirts. More information on what to do to get one one her blog.
  
• There are a few NCTE ALAN wrap-ups floating around including Mary E. Pearson's and Cynthia Leitich Smith's.

Books to give as presents for the holidays:

• Shannon Hale's list
  
• E. Lockhart's list.
• If you buy someone a book by Meg Cabot, Meg will send you a book plate you can put inside. More information on her blog.
• We'll have our own list up in the next week.

Movie News:

• Twilight based on the book by Stephenie Meyer opened at #1 with $70.6 million the first weekend.

Books that came out this past week:

• The Parliament of Blood by Justin Richards
• Love is Hell by Scott Westerfeld, Melissa Marr, Justine Larbalestier, and Gabrielle Zevin, Laurie Faria Stolarz
• Lip Gloss Jungle by Melissa De La Cruz
• Lily Dale: Connecting by Wendy Corsi Staub
• Exposed by Susan Vaught
• Crowned by Julie Linker
• Belle: A Retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" by Cameron Dokey
• Lankhmar Book 7: The Knight and Knave of Swords by Fritz Leiber

Turkey Day

Today we have a special piece by a young adult author, Beth Kanell. She wrote The Darkness Under Water, which came out a couple of weeks ago. You can find out more about her and her book on her blog or website.

So here is the flash fiction piece Turkey Day by Beth Kanell:

Turkey Day

Stephanie pressed her hot forehead against the window pane, so the November chill might ease her headache. She closed her eyes and pictured Ben, tramping through the woods the way he used to with his father, a gun on his shoulder. Rifle? Shotgun? She couldn't remember, and she didn't much care. Hunting was Ben's sport, and she meant to be supportive of his enthusiasm. But she'd rather he was here in town, with or without the pheasant he hoped to shoot.

After a few minutes, she pulled back from the window. Three o'clock: Hunting would have to end at dusk. She'd better take some aspirin and go downstairs to cut the brownies into neat squares, to take to Ben's family's house tomorrow. Wrap them and put them out of sight, she reminded herself: Otherwise her college-age brothers, home for Thanksgiving, would consume them in a heartbeat. Hey, let them stick to the pies.

With two aspirin and a decongestant floating in her uneasy stomach, Steph headed to the kitchen. Her mom was on the phone; the "men" were in the living room, glued to the football game. A three-way groan clued her in that the underdog team wasn't ahead any longer. Her brothers and her dad always picked the underdog team to cheer for. A smile twitched on Steph's lips, despite the headache. She was certain the same team had been the better one last fall, the one the guys all hated. It was all in your point of view, wasn't it?

As she came around the doorway into the kitchen, she heard her mother say "Hold on, Barb, I've got someone beeping in -- just a sec." Steph turned on the water gently, to wash her hands. Her mother's voice deepened and hushed. "I'll bring her over myself. Five minutes, we'll be right there." Steph whirled to ask what was going on, but her mother held up a hand for time, switched smoothly to the first phone call, and said, "Barb, sorry, gotta run. Catch you later."

Thumping the phone down on the table, Steph's mother reached out with both arms. "Ben needs you over at his house, grab your coat, come on!"

In the car, Steph tugged at her mother's arm. "What's happened? Is he hurt?" Visions of gunshot wounds, of broken ankles, of Ben being carried out of the woods on a stretcher made her voice rise. "Mom, tell me!"

Her mother shook off Steph's hand. "Let me drive. We'll be there in a minute. Don't worry so much, I'm sure he's okay. He's fine, Stephanie."

"Then why are we hurrying?"

"Because I've got to get back to the kitchen, or the gravy won't get done on its own." With a slide of gravel, the car wheeled into the Perkins's driveway. "Go on, run, I'll wait for you."

Steph raced toward the kitchen door, seeing blood on the ground outside and feeling crazed. "Ben? Ben?!"

He stood at the kitchen sink, both hands in the water, more blood on the floor near him. "Hey, Steph!" A grin split his face and he held up his hands, something dripping between them. "Look!"

She took in the wet feathers, the dangling head and neck, the red drips scattering on the kitchen surfaces. "Oh!" For a moment she staggered, caught herself on a chair, and repeated, "Oh! You shot a bird!"

"Not just any bird. It's a turkey! A wild one! See?"

His proud smile showed her he was totally clueless about what she'd thought. She gave him a quick grin, a loud "Congratulations!" and then, despite her best intentions, erupted, "But if you ever again say I've got to hurry to get here, when you've been doing something risky -- you are such a turkey yourself!"

