I'm on readergirlz (web site readergirlz and readergirlz blog) all month, answering questions and appearing on a live chat on December 16. You might want to stop by and, while you're there, check out the other writers, books, and discussions covered by readergirlz. I've been there before, and it's a fun place!

(Before you get outraged, the Advanced Reader's Copies, or ARCs, for the rest of this year's books have already reached Publishers Weekly, so they aren't jumping the gun. They have read this year's books.)

Here's their list for teen and tween fiction:


Wintergirls
Laurie Halse Anderson (Viking)
A powerful exploration of anorexia, dysfunction and death, Anderson's story of a friendship ripped apart is moving and haunting.

Going Bovine
Libba Bray (Delacorte)
An angel, a dwarf, cults, wormholes and mad cow disease all factor into the surreal cross-country road trip that teenage Cameron takes, in a satirical story that's as memorable as it is funny.

Fire
Kristin Cashore (Dial)
Introducing Fire, a human “monster” with psychic abilities, this companion novel to Graceling expands the scope of Cashore's fantasy world and offers twists, intrigue and romance aplenty.

Catching Fire
Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
This much-awaited sequel to Collins's dystopian bestseller, The Hunger Games, doesn't disappoint; it's immersive, voracious reading as the ramifications of Katniss's actions in that book spread.

If I Stay
Gayle Forman (Dutton)
Masterful characterizations make the tragedy at the core of this novel all the more devastating, as narrator Mia weighs the decision to live or die.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Jacqueline Kelly (Holt)
With a detailed, evocative setting and an authentic, relatable protagonist, this turn of the century coming-of-age novel teems with humor, spirit, and energy.

Purple Heart
Patricia McCormick (HarperCollins/Balzer & Bray)
This timely and provocative thriller, with a teenage American soldier at its center, is a nuanced exploration of war, heroism, and morality.

The Ask and the Answer
Patrick Ness (Candlewick)
Set on a planet colonized by men and now wracked with strife, Ness's sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go entwines themes of sexism, terrorism, genocide and human nature, while bringing the action to a fever pitch.

A Season of Gifts
Richard Peck (Dial)
The singular Mrs. Dowdel from A Year Down Yonder and A Long Way from Chicagobrings humor and heart to this holiday story; as ever, Peck's writing has a comforting, evergreen quality.

When You Reach Me
Rebecca Stead (Random/Lamb)
Every syllable feels rich with meaning in this atmospheric mystery involving a girl, her former best friend, and her mother, set in 1970s New York City.

Shiver
Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press)
Lyrical and thoughtful, this paranormal romance between a girl and a werewolf offers wit, an intriguing mythology, and dual (but equally honest and compelling) narratives.

Marcelo in the Real World
Francisco X. Stork (Scholastic/Levine)
Artfully crafted characters form the heart of this riveting novel about a 17-year-old with Asperger's syndrome, who grapples with issues of ethics, love, and other real-life conflicts.

Tales from Outer Suburbia
Shaun Tan (Scholastic/Levine)
Tan proves that his prose is every bit as hypnotic as his artwork in this wondrous collection that reveals the banality and strangeness of the suburbs.

Lips Touch: Three Times
Laini Taylor, illus. by Jim Di Bartolo (Scholastic/Levine)
In lush prose, Taylor offers three utterly captivating stories, each centered on a kiss; comic book–style prequels from Di Bartolo, her husband, add to the enchantment.

The Uninvited
Tim Wynne-Jones (Candlewick)
In this thriller about a college student uncovering twisted family secrets, Wynne-Jones expertly draws his characters and setting while ramping up the tension and the creepiness.

I don't think it's going to surprise anyone that I am VERY happy about this list. I've never seen a list with so many books I absolutely love: Wintergirls, Fire, Catching Fire, When You Reach Me, and When You Reach Me. (Libba, I swear, I'll read Going Bovine soon! I'm a rat for not reading it before now!) I think all of these titles are going to be around for a long time--all are unusual, all have meanings that will occur to the reader long after s/he puts them down, and all of them will haunt you until you find yourself re-reading them in college and beyond.

I didn't include the younger readers' list or the nonfiction list: here's the link to those. And if you want the link to the much more controversial adult list (no women writers on it!), here is that link as well.

This is why I prefer kidlit.

Today's Election Day, and you have a big one on your plates: Question 1.

It would be very nice for the GLBT folks and those of us who care about them if Maine votes a resounding NO! on this one, but vote in any case. It's not just the every-four-year votes that decide the fate of Americans.

If you aren't registered: you can register at the polls in Maine.

Okay, this was just too cool not to a cloth woven of spider silk. Not just any old spider silk, either, but a special kind of silk from the six varieties spun by a particular spider, the golden orb-weaving spider.

