The Stonewall Award is “given annually to English-language children’s and young adult books of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience”, and we’re thrilled that they included Pink on the Honor list. For the complete list of winners, check out the ALA’s press release.

In other news, congrats to Maureen Johnson, whose The Name of the Star was nominated for an Edgar Award for Young Adult. Woot!

And finally, Matthew Cody picked a winner for the signed copy of The Dead Gentleman I’m giving away. And the winner is… @theoriginaledi! Edi, send me an email with your mailing address, and I’ll get Matt to sign a copy for you! Add a comment below if you’d like any specific personalized message.

Congrats to ALL the winners!

Two young New Yorkers from different eras unite to save the world from an invasion of zombies led by an elegant, corpse-wearing darkling. Shuttling among worlds, times, and points of view, Cody chronicles the recruitment of Tommy, a street urchin from 1901, into a wormhole-traveling Explorer’s Society menaced by the powerful and mysterious Dead Gentleman. Guided by a device that can peer through time, Tommy contacts 12-year-old Jezebel a century into his future and tasks her with protecting an enigmatic clockwork bird that holds the key to the Gentleman’s ability to conquer our planet. Despite all the quick changes and fortuitous coincidences, readers will enjoy watching the two quarreling protagonists take on zombies and other creepy-crawlies on the way to a fiery, if inconclusive, air battle over the Hudson River. Chucking in elements of steampunk, Jules Verne, and Edgar Rice Burroughs along with vampires, three-armed aliens, inscrutable monks, closet monsters, and even dinosaurs, Cody pays tribute to classic adventure authors and genres here as he dishes up an exciting time-travel tale.

I’d love to share a personally autographed copy of The Dead Gentleman with one of you. For a chance to win, just leave a comment below with a brief description of where you would go if you could travel anywhere in time (past, present, or future) or space (alternate worlds, ahoy!). I’ll pick one winner on Monday after I return from ALA Midwinter.

EDITED TO ADD: As per his comment below, Matt’s upped the stakes and offered to sign the winner’s copy!

Maureen’s The Name of the Star is #8 on the Top Ten list, with this great blurb:

Louisiana teen Rory Deveaux arrives in London to attend Wexford Academy just as a series of Jack the Ripper copycat murders grips the city. Rory may hold the key to finding the murderer. A ghost story with a twist, this is sophisticated and sassy, with more than enough suspense to keep you madly turning pages. I can’t wait for the next book!

Thanks, Joanne R. Fritz of Chester County Book & Music Company, West Chester, PA!

Matt’s The Dead Gentleman is a pick on the Ages 9-12 list, with this write-up from Ellen Klein of Hooray for Books! in Alexandria, VA:

This fantastic time-travel tale with a scary twist is great for reading with a flashlight under your bedcovers! While exploring the mysterious basement of a New York City hotel, 12-year-old Jezebel Lemon encounters the ‘ghost’ of Tommy Learner, a time-traveler from the 19th century. Together, they must thwart the evil Dead Gentleman, who wants to kill every living thing on Earth. Their desperate mission takes them to places you can only begin to imagine!

And last, but certainly not least, more love on the Teen list for Steph’s Lola and the Boy Next Door, with this fun blurb from Jenny Cohen of Waucoma Bookstore in Hood River, OR:

Familiar characters Anna and St. Clair appear in this companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss. Lola, who wears outrageous, fun outfits, thinks she has the perfect life with her family and hot rocker boyfriend. But then her old next door neighbors, the Bell twins, move back into their house. Cricket Bell, ‘the boy next door,’ was one of her good friends growing up, and Lola finally has to deal with her feelings for him. As in her previous novel, Perkins accurately describes what it is like to be a teenager and the angst of figuring out a relationship.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m using this list as a great source of ideas for Christmas presents!

It came out of my love of a certain kind of fiction (see above) but it also came from a childhood fear of mine — the closet door. My older brothers used to tease me about this, but I was convinced that my bedroom closet hid all sorts of monsters and baddies. (It didn’t help that my closet also led to the attic. Double-threat, there!) After finishing Powerless, I was looking around for my next project and talking with my editor about several possible things I wanted to work on — a historical fiction, a steampunk adventure — but none of them really grabbed me (or my editor!). But then I got to thinking about that closet door again, the closed closet door at night, and how universal that image was and I knew I needed to do something with it. In the end that idea kind of pollinated the steampunk book I was toying around with and The Dead Gentleman was born.