Realization flooded his face. "Jeez, Steph, I didn't mean to scare you! It was awesome, getting a turkey, and I just wanted you to see it before it gets cooked. Hey, but Steph..." He slowed, hesitated, picked his words carefully, making sure nobody else could hear.

"You know the cabin up on the ridge, the one we always said was haunted? The one that's always locked up with the windows boarded and all?"

Recoil from her panic made her slow to catch what he was talking about, but Steph finally nodded. "Yeah?"

"I could swear it was still locked when I went past it on the way into the woods, and again when I came out, down the trail. But -- " he whispered to her, as she moved closer to hear him "but Steph, there's was a whiff of smoke up there. I think it might be where Penny and Elaine have been hiding."

Oh, no. They shared a long look. Steph thought: Now that we know where they might be, we have to do something, don't we?

She reached for the sponge from the back of the sink and wiped at the blood spatters. "Ben, are you sure?" He nodded, and she leaned against the granite countertop, heedless of the water still on it. "Then," she voiced their joint conclusion, "we're going to have to go up there tonight, aren't we?"

Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks again to Beth Kanell for sending it to us to post!

-The YAthenaeum Team

Midnight Showing of Twilight RECAP/REVIEW

Exactly a week ago, the entire YAthenaeum team went to the midnight showing of Twilight on Thursday night/Friday morning. Here is our recap of the night and our review of the movie. Just as a warning, spoilers will follow and we did not like it. Not just because of the differences in the movie from the book, but also the movie itself alone. So, we’re sorry if you loved it and are annoyed by our opinion, but it is just that and only that, our opinion.

Brought to you by Erika, with comments by Julie in green and Lorena in red. Brigitte in yellow.

It was an early release day, so I got home about 1…(I got home at 3 and got no sleep at all.) Bwahaha I got home at 11, small high schools for the win! not sure what I did for an hour and a half, but at 2:30, I took a nap because I knew I wasn’t going to be getting much sleep that night. At 5:30, I woke up, got ready and at 6:10, Julie, my mom, and I were out the door, with a book bag of homework in tow and Nerdfighter shirts on.

We went to the movie theater and decided to wait in line while we waited for Lorena, Brigitte, and Lorena’s cousin to come so we could pick up our tickets together. They arrived and they got the tickets and my mom left.

The theater then decided they didn’t want everyone waiting outside, so began letting us into a theater. We walked around the entire thing trying to find seats. We considered the far back corner, but since I had to do homework and it was the darkest part, we decided against it. We (I) then found a row on the left side with exactly 6 seats and since it was the first 6-seat row, three of the seats were right above the walkway, so we had somewhere to put out feet. It actually wasn't the most comfortable alternative, but at least we didn't have any heads blocking the way.

Once we put our stuff down, we left to go get some of the overly priced theater food. 16 dollars for a candy combo, honestly! Somehow we managed to carry it all back and also show our tickets on the way. We ate… Lorena filmed me eating, which I wasn’t happy about… Then, I started by history homework. I drew in my sketchbook the seats in front of me and wrote Seeing Twilight at Midnight across it. I decided we would write down all of our comments of the movie in my scketchbook and review them later. I had Pre-Cal homework that no one, including me, understood. The entire 4 and a half hours that followed consisted of me doing homework. We also filmed Fangirl, Fangirl, Boyfriend… We were in a theater hence the darkness. Brigitte started watching Labyrinth on my PSP, but Erika asked me to help her with Spanish, so she ended up stealing it and skipping to all the Bowie scenes. Then we played Diddy Kong Racing on our DS's till we went to get Emily. Which I completely beat her at. Repeatedly. Really, it was almost shameful.

[Fangirl, Fangirl, Boyfriend Video Coming Soon]

At about 8:15, Emily texted that she landed (she had flown up to Boston that morning and back… In all she was going to be awake for 23 hours straight!) and about an hour later, she texted again letting us know she was outside. We all went out to greet her and give her her ticket. She bought food and we did the time warp in the middle of the lobby…FUN STUFF!!! While waiting to get back into the theater, a lady asked us if our shirts spelled anything, so we told her yeah, Don't Forget to be Awesome, but she somehow thought it was connected to our dancing.

I continued doing my homework… Oh, and someone had a laser…That was so annoying!!! It was more amusing than annoying since the employees actually came in and scolded the audience on it. True... That was hilarious!

Some time around 11 Emily decided to go out and stretch, so we went back out for some quick refills and curly fries. Once it was 11:45, I stopped and I’d actually finished mostly all of my homework. The next 15 minutes went by, the lights dimmed, and the previews began.