I don't think I'm going to try it. Apparently one way to get the strongest silk they produce is to reach to their spinnerets and pull it out, putting it on a drop spindle. These spiders bite. I will keep my distance!

Tell them, "That's funny, because the Nazis on the Russian front were scared of us!"



I do not lie. The female Soviet pilots called the "night witches" were the terror of the German army. Today more and more people are learning of these brave women, specialists of the night sky. How cool of the BBC to show these slides, and to air this broadcast, available the week of November 2.

Well, economics.

Elinor Ostrom becomes the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, together with fellow American Oliver Williamson, both for separate work in economic governance. According to the BBC, her work "had demonstrated how common property could be successfully managed by groups using it."

Ostrom told BBC TV that she hopes other women will emulate her success. I congratulate her on hers. You go, Math Girl!

Sarah Beth Durst (INTO THE WILD, OUT OF THE WILD) has a new book out today, which I got to read in manuscript form. It's called ICE, and it's a retelling of the Polar Bear King.

Cassie has been raised on the ice, and she is planning to become an ice scientist, like her dad and her friends, and her vanished mother. And then she meets the bear. The Bear, the Polar Bear King, who tells her that her mother is alive, held captive by his enemies, and that he will save her if Cassie becomes his wife.

Here begins Cassie's great adventure, one that takes her across the tundra and the waters of the north, into the great ice castle with its wonders, into the bed of a man she never sees by daylight, only the bear. She learns from him how there are creatures who protect the denizens and the places of the world, spirit rulers like him who are fighting and dying to save their charges. And she learns love for the husband she betrays. Now she must find him and save her mother, dealing with the mysterious inhabitants of her husband's world and a destination that is on no maps at all.

I loved it. I spent the whole time I read it wrapped up in a blanket; it made me feel so cold! My muscles ached when Cassie's did, and I think any reader will be caught up in the unbearable tension of the last third of ICE!

and with it, the Beka Cooper trilogy,

I want a sheet cake with the following on the icing:
a colon
a semi-colon
an em-dash
an en-dash
ellipses
parentheses

because these are the things I can hardly ever use and SHOULDN'T ever use in this trilogy because Beka wouldn't know them!!!!

A sheet cake. Lemon, maybe, with marshmallow or cream frosting. But definitely with those symbols.

Yep.

Edited to add

AND HYPHENS! HOW COULD I FORGET HYPHENS?!!!!

a day late, but it's still a New Year for my Jewish friends!

May the New Year bring serenity, bounty, and friendship to you and yours.

Yes, yes, yes!

Katie Reyes has become the first girl to become a game winner in the Little League World Series! She hit three runs, had two runs batted in (RBIs) and caught the game's final out! Katie is one of two girls at this year's LL World Series, including her series roommate, Bryn Stonehouse of Saudi Arabia (originally from Texas).

You go, girls!

You wrote to me about boys who said girls were weak, and I said I would get back to you soon. Unfortunately, my husband put a new hard drive into my computer and installed Windows 7 and a new copy of Earthlink. I found out I HATED Windows 2007, and so he wiped the new hard drive, reinstalled it, reinstalled Windows XP, and reinstalled Earthlink. Earthlink doesn't hang onto mail like other systems, so . . . I lost your address, which was attached to your mail! I have your mail, which I kept forwarding to other systems so I wouldn't lose it, but it didn't keep your e-mail address.

I hop you look at this lj, because otherwise I will have to post this on my webpage, and I will feel like a bigger dork than I am. I am so very sorry. I have been trying for the last week to find your address (on the new drive, on the old drive, on any version of my mail) without success.

signed,
Tammy the Dork

It's performed by a woman called Heather Dale. There's a clip here, and you can download it for a dollar, and it's called "One of Us," and it's about lady knights! It is SO AWESOME I am splitting at my seams! Heather Dale, I love you! filkferengi, I owe you a dinner for introducing me to this!

I'm going to listen to it over and over and over and over. . . .

"She was not the biggest fighter
Nor one to raise a fuss
But I remember being proud that she was one of us
And we might never stand together in a shield wall side by side
Because of her I raise my sword with pride."

See, there was this little black and white cat who, though he wore a leather spiked collar, we decided was a stray, because he was so skinny he showed ribs, and he slurped up whole dishes of food on our porch. We named him Sluggo, for the spiked collar. He'd been coming around for about six months when I saw the big red tumor in his right ear. I knew he wouldn't let me catch him, but it was making me depressed.

Then, I guess when he got too sick to care, he parked in our driveway and waited for us to come get him.




He's a her, but we're still calling her Sluggo, because it's stuck. The tumor was removed; it's benign. She's got cat scratch disease, and she's getting medicine for that. She is a loving, loving little girl, and she is starting to put on weight and grow. It's amazing how soon they start to grow when they're not starving. We can't see her ribs anymore.

