This is a compelling look at the aftermath of a tour of duty in a war zone. The nervous awkwardness his family feels around him makes sense—he left them as a high school graduate and returns as a war-hardened Marine. While the relationship between him and Harper is meant to be the story’s focus, it is Travis’s relationship with his mom that gives depth to his character. His annoyance at her nervous chatter as they leave the airport evolves into real appreciation for her vigilance during his tour of duty and seething anger at his father for his disrespectful treatment of his mom.

And it got me thinking about other great familiar relationships in YA. So often parents or siblings are just foils for the main characters, someone for them to act out against, or argue with, or fight with, that it’s a real breath of fresh air to find a relationship between family members that feels loving. I think Scarlett and Spencer Martin in Maureen Johnson‘s Suite Scarlett and Scarlett Fever are another great example, and to call out a non-client, the entire Casson family in any of Hilary McKay’s Series about them, including Indigo’s Star and Saffy’s Angel. What are some of your favorite family relationships in YA or MG?

All winning bids will go to the Red Cross to help the victims of the tornado in Henryville, so bid for a good cause, all right?

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!

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!

And of course, my little contribution to the holiday:

When 17-year-old Dylan Mahoney naively engages in “sexting,” she becomes an Internet phenomenon and a social pariah. Isolated from her friends and family, she retreats into the blogosphere, where she happens upon an online community of home-schooled teenage girls who write about their conservative Christian faith and document the blissful domesticity of their lives. Against her better judgment, she joins this community under false pretenses and develops a special friendship with a blogger named Abigail. The extraordinary set of events that ensue are at once outlandish and absolutely believable, thanks to Bloss’s compelling, down-to-earth prose. Conservative Christian characters who could easily be caricatured are multi-dimensional and complicated, and the lessons Dylan learns through her experiences with them are equally nuanced. Bloss somehow manages utter frankness and great generosity in her portrayal not only of Christian separatists, but also of typical modern families such as Dylan’s. Rather than promoting or demonizing any lifestyle, the novel illustrates how profoundly teenagers who seem to have nothing in common can connect and support each other, even as they choose very different paths.

Hooray! This is a truly exceptional novel, and I’m thrilled that PW picked up on the careful nuances of it.

There’s also more news for The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson! Another fun fan trailer, plus a great review from the Horn Book (UPDATE: It’s their Online Review of the Week!):

Upon arriving in London from Louisiana for the school year, high-school senior Rory is told that someone “pulled a Jack the Ripper” the night before. She assumes the phrase is some quaint British colloquialism she has yet to learn, not an actual reference to a gruesome murder committed on the same date—August 31—and in the same location. The smart, breezy, self-deprecating narration and textured boarding school atmosphere provide easy entrance to this increasingly eerie murder mystery in which the only sure thing is the schedule—Jack’s. On September 8, the anniversary of the Ripper’s second strike, police find another body near Wexford, Rory’s school. Johnson raises the stakes even further after Rory has a near-death experience, starts seeing people her classmates don’t, and falls in with a ragtag undercover group investigating the possibility that the murders have a paranormal explanation. Suspenseful and utterly absorbing, this first book in the Shades of London series will leave readers glad that Johnson, like her copycat killer, plans to return to the scene of the crime.

And that’s not all! We just learned this morning that Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris has been nominated and is in consideration for the Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 2012 list! Woot!

What’s going on in your lives? Any good news to share? Let’s celebrate in the comments!

Some of these you may have seen already, but there’ve been some great reviews for The Faerie Ring! You’ve already seen the reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, but Voya also chimes in with their opinion (an excerpt):

Hamilton has created likeable and engaging characters. Tiki is a strong, fiercely loyal protagonist. The plot-driven story immediately immerses readers into the underworld of old London. The early tension between Tiki and Rieker, followed by their slowly evolving romance, lends interest without overwhelming the fantastical element. The faerie clashes are exciting and mildly suspenseful. The satisfying closure enables The Faerie Ring to be a successful stand-alone novel, although this is the start of a planned series.

Mundie Moms also loved it!

The Faerie Ring is an intriguing, beautifully written, blend of historical fiction, mixed with the perfect dose of romance, mystery, and faerie lore, all set within the time period of Victorian London. I was completely enraptured with the story that I couldn’t devour this debut novel fast enough. I absolutely loved reading this! Kiki Hamilton’s writing is spellbinding and her story completely mesmerizing. The way Kiki mixed historical London with faerie lore was masterfully done, making this a truly unique YA book.

And that’s just some of the praise! Don’t miss the book trailer, which over 9,000 Facebook viewers already “liked”!

As for Lola and the Boy Next Door, you already know that School Library Journal loves it, as do Kirkus and Publishers Weekly! Did you know Stephanie is appearing TOMORROW at the Austin Teen Book Festival? Oh, for a teleporter to Texas! And after that she heads to San Francisco with Maureen Johnson, where I hear there will be pajama parties. And if you missed the release party at fantastic indie bookstore Malaprop’s in Asheville, NC, you missed a good time. Maybe I’ll start planning my trip now for ISLA’s release!

I’m also trying something new with my site, where you’ll see an ad for Lola and Anna on the sidebar on some of the pages. If you’re a book blogger or have your own website and want to include the ad, let me know! I’d be happy to share.

As for The Name of The Star, it’s been a wild week. Check out the fan trailer below, which is so creepily atmospheric, I got chills the first time I watched it.

There’s also an interview with Maureen up at Bookpage, with a bonus video, and a contest being run by her UK publisher to join Maureen on a East End walking Ripper tour, and another piece on Killer Reads. We also had a great time at the release party at Books Of Wonder in NYC on Tuesday. And we’ve already gone back to press for a second edition! So if you’re a collector, run out and make sure you buy the first edition now, and lord it over all the others who’ll have to settle for a later edition. You know you’re cool.

And *I* know you’re cool. So there’s that.

A clever, scary, little-bit-sexy beginning to a series that takes Louisiana teen Rory to London.

Rory’s parents are teaching for a year at the University of Bristol, so she gets to spend senior year at Wexford, a London boarding school. She recounts her story, from mining her colorful relatives for stories to wow her English classmates, coming to grips with heavier course loads and making a couple of fairly adorable friends. But London is soon caught up in fear, as a copycat killer has begun recreating Jack the Ripper’s bloody murders in gruesome detail. Johnson fearlessly takes readers from what seems like a cool innocent-abroad-with-iPod story to supernatural thriller, when Rory sees a man no one else does on campus the night of one of those murders. Enter a trio of young folks who are ghost hunters of a very specific sort. The tension ramps up exquisitely among cups of tea, library visits and the London Underground. The explosive ending is genuinely terrifying but never loses the wit, verve and humor that Rory carries with her throughout. While this tale does conclude, it does so with a complicated revelation that will have readers madly eager for the next installment.

Nice touches about friendship, kissing, research and the way a boy’s curls might touch his collar fully integrate with a clear-eyed look at a pitiless killer.

And have you seen the official trailer for The Name of the Star? Check it out!

And speaking of MJ’s new book, I promised a galley to one of the many fabulous commenters on my post last week, didn’t I? Let’s see who random.org thinks should win it… Congrats, Rebecca Enzor! Rebecca, email me with your mailing address, and I’ll send you your galley!

Speaking of contests, do stop by Kiki’s site for a chance to win The Faerie Ring as well as two other September releases, including Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Friend of the Blog and all-around fabulous person Laini Taylor. This one is tops on my TBR pile, for certain!