The new leaner, meaner (in a nice way) Cybils nominations close tonight at 11:59, Pacific Time. All aboard who are coming aboard!Although, I have to LAUGH at myself -- having left everything to the last minute, I'm finding that MANY of the books I nominated are already taken. Fortunately, there are some great organizers who are helpfully giving suggestions and memory joggers; take advantage of the "what's missing" roundups here and here; it is not yet too late!!!
So, here's ...a BACA you might not have heard about. The 200 lb. plus actress "Mo'Nique has committed herself to a four book series for plus sized teens. Now, I know my kidlit blogosphere peeps don't usually cut celebrities any slack for writing young adult literature; however, these books are semi-autobiographical. And probably no one else is writing the kinds of books she wants to write, to the specific audience. Does Mo'Nique still get a BACA OFF? Is it ever okay for a celeb to grab hold of an Issue and make it their own? Perhaps a better question is, could anyone else make an Issue/Problem novel sell in this era??? Inquiring minds...Via Bookshelves of Doom I found a freebie; Alan Gratz' Something Rotten is at his blog until November 30th, for free. You'll want to pick up his new book the minute you can; he really is working this Shakespeare thing really well.
I am just SHRIEKING out my congratulations especially to Laurie Halse Anderson and E. Lockhart for being National Book Award Nominees for Young People's Literature. Oh, it is SO HARD to choose from so many amazing books. Can I say how deeply glad I am NOT to be on that committee? Again, congratulations, awesome authors!
9 comments:
Is that not awesome about Something Rotten? I hadn't gotten a chance to read it, though I got an ARC of the sequel, so now I'm totally excited about getting to peruse it online.
I totally completely give Monique a pass on the BACA rules. Why? 'Cause she IS a writer. She's a comedian and writes her own stuff. Also, anything written from a plus-sized POV is great news IMHO.
I think she could get a pass too - wait until the books come out and see how they are.
Jamie Lee Curtis gets a pass (from me anyway) because she's really good - and so does Julie Andrews.
Thank you so much for the kind words!
It's interesting to me when authors become so successful that their work reads as if they were celebrity authors, i.e. there wasn't an editor powerful enough to say, "You've got to cut out those extraneous adverbs (especially 'sycophantically') and stop referring to your main character's crush as 'perfect.'" I'm not naming any authors here, but I'll give you a hint: their last names rhyme with "prowling" and "higher."
Ha! Alkelda. No kidding.
I read about that National Book Award shortlist today. WOW! I agree that it'll be a difficult choice. So exciting, though.
We got Mo'Nique's YA title in. I looked at it with an open mind it quickly closed after two pages. A perfect cover is ruined by having the authors face on the top corner. I still don't understand why celeb authors must have their pictures on the books.
Oh, Doret, no. That's not cool.
Colleen: I think Julie Andrews gets a permanent pass for... just about everything, including writing a children's book because she felt like it, not because "heck, everybody's doing it, it must be easy."
Alkelda: May I *never* be too successful to be edited. It truly was awful when ...certain rhyming authors... stopped being edited.
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