YA Lit, and Why Everyone Should Read It

Maureen Johnson brought my attention to a great post this morning on In The Library With The Lead Pipe by Gretchen Kolderup, a YA librarian, about everything that’s great about the category, and why people should read it. It’s a long post, but well worth your time. I just wanted to pull out [...]

Filled Under: Slushpile

More on Parenting and Reading

Yesterday saw two YA authors on NPR debating the issue of whether YA is too dark with the author of several essays in the Wall Street Journal that high-handedly suggested that they are. Over and over over the course of an hour and a half of these debates, I listened to people talk about how [...]

Filled Under: Slushpile

Ask Daphne! About Older Characters

Vintage shoes today for Leslie, who asks:
I have a new book idea, and before I outline, I’d like your thoughts. The MC is 16, but there is an older adult that factors heavily in the premise. If I have a couple chapters where it’s the older woman’s POV, is the book still considered YA, or [...]

Filled Under: Ask Daphne!

Who’s Your Audience?

Sometimes it seems like every query I receive is for the same book — or, more truthfully, the same audience. And I just KNOW that’s not true. For one thing, it seems statistically unlikely, for another, I know that there’s room in publishing for lots of different books, and I’m sure you know [...]

Filled Under: Slushpile

Ask Daphne! About My Query XXXXI

In honor of my adventures on the slopes today, a par of ski boots to see us into the weekend! And an AMQ post from Lisa, which I’m going to once again ask my incredibly intelligent (and likely less-muscle fatigued) readers to critique first. Ready? Let’s go!
Dear Ms. Unfeasible,
A mystical book transports a great-grandfather back [...]

Filled Under: Ask Daphne!