And she has a nice, deep, booming voice. You know how we know?

She just went into heat.

Like Calvera says in The Magnificent Seven (film), "Sooner or later you must answer for every good deed."

As soon as she's out of heat and fixed, we are finding a home for her.

Books to look for this summer and fall

I know I don’t usually do any kind of mid-year list, but there are some really good books coming out this summer and fall that I want to share (okay, some of them are already out). August can be a really long month—why suffer from boredom? Here we go, publication dates where I have them, in no particular order of preference:


Anderson, Laurie Halse, WINTERGIRLS: it’s been out a while, but I read it last month; contemporary with a fantasy surprise; the bottom line story is that of two friends who have battled eating disorders

Black, Holly & Castellucci, Cecil, editrixes, GEEKSTASTIC (anthology): out now; stories and comics to help you get your inner gamer geek, cosplay geek, computer geek, TV geek, whatever geek on and how to deal with other geeks! It’s great fun!

Vaught, Susan, BIG FAT MANIFESTO: this is a contemporary book about Jamie, a fat girl who’s writing a school news column as Fat Girl, dealing with issues, media, shopping, and everyday social life that revolves around fat issues and people in a very in-your-face manner, forcing others to see obvious bigotry. It’s very complex and thought-provoking. It’s got one thing I’m not sure rings true, but you’ll have to decide that for yourselves. It came out last year, but I only dug it out of the pile yesterday, and I think it’s great.

Chima, Cinda Williams, THE DEMON KING (10/09): this is the first book of a new trilogy by the author of the Heir series (the first book WARRIOR HEIR), set in a new world. Wizards are causing trouble, and a reformed thief, a warrior, and a battle trained princess chafing at her traditional role may be all that stands between their homes and war.

Durst, Sarah Beth, ICE (Fall 09): the author of INTO THE WILD and OUT OF THE WILD has done an exquisite retelling of “The Back of the North Wind,” with a female hero who has lived her life in Arctic conditions, a Bear King who rules the souls of his realm in the north, and a hard-hearted father-in-law. The dangers are natural and unnatural, and Sarah describes the beauties so well that I wanted to head on north right away, until she reminded me of the temperatures!

Fletcher, Charlie, SILVERTONGUE: the last book in the Stoneheart trilogy came out in April, winding up the battle between George, Edie, their friends among the human-like statues of London, the inhuman statues, and the great and ancient powers of the city. I’d recommend this to anyone who liked China Miéville’s UN LUN DUN.

Kaye, Marilyn OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND and BETTER LATE THAN NEVER (the Gifted series): book 3 comes out in October, curse it! In a high school Gifted class, the students discover their own secret is the same as that of their classmates—they each have psychic gifts. Amanda, spoiled princess, is the doorway character who becomes the person she feels sorry for, first invisible girl Tracey (thus OUT OF SIGHT . . .), then medium David (he speaks to dead people). Jenna, tough child of an alcoholic mother, teams with Amanda to find out her secret and fill out the books—she’s a mind reader whose runaway father shows up in the second book. They’re great reads, but they go fast!

Mantchev, Lisa, EYES LIKE STARS: out now. Okay, the theater is alive. Infinitely expandable, it holds every scene, every script, every character, of every play ever performed, in every variation and interpretation. And as long as none of the characters escape, it will go on that way. Only one mortal lives there, among the faeries on wires and the handsome pirate lads. Bertie must come up with a new and effective way to perform “Hamlet,” or she’s out of the Theatre Illuminata, losing her home. And oh, joy—it’s Book One!

Mitchell, Saundra SHADOWED SUMMER: this book came out in February, but I love it too much not to mention it. Besides it’s set in the summertime. It’s also the best, shiveriest ghost story I have read in a long, long time. When it comes to describing a small, Southern town, I would happily put SHADOWED SUMMER right next to Harper Lee’s pretty-near-perfect TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. The scenes, the people, the voices, are that clear; the heat, the storms, the shivers that come from a hysterically angry ghost are that clingy. It’s about two girls on the edge of growing up, both in the physical sense and in the mental and moral senses, and about a town’s dark secrets.

Peterfreund, Diana RAMPANT (8/09): Almost here! Almost here! I will only put it this way, okay? Try . . . Buffy, the Vampire Slayer meet killer unicorns. I mean killers. Vicious, slaughtering, bloody-hoofed, razor-horned unicorns, who supposedly vanished, except, well, they didn’t. }8-D

Sherman, Delia THE MAGIC MIRROR OF THE MERMAID QUEEN: Neef of CHANGELING is back and attending school with—ulp!—fellow humans who have grown up under the faerie system. And their school is just as whack as the homes they come from, with blond, perfect girls who scheme to be the best liked, with the most stars on their school sweaters (for achievements), so they can serve the Park Avenue or Fashion District Geniuses, diplomats-to-be, and people too strange for even Neef. She doesn’t fit in, and now she finds herself on quest again, to return the mirror she stole on her last quest! This time, though, she’s going to need help, from her classmates. Can she learn to ask her fellow students for aid? It’s a wild romp and a school story in one, and it’s great fun!