I complained to both Julie and Lorena when the Harry Potter trailer came on that I should be watching it that night… Sigh... it looked so good compared with the trailers for "Bride Wars" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic".

Once the movie began, there was screaming, (which was shushed by a bunch of people) but as the movie went on it was actually really quiet… I was surprised. Of course there was the occasional screaming when a new character came on the screen, but that was to be expected. I was the only one who screamed when Jacob appeared.The entire time I was laughing hysterically on the outside while crying on the inside because of how bad it all was. (Reasons will follow.) Brigitte and I kept laughing during "dramatic" scenes and people kept telling us to shut up, but we couldn't help it, it was just that bad. Luckily, not for me though, that Lorena kept slapping her hand over my mouth to quiet the worst comments and bits of hysterical laughter.

Once it was over, we left… Complaining as we walked… The best line was when Emily said, “I realized why we wore the nerdfighter shirts. Robert’s puff levels were high.” That was the BEST!!!

Emily took Julie and I home and I went to bed for 3 hours of sleep. (I had 3 and a half)

Reasons we didn’t like the movie (Yes, some are differences from the book, but we couldn't help it... And there are most likely more we are forgetting at this time.):

• Everything seemed completely awkward.


• The acting was horrible. It was all generally just bad acting, the characters were too forced. Edward looked like he was constipated throughout the movie and don't get me started on Jasper.
  

• The meadow scene was ruined and that was the reason for the book's existence. I actually liked the movie version of the meadow scene, just not the overly violent and slightly crazy/hysterical way Edward showed Bella his vampire-ness
  


• Can the Cullens go to a greenhouse? Please inform me how this is possible.


• Why was there a Tarzan scene? Ah, the Tarzan scene was just so unnecessary. But good for the laughs.
  

• Robert sounded like he had a speech problem because he was trying too hard to sound American… A few times the British came out.
  


• No “She’s probably hyperventilating in the kitchen right now?”/“Do I dazzle you?” scene at the Port Angeles restaurant. How about the restaurant scene in general?
  


• Why did they go to a diner every night? Bella was supposed to cook.


• Edward’s supposed to look frozen and stiff when he first smells her in Biology, not that he’s about to be sick.


• They made Jasper (my favorite character) into a joke.


• I'm pretty sure Kristen Stewert has some sort of blinking problem.


• Bella's "Great Escape" from Jasper and Alice was ruined. All she did was run out of the hotel while they were checking out. (Don't you think they would have been faster than her?)


• Tyler doesn't ask her to prom.

• Their "incredible speed" was just badly done.
  

• That was a sad execution of the "sparkling", it honestly just looked like sweat mixed with glitter glue.

• Rosalie sounded more modern than she was supposed to and honestly she looked like a chonga rather than a drop dead gorgeous woman.

• Emmett was about as beefed up and muscular as a new born kitten.

• (And because this can not be said enough) The bad acting! Oh all that is holy, the acting! I honestly hope they weren't giving it their all because it was eye gouging bad.
  

This Week in YA- November 22, 2008

Random things:

• Congratulations to Judy Blundell who's book What I Saw and How I Lied won the National Book Award for young people's literature! We'd also like to again congratulate the other finalists, E. Lockhart, Laurie Halse Anderson, Tim Tharp, and Kathi Appelt.
• In order to create excitement for the 10th and final Princess Diaries book, Forever Princess, Harper Collins has put up the entire first Princess Diaries book online for anyone to read.
• Sadly, TTYL by Lauren Myracle has been removed in the Round Rock school district's middle school libraries by the Superintendent. Honestly, those on this team do not agree with this decision and feel it should be up to the parents to control what their students read and not the schools, but feel free to have your own opinion on the matter.

Books that came out this past week:

• Trouble in My Way by Michelle Stimpson
• Night World No. 2 by L.J. Smith
• Eclipse: Book Twelve (Sweep) by Cate Tiernan

Books that come out this week:

• November 25- The Parliament of Blood by Justin Richards
• November 25- Love is Hell by Scott Westerfeld, Melissa Marr, Justine Larbalestier, and Gabrielle Zevin, Laurie Faria Stolarz
• November 25- Lip Gloss Jungle by Melissa De La Cruz
• November 25- Lily Dale: Connecting by by Wendy Corsi Staub
• November 25- Exposed by by Susan Vaught
• November 25- Crowned by Julie Linker
• November 25- Belle: A Retelling of "Beauty and the Beast"- Cameron Dokey
• November 25- Lankhmar Book 7: The Knight and Knave of Swords by Fritz Leiber

-The YAthenaeum Team

The Lump of Coal Signing - RECAP

Brought to you by Brigitte. With comments by Lorena in Red, Erika in Blue, and Julie in green.

