News: June 2008 Archives

Ellen's already shared this good news over at her blog, but The Unnameables has been picked up by the Junior Library Guild and will be featured in its catalogue as of October 2008. Woot!

It's been a busy few days around kt literary headquarters, and I have loads of news and links to share with you. So let's get to it!

• Seventeen's Summer Book Club is featuring Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
• Teen and tween librarian Green Bean Teen Queen reviewed Alyson Noel's Cruel Summer
• The Bermudez Triangle by MJ is available as an audio download from Audible. Hear the book that was banned in Oklahoma!
• On July 13th in Hollywood, Alyson Noel will be participating in the first ever Rock n' Read Festival. More details on the website or on Alyson's blog.
• On a sad note, Tasha Tudor passed away on Wednesday. I loved her illustrations of The Secret Garden.
• The famed and fabulous dancer Cyd Charisse also passed away last week. If you're not a musical geek like me, you may know the name as the movie star the main character of Rachel Cohn's Gingerbread is named for. (Not a kt literary client, but still an awesome book.)

And I think that's a good start to a Monday! More soon, including a recap of the panel I spoke on at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop Lit Fest this past weekend.

Cuidad Magazine shares their thoughts on Alyson Noel's Cruel Summer. In brief:

Noel convincingly captures Colby's self-transformation as the character comes full circle and realizes that perhaps instead of fighting life and all the things out of her control, she should let go and embrace them. Through the typing fingers of Colby Cavendish, Noel teaches her readers that all the years of suffering through teenage awkwardness are just a phase and, in the end, if a person allows it, she can learn more about herself than she ever thought possible

Like many agents, I regularly get email links to sites that mention my authors, my agency, or myself. Today I found this nice mention of SAVING ZOE by Alyson Noel, from author Amanda Ashby, and this review of DEVILISH by Maureen Johnson from Trashionista. But I also love to follow the references and see where they lead, hoping to find something great to post about. (Because if you think coming up with a daily post is easy, you're a wee bit insane!) So today I was thrilled to follow another mention of Maureen Johnson to this wonderful list of Reasons to Write YA, from aspiring author Mary Danielson. I'm not necessarily sure I agree with every reason she lists, but it's definite food for thought.

What about you? What are YOUR reasons to write YA? Or for any other age range or genre? The comments are open!

Something odd seems to be happening around the world in Australia, where new kt literary client Lili Wilkinson is blogging. I do hope it doesn't come here. It's all very weird.

Be safe, Lili. We're thinking of you.

Confessions of a Bibliovore read Josie Bloss' BAND GEEK LOVE for Mother Reader's 48-Hour Book Challenge, and posted her review here. How did you do on your reading this weekend? Don't forget -- whoever comments today on my previous post about the challenge with the highest number of books read this past weekend wins a galley of THE UNNAMEABLES!

I was thrilled to be listed recently on The Book Lady's blog as a Agent Blog to read -- in such grand company as Nathan Bransford and Kristin Nelson. Thanks, Lady! I continually strive to offer super useful information with a dose of whimsy and my personal (shoe) style, and I'm truly pleased to be recognized for it.

Alyson Noel's visit to the Fontana library gets a glowing write-up in a local paper. My favorite part:

But it has been only three years since Noel, the tall, trendy, bubbly author from Laguna Beach, has been delivering readers her fiction novels that depict teenagers and their real-life struggles.

I can certainly confirm this -- Alyson is, in fact, tall, trendy, AND bubbly. And you should see her shoes!

A few more reviews and links to kt literary books and authors in the news. First, readergirlz is featuring GIRL AT SEA by Maureen Johnson for June with a nifty video.
Reviews for SUITE SCARLETT are also up at Chicago Kids Bookstore and More and on Miss Erin's blog. Also, don't miss this great interview with Alyson Noel over at A Slice of Orange. Meanwhile, Trish has a new title for her new book and Ellen's back from Blighty!