I was nine when Saturday Night Live premiered, too young to watch the late night comedy show. When friends at school came in reciting parts, my mother assured me they were not allowed to stay up that late and were only repeating what their older siblings had told them. Within a few years, I was [...]

For a presentation I’m doing on children’s and young adult book blogs, what book blogs do you recommend as “must” read? The audience is school librarians, if that helps. Along with that, what are some of the reasons you think school librarians should read book blogs? Thanks!

And still don’t have an answer for. So, over at the Los Angeles Review of Books, Sarah Mesle has an article YA Fiction and the End of Boys. I have conflicted feelings and thoughts about it; in part because Masle’s framing question is “I see, in the ongoing conversation about Bella and Katniss, our culture [...]

As you may remember, I attended the YALSA YA Lit Symposium. And that while Hurricane Sandy gave me some problems, I did get there. My report on the Symposium was in SLJ’s Extra Helpings eNewsletter at YALSA’s YA Lit Symposium Considers Fandom, Contemporary Fiction and Transmedia. Angela Carstensen (Adult Books 4 Teens at SLJ) also [...]

Gretchen, Stop Trying To Make Fetch Happen. The beauty of that quote is it can apply to so many things. Kelly at Stacked has a longish post with Some thoughts on “new adult” and also “cross-unders”. As Kelly explains, the Atlantic really, really likes the term “cross unders”; they themselves say it’s the term they [...]

Goblin Secrets by William Alexander! From my review: “what a world! There is magic and science. Graba is a witch, with gearwork legs shaped like chicken’s legs. She uses magic to move her house around. (I know! A twist on Baba Yaga!) Goblins were once human, and now that they are changed operate under different [...]