I am saddened to say that Lemony Snicket did not come to Books & Books but instead sent a representative, Daniel Handler, that just so happened to be dressed like him, as tall as him and look exactly like him. We suspect foul play.

I arrived after an open house at a high school just before Erika did and I found Emily and we talked a little until Erika came...

I arrived and found Julie with Emily. We stood out in the front and talked. Emily then told us that we should get our books signed now, so we bought them (since Julie forgot hers at home...), which is when we saw Lorena and Brigitte arrive...

When we arrived, Erika and Julie before us for once, (No, we got there before you once remember that time and we were at Books & Books and there was that author...) Lorena and I ran into Emily along with a huge crowd of Handler fans. Putting our stuff down behind the counter we headed off to the back room to meet Handler... except that he wasn't there. The first author to wander on his own, which is great, but we never knew where he was. We found him in the west wing, where his event was going to take place, and we talked with him and his representative for a while. We headed to the back room when people started to come in and he signed our books.

A requirement for each and every event is the passing out of YAthenaeum bookmarks to the sometimes unwilling multitude. We split up, Lorena and I took the children's section which was bursting with kids and parents. Small children get frightening in the masses. After a while, Erika and Julie appeared and told us that we were going to take the picture before the event instead of during/after. (This was after going around the store not knowing where they were and found them drowning in kids.) (So many little kids!!!) The hunt for Handler began. Much confusion ensued with comments like "I think he went to the bathroom." and "I think he went this way.". We ended up not finding him, he found us. We took the pictures. We couldn't take it outside the backroom, due to the um...crowd, and the backroom, despite the amazing scenery it would set for the picture, didn't seem adequate. So we ended up going to the parking lot to take the picture. Which seemed to fit the mood of the signing... We were lumps of coal, hence the black/burglar look.

Then started on the enjoyable task of post-it duty. -cue happy music-. The fans were separated into groups by letters so we did A first. (To get a head start for later) (Which was a VERY good and helpful idea)

Handler entertained everyone, even though there were lots of different age groups, with his sarcasm and getting people to leave so that Group A could get there books signed and talk to him was hard. Some of his remarks included how he looked like Lemony, we were the first bookstore to grade readers, and how unfortunate it was to all be cramped into a room by people dressed in black. I wouldn't have willingly left, honestly. We then went through and finished the A's we had missed and I went around with the embosser and embossed every book... Every time someone was taking a picture of him signing a book for one of the kids, he would ask who it was taking the picture and if they were a good mom or dad. Then, he would say "I know your lying". Though he had a few other hilarious comments that he would say as well. We were all starving so we sat down and ordered something at the Cafe, but we had to get up while waiting/eating to complete post-it duty to the other groups. I went every time to emboss the books, which somehow my hand didn't hurt even after all of the embossing. This went on for a while of; "ok you leave, no I'll go, ok you go, I'll protect your food", and arguing over who ate the banana cake. After we finished eating, we hung out with Handler and the last of the fans waiting in line. He topped off his signing with a few snazzy remarks and went off to eat lunch, leaving us to comb through the children's section. Our parents were already there, so we left, but then my mom heard he had written a book called The Latke that Wouldn't Stop Screaming, so Julie and I had to go, buy it, and then interrupted their lunch and had Daniel sign it.

This Week in YA- November 15, 2008

Random things:

• Melissa De La Cruz made the New York Times bestseller list for the first time with Revelations at number 4! Here's her blog on the subject. Congrats Melissa!
• There was a feud between John Green and Maureen Johnson, where they would cross out each others names in Let It Snow. This has apparently been resolved according to John's blog. On the same note, the third author of Let It Snow, Lauren Myracle, posted how she disagrees with both John and Maureen on the Zombie vs Unicorn topic to which Maureen responded.

Books that came out last week:

• Babylonne by Catherine Jinks
• Darkness Under the Water by Beth Kanell
• Drop by Lisa Papademetriou
• The Long Weekend by Savita Kalhan
• The American by Justin Allen
• Almost Famous, A Talent novel by Zoey Dean
• Gamer Girl by Mari Mancusi
• Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
• Simon's Secret by Pat Matuszak
• The Way of the Warrior by Andrew Matthews

Books that come out this week:

• November 18- Trouble in My Way by Michelle Stimpson
• November 18- Night World No. 2 by L.J. Smith
• November 20- Eclipse: Book Twelve (Sweep) by Cate Tiernan

-The YAthenaeum Team

Judy Blume- RECAP

Brought to you by Emily:

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Blubber

Superfudge

Freckle Juice

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Yes, we all read them and loved them. And we have Judy Blume to thank for keeping us in great books all through elementary and middle school!