Simner, Janni Lee BONES OF FAERIE: it came out last year and I already devoted a lj entry of its own to this, but just a reminder, in case you haven’t read it already!

Stead, Rebecca WHEN YOU REACH ME: this is just published, by the author of FIRST LIGHT, which I also loved. This one takes place in New York City, as Miranda mourns the loss of her lifelong best friend Sal. She doesn’t know why Sal has ditched her, only that he has, and that she needs a new friend. She also begins to receive notes that predict future events, notes that change her life.

Stevermer, Caroline MAGIC BELOW STAIRS: I’m not sure when exactly this will be out, but it’s a wonderful romp! An orphan boy gets work at the house of a wealthy wizard, where he learns that he is being followed by a helpful brownie, and that some of his own skills are quite out of the common way. As he advances in service and makes friends among the staff, he comes to realize that his master and mistress are under attack by forces turned loose by foes now dead, and that it may take magic of a very no-nonsense kind to keep them safe!

Stiefvater, Maggie BALLAD (10/09): like LAMENT, this is another tale of romance shadowed by the terror of the dark faerie. James, one of the characters in LAMENT, is a piper at a music conservatory with his best friend Deirdre. Nuala is a faerie muse who offers him brilliance and success in return for his energy—all of it. And the dark faery are after Nuala, Deirdre, and James. The love stories—James’ for Deirdre, Nuala’s skewed desire for him and his music—are powerful, and the risk is dark and shivery.
SHIVER (8/09): here’s another Stiefvater tight, tense, love story between Grace—bitten by a werewolf years ago, she somehow survived, but never lost her fascination for them—and Sam—he’s been a werewolf more weeks each year, a human less, and now he is on the verge of being a wolf forever. Stiefvater pegs the temperature to the head of each chapter, so while you shiver you’re also aware of how cold it is. It brings home the thin edge of time before the cold forces Sam’s final change on him. What will happen to this odd pair, when they’ve been watching one another for years, if Sam can’t remember as a human anymore? What will happen to Sam, and his pack, if the forces in town who are determined to kill the local wolves, find out the truth?
I think TWILIGHT fans should take a look at Stiefvater’s books, including LAMENT. The romances are rich and taught; the girls are strong and have lives beyond the romantic relationship, and the guys are shown to be as fumbling inside as we feel. Moreover, the dramatic tension can sometimes be well-nigh unbearable! If you like TWILIGHT, I think you will love these!

Summers, Gillian THE SECRET OF THE DREAD FOREST: Keelie now has no choice: she is going to the great northwestern redwood forest that is the home of the elves and her dreaded grandmother, who has made it clear that she is not at all happy about her half-human grandchild. Her father is too busy to pay much attention to her, and her old Ren Faire enemy, Eliora, wants to be friends. There are interesting things happening to occupy Keelie’s time: a handsome young vampire, and the care of a new queen tree who is very demanding. Knot the faery cat is his usual rotten self (I love Knot). And it seems that some elves have worked dark magic to shore up their fading power. Some questions about things Keelie can do are answered in this closer to the Faire Folke trilogy (THE TREE SHEPHERD’S DAUGHTER and INTO THE WILDE WOOD are the first two books). Don’t despair—there’s a new series underway!

Wrede, Patricia THIRTEENTH CHILD: I am probably going to take heat for this, but I liked this alternate history America in which the prehistoric Asians never crossed the land bridge into North America because the bridge was held by dragons. I missed the Native Americans, but I found the striving of colonists who had to deal with prehistoric wildlife and magical beasts fascinating. This is an America in which Asian and African magic systems are taught along with European ones, though many Europeans don’t get them easily. It’s also an America in which, if the seventh son of a seventh son is doubly lucky for himself and his family, what is said of the thirteenth daughter? She is believed to be a curse child and treated badly until her parents take her and those younger members of the family out to the frontier. It’s there that she starts to come into her own. This book stirred up a lot of heat on the Internet. I think you should read it and decide for yourself what you think about it.

Zink, Michelle PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS: speaking of good creepy stuff! In each generation of one family is born sisters, one of whom is the gate which keeps evil souls from entering the world, and one of whom is the summoner, who tries to call them into it. Both have a mark on their skin, and neither of them knows which position they fill. Lia and Alice try to find out who is who in the course of the book, while recovering from the death of their father. They are under siege from servants of good and evil, at home and even in the school they have to attend. Seances given them little good information and scare Lia even further. This book is a kind of Edwardian, Gothic, Biblical mix—Zink is a wