It's that time of year again, time for the CYBILS, Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards 2009!An impressive crop of kidlit bloggers has come together to make this event happen, including many of the terrific folks we met at last year's kidlit blogger conference (click here for info on this year's conference, November in... Continue Reading →
Word count for novels and children’s books
Chuck Sambuchino has what he calls the definitive post on word counts for children's books and novels. The most important thing here is to realize that there are always exceptions to these rules. And man, people love to point out exceptions - and they always will. However, if there is one thing I remember from... Continue Reading →
Why is no one ever accused of promoting wizardcraft?
I found this link on the New Yorker book blog; it refers to a new memoir written by a former Bush speechwriter about why administration officials didn't want to give J.K. Rowling the Medal of Freedom.The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civil award, and is given to individuals who have contributed to:... Continue Reading →
Darcy Pattison’s retreat wrapup
Darcy Pattision writes: "At the AR-SCBWI fall retreat this weekend, Alexandra Penfold, Associate Editor of S&S took us through a discussion of first pages of our novel mss. She commented on the pages, then opened the discussion for other comments or questions. Here are some observations on the discussions (Note: these should in no way... Continue Reading →
The business of publishing evolves
Business Week reports on the gradual affection the publishing industry has for the Internet. It's worrisome how slow they've taken to the biggest revolution in print since Gutenberg (the press, not the Three Men and a Baby actor). But at least revenue is up in the first half of 2009:Book publishers are learning to love... Continue Reading →
Elizabeth Blake has a new website
I snagged this fine illustration from the snazzy new website of our colleague Elizabeth Blake. Check out the rest of her work here.
Writing characters of a different race
Justine Larbalestier, author of LIAR, HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY, and other novels, posted this weekend about the issues that arise when you're white and you write about a character who isn't. She has good advice on why you might do this and how to handle the inevitable criticism.Every single book I’ve published has displeased... Continue Reading →
Classes with Margaret Nevinski
Children's Book Author Margaret Nevinski will be teaching the following classes this fall:Writing for ChildrenDo you have an idea for a children's book? Do you want to write for children but don't know where to start? Published children's book author Margaret Nevinski, with an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, leads this class... Continue Reading →
Upcoming Book Events
Wendy Wahman will read "Don't Lick the Dog" Third Place Books, Saturday, September 26, 10:10 AM Lake Forest Sat the 26th at 10:15Bonny Becker (author of A Visitor for Bear): Book Signing - Barnes & Noble Saturday, September 26, 12:00 PM 300 Andover Park W Suite 200, Tukwila WA 98188Janet Lee Carey (author of Dragon's... Continue Reading →
This week in censorship
Just in time for Banned Books Week, Ellen Hopkins was barred from visiting a middle school in Norman, OK after a parent complained that CRANK--the semiautobiographical story about her daughter's addiction to crystal meth--was inappropriate for kids.The full account is on School Library Journal, which has a link to Ellen's blog and her perspective.This is... Continue Reading →