August 2012
68 posts
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July Book Reviews
July has come and gone. 2012 is halfway done. Makes me feel like I need to read and review with a fury. Here are the book reviews that I have served up this month:
We March by Shane W. Evans (Roaring Book Press, 2012).
Only One Year by Andrea Cheng, illustrated by Nicole Wong (Lee and Low, 2010).
My Little Car by Gary Soto, illustrated by Pam Paparone (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2006).
Grandpa’s...
“If you are a woman. If you are a Person of Colour. If you are gay, lesbian,...”
– Margaret Cho (watsoned)
July 2012
66 posts
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Heart of a Samurai : NPR →
I’ve just picked this up from the library. Here’s an excerpt of the book from NPR’s website:
From Chapter 2: The Samurai of Bird Island
June 27, 1841 (12th Year of Tempo, Year of the Ox)
Earth. Sky. Wind. Sea.
Sometimes it seemed as if that was all there were. All there ever had been. All there ever would be.
There was this scrap of earth — just a big rock, really. And...
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From The LGA Submission Page: Why is being an... →
From Amanda in the comments section:
As an adoption critic and blogger, I occasionally receive “you don’t like adoptive parents” in response to my work and writing. Not because I actually dislike adoptive parents but because I said something critical about adoption. I think it’s important to talk about this response. “Adoption” and “adoptive parent” are not equally interchangeable synonyms....
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Read an Excerpt of Between Shades of Gray →
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Lois Lowry’s The Giver was a YA dystopia before... →
Just discovered this blog: YA Why?
And thought you all might like a little sample too.
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“You can’t have profanity if there are no prudes left to be shocked by it.”
– Geoff Nunberg, “Swearing: A Long And #$%#$% History” (via nprfreshair)
Carol Rifka Brunt, Author of Tell the Wolves I'm... →
To write about death is to write about love of one kind or another. The writer doesn’t have to give hope because the reader will bring her own supply to the story. The writer’s job is to get the reader to reach down deep and pull out that small and glimmering thing.
And while you are reading this short article by Carol Rifka Brunt, check out this review from School Library Journal...
“What they don’t understand about birthdays and what they never tell
you is that...”
– Sandra Cisneros (via arpeggia)
“[He wrote: So this is what everybody’s always talking about! Diablo! If only I’d...”
– Junot Díaz, from ‘The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao’ (thanks, widgenstain)
10 LGBTQ Young Adult Novels to Make It Better →
malindalo:
In which I recommend 10 LGBTQ YA novels at the Huffington Post.
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Book-Trading Post Opens on a Brooklyn Sidewalk -... →
Art of Transliness: Transitioning in High School →
transteens:
Transitioning in High School (or middle school) can be extremely difficult. Many trans* youth wish to switch schools in order to be seen as their true gender. However that is not something that a youth might not want to do, which is fine, and for other people switching school’s…
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BeyDemsBritneyMeg: I hate teen books I can never... →
chelseahandjobs:
I hate teen books I can never connect to them. Like all they do is party and drink and do drugs. And when I’m reading them I think about how stupid they are and how they shouldn’t do that because it will affect them later and life and oh my god why are they getting in the car with a clearly drunk…
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“We think of inspiration as a feeling, a form of enthusiasm and desire that fills...”
– Francisco X. Stork
Francisco’s Journal
You've Never Heard Public Enemy's 'It Takes A... →
tballardbrown:
We had an intern review this album, which he had never heard before and here are some highlights from his piece:
Although my experience with hip-hop is definitely limited in scope, I’d still call myself a fan. I remember the first time I really cared about a rap song. It was the spring of 2010 and “Over” by Drake had just come out.
I’ll pause while you take that in. *hums*
OK,...
Reading In Color: 2012 YA Releases About POC →
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‘I, Galileo,’ by Bonnie Christensen - NYTimes.com... →
Bonnie Christensen dials back several centuries in “I, Galileo,” demonstrating once again how a well-conceived and executed picture book can deliver a serious story — in this case, of one of history’s great independent thinkers — in a beautiful, enriching way for those readers who’ve supposedly “moved on” to chapter books.
Keeping my eye out for this one.
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Diversity in Kid's Lit -- 110 and Counting.
Inspired by Roxane Gay at The Rumpus, here’s a long old list of writers and illustrators bringing more diversity to kid’s lit. And I promise you, it is not complete.
1. Taro Yashima, picture book writer and illustrator 2. Sherman Alexi, YA 3. Karen Katz, picture book writer and illustrator 4. Lenore Look, chapter book writer 5. LeUyen Pham, illustrator 6. Jacqueline Woodson, writer...
Who's into poetry?
heyteenbookshey:
I’m into poetry. My favorite poets are Sharon Olds, Syvlia Plath and Gwendolyn Brooks. Also John Donne, which I don’t understand.
-Becky
Are you into poetry? Who’s your favorite poet?
Lucille Clifton Mary Oliver Francisco X. Alarcon
“White supremacy is the great silence of our world, and in it is embedded much of...”
– Junot Diaz (via sonofbaldwin)
