Throwback Thursday: Walter Dean Myers

Very recently, a nephew came to live with me.  He’s quiet, stays in his room, and basically comes downstairs to eat and hang out in the backyard.  Most of the time, his earbuds are in, and therefore I believed he didn’t want to have a face-to-face conversation.  One day, he was sitting at the counter [ Read the full article… ]

Maryland author gives reasons why YA is the new hotness

Be sure to check out Paula Chase-Hyman’s interview in The Examiner about why YA is the new hotness. From the article: Reason #5. YA novels enable their young readers to process problems and situations from a safe distance. They show how someone the reader’s age would deal with problems that are typical for that reader’s [ Read the full article… ]

3rd Annual KidLitosphere Conference

Do you blog about children’s and young adult books? Are you interested in blogging about children’s and YA books? Maybe you should attend the 3rd Annual KidLitosphere Conference. From the website: The Kidlitosphere Conference is an annual gathering of the Society of Bloggers in Children’s and Young Adult Literature. The 2009 conference will take place [ Read the full article… ]

YALSA’s Best Books for Young Adults

Every year, the American Library Association compiles a list of the Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA). Each month, the BBYA committee, made up of members of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) updates the consideration list. As of April 3, 2008, two novels by African-American authors have made the consideration list: Conception (St. [ Read the full article… ]

Required Reading

I was going to make a post today about the importance of ethnicity-based literary awards, such as the Coretta Scott King Awards. Instead, I’ve decided to post links to two articles about that very subject. In his article, “Slippery Slopes and Proliferating Prizes” (Horn Book Magazine, May/June 2001) Marc Aronson (then editor and publisher of Cricket Books) discusses [ Read the full article… ]