Two Mondays ago (October 27th), Judy stopped by Books & Books to talk a little bit about her books, what it's like to be an author, and her feelings on the SUPERCHARGED presidential election - can you guess who she voted for?

It was such an incredible thrill to meet one of my childhood icons. I even got her to sign a copy of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, so I can go back and read it again (and then put it away for the daughter I will someday have!)

And for those of you who just can't get enough of Judy Blume, check out Places I Never Meant to Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers, which she edited. This is a collection of original stories by YA writers who, like Judy, have found their work censored or challenged - authors like Julius Lester, Walter Dean Myers, Katherine Paterson and Jacqueline Woodson.

So, from all us fans.... Judy, we salute you!

Lemony Snicket Tomorrow!

Unfortunately, Lemony Snicket is still coming to Books & Books tomorrow, November 11th, and much to our amazement, tickets are almost sold out.

So if you are indeed a glutton for punishment, don't wait any longer and reserve your seats today.

Books & Books

265 Aragon Avenue

Coral Gables, Florida

"Forget Frosty. Forget Rudolph. Forget Santa. The next generation holiday hero is small, dark, and flammable. Now, Lemony Snicket, the bestselling author of A Series of Unfortunate Events is back with The Lump of Coal (HarperCollins, $12.99, all ages), the story of, you guess it, a lump of coal who can think, talk, and move itself around. Will this lump of coal get the holiday miracle he deserves? Or is he just going to get burned? Once again Lemony Snicket has struck gold… er… coal with his newest picture book. Is there a more charming holiday tale to behold? Probably, but Lemony Snicket has not written one. Tickets are required for this event and are available at all Books & Books locations. You will receive one (1) ticket with the purchase of one (1) copy of The Lump of Coal. Tickets are very limited. The courtyard will serve as a holding area for parents who do not wish to attend the talk and signing while their children are in the event. To join the signing line you must have a ticket. With your ticket you are allowed to get one (1) book by Lemony Snicket signed. This book must be new."

Hope to see you all there!

-The YAthenaeum Team

Everything Beautiful in the World - REVIEW

Emily's Review of Everything Beautiful in the World by Lisa Levchuk

So, I have to start this review with a bit of a disclaimer. I ran across this book at the bookstore the other day and it caught my attention because my tennis coach/English teacher in high school had the same name as the author. It seemed like a strange coincidence. I did a little bit of investigating and as it turns out, they are one in the same! Of course, once I found out this connection, I snapped up the book and began to read.

Everything Beautiful in the World is a first-person narrative that follows Edna, a seventeen-year-old high school student as navigates school, her mother's hospitalization, her distant father, and her own, increasingly complicated relationship with her male ceramics teacher. The author treats these tough subjects with a complexity and emotional range that is rare in young adult fiction. The book does contain descriptions of some mature situations as Edna and Mr. Howland’s relationship progresses, but those moments are neither graphic nor glorified.

Everything Beautiful in the World is much more about Edna’s struggle to understand who she is and where she belongs with the world, rather than a teacher/student romance.

This is a touching and emotional book and one that I highly recommend!

This Week in YA- November 8, 2008

Random things:

• Publisher's Weekly announced their Best Books of the Year.
• Meg Cabot's site has put up an excerpt of Forever Princess and on Mia's new site there's an excerpt of Ransom my Heart.
• Melissa Marr posted the cover of her new manga and Fragile Eternity on her blog.
  

Books that came out this week:

• What I Saw And How I Lied by Judy Blundell
• Love and Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson
• The It Girl #7: Infamous by Cecily von Ziegesar
• Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb
• Ranger's Apprentice: The Sorcerer of the North by John Flanagan

Books that come out this week:

• November 11- Babylonne by Catherine Jinks
• November 11- Darkness Under the Water by Beth Kanell
• November 11- Drop by Lisa Papademetriou
• November 11- The Long Weekend by Savita Kalhan
• November 13- The American by Justin Allen
  
• November 13- Almost Famous, A Talent novel by Zoey Dean
• November 13- Gamer Girl by Mari Mancusi
  
• November 13- Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
  
• November 13- Simon's Secret by Pat Matuszak
• November 13- The Way of the Warrior by Andrew Matthews

-The YAthenaeum Team