Check out the full interview!

But what about since then? A search of my query mailbox shows 2,130 queries received and responded to since July, with another hundred or so that went right to my spam folder. I requested 41 partials, which is a better average than the first half of the year, but does include material from a conference, as well as just emails. And I asked for three full manuscripts.

So who did I say yes to? Well, I signed Erin Danehy in July, with a YA urban fantasy. And I may have more news to share next week, on something I’ve been asking for all year. We’ll see.

But roughly, you’re looking at .04% odds. And… wow. That’s tough. It’s stark, seeing those numbers. But you know what? I’m still looking. Ok, not right now — any queries received after midnight tonight will be deleted unread. But I have no doubt that next spring, when I reopen to queries, I will be starving for something great to read, and I have no doubt you guys can bring it.

What other stats can I share that may be of interest? I closed new domestic deals for Josie Bloss, Matthew Cody, Trish Doller, Stephanie Perkins, and Ransom Riggs, plus several more that I’m excited to officially announce soon. I finalized foreign deals for rights in Chinese (both simplified and complex characters), Croatian, Germany, Hungarian, Indonesian, Portuguese (in Brazil), and Australia and the UK, and closed on a film option for Matthew Cody’s Powerless.

We got some great reviews, including several stars, and a lot of love from the internets for for our books and our authors — I couldn’t be prouder. Tom Sniegoski’s Fallen series hit the New York Times bestseller list, and over a million nerdfighters heard John Green praise Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

What else? Sara Beitia’s debut The Last Good Place of Lily Odilon came out to much praise, Kater Cheek’s weekly webcomic brought chicken-related laughs, S. Terrell French’s Operation Redwood continued to win awards, Sara Raasch got a tattoo and finished college, Susan Steward went to the Kennedy Space Center as part of NASA’s TweetUp program, Daniel Blau Rogge moved back to NYC, and Amy Spalding rocked the improv stage at LA’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

And what can we look forward to? LOTS!!

January brings the release of XVI by Julia Karr, Small Persons with Wings by Ellen Booraem, and the US release of Pink by Lili Wilkinson. Looking beyond that, Spring sees the long-awaited release of The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson, the sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes, and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, while Summer brings us Carrie Harris‘ debut Bad Taste in Boys. Fall takes us to London for The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton and The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, the first in her new series, and gives us Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, Faking Faith by Josie Bloss, and The Dead Gentleman by Matthew Cody.

Plus, my own long-expected debut of BabyUn.

I can’t wait to have even more things to celebrate! In the meantime, I hope you all have a very happy, healthy, and book-filled holiday season. I’ll check in here occasionally with more news as I have it to share. Merry merry!!!

• Teens Read Too posted a great review of Albatross by Josie Bloss. In part:

ALBATROSS is a powerful, insightful novel that centers on a problem in relationships that has unfortunately become all too common. Readers will feel like the people who witness those being emotionally abused in a relationship, and want to try so hard to tell that person to get away from the abuser, but are unable to fully control the situation. Josie Bloss constructs a realistic portrayal of such frightening yet truthful experiences of abuse that will exert a passion in readers to take action when they witness or are themselves in an abusive relationship.

• Cynthia Leitich Smith of Cynsations posted an interview with Sara Beitia (who has a blog and didn’t tell her agent — bad author!)
• Matthew Cody was at NY Comic Con last weekend to moderate a panel and sign copies of Powerless. Suvudu got a video interview. And hey, speaking of Powerless, wouldn’t it make an AWESOME Cybils nominee? This blogger thinks so, and I agree!
• Finally, Ransom Riggs has a cool post up at Mental Floss about his “found snapshots” collection, and the things people write on the back of pictures. Some things never change.

Have you found anything cool on the internet lately I might have missed? Link ‘em in the comments!

Matthew Cody announced the title for his brilliant new middle grade novel — stay tuned for THE DEAD GENTLEMAN, coming to stores near you in Summer 2011!

Carrie Harris is the newest Active member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, with BAD TASTE IN BOYS due from Random House in July 2011.

ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins is already making waves ahead of its December 2010 debut from Dutton, with fabulous blurbs from Lauren Myracle and Maureen Johnson.

“Imagine a mug of rich, thick hot chocolate. Now add a swirl of sweet whipped cream. Yummy? Oui. Well, Anna and the French Kiss is richer, sweeter, and–yes–even hotter. You’re in for a very special treat.” — Lauren Myracle, New York Times bestselling author of Peace, Love & Baby Ducks and Let it Snow.

“Very sly. Very funny. Very romantic. You should date this book.” — Maureen Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of 13 Little Blue Envelopes and Scarlett Fever.

We’ve also sold German rights to ANNA, to Random House Germany. (Publishers Marketplace link, subscription required.)

Operation Redwood by S. Terrell French is on the Horn Book’s Summer Recommended Reading List.

There’s even MORE good stuff pending, but not yet ready for release. Stay tuned!

This is one of those great debates in children’s literature: should the bad guy be really and truly bad? After all, kids know there is good and evil in the world. Matthew Cody seems to side with C.S. Lewis:

“Let there be wicked kings and beheadings, battles and dungeons, giants and dragons, and let villains be soundly killed at the end of the book. Nothing will persuade me that this causes an ordinary child any kind or degree of fear beyond what it wants, and needs, to feel. For, of course, it wants to be a little frightened.”

Myself, I sometimes believe this, and other times want fairy stories where no harm is permanent and it’s all a good trick in the end.

I can confirm that Matt definitely believes this — I’ve read his next novel, and the bad guy is one you’ll not soon forget.

For myself, I come down firmly on the side of C.S. Lewis in this. And, in fact, if we’re truly talking about the original fairy tales that the watered down versions of Cinderella and Hansel & Gretel, to name a few, are based on, those tales were all about being frightened.

What do you think? I believe this debate really centers around middle grade fiction, as by the time we reach YA, our eyes have lost whatever shutters society might have put on us, and anything “evil” is pretty much evil, as in reality. And honestly, we don’t have to look any further than Harry Potter for another example of a series where the author doesn’t shield her young readers from the reality of fear and death.

To the comments! I look forward to reading your thoughts.

From the February issue of the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (which I’m pasting in its entirety since I can’t find it online elsewhere):

When his family moves to Noble’s Green, “The Safest Town on Earth,” to care for Daniel’s ailing grandmother, twelve-year-old Daniel is quite certain it is also the lamest town on Earth. That is, until he starts seeing the neighborhood kids perform some strange feats and he himself is saved from certain death by bully by his new friends’ superhuman speed and strength. Taken into the group’s confidence, Daniel learns that while the kids have seemingly unending talent now, they’ll all lose their abilities and any memory of their skills when they turn thirteen. Although as just a common dweeb he lacks any extraordinary powers, Daniel is convinced that he can save his friends from the horrific fate of normalcy, and he employs some serious detective skills to uncover the shadowy menace that robs the preteens of their abilities. Cody’s debut novel pays homage to the great Golden Age comics at every turn, from the kids’ various super skills to the maniacal bad guy driven by envy and greed. High-flying action aside, however, the heart of this story lies with Daniel, an Everykid faced with the very real obstacles offitting in, negotiating friendships with the opposite sex, and losing a loved one. His relationship with his dying grandmother is particularly poignant, and fortunately the author respects young readers enough to not provide a superhero fix but to realistically portray Daniel’s grief with both tenderness and restraint. The mystery surrounding the origins of the superpowers adds a bit of intrigue, giving this satisfjring and genre-blending read a broad appeal.

Also, Betsy Bird of Fuse #8 has posted a fantastic review — up now on Amazon, and I’ll add the link to her page when it’s updated. Here’s an excerpt:

[T]here’s a lot of room out there for good middle grade chapter books about kids with super duper abilities. “Powerless” by Matthew Cody definitely fills that void, and ends up being a fun and original story about a kid who has to keep others from ending up like himself. You know. Normal.[...]

The best thing about the book is that it doesn’t settle on being one kind of story. Sure, it’s about superheroes, but it’s also a mystery. Daniel’s hero isn’t the mysterious Johnny Noble who started all this superheroism, but Sherlock Holmes. So kids with a thing for flying and invisibility will like the book, and so will kids who just want a good whodunit. “Powerless” ends up being one of those unassuming little chapter books that may find itself getting a strong fanbase all thanks to having something for everyone. A hoot.

I hope to have even more good news to share about Matt and Powerless in the near future. Stay tuned!

Full disclosure: By my nature as a literary agent, I get a commission on sales of books by my clients, through any eventual royalties. My links to the Amazon pages of their titles also earns me a small fee, if you click through and buy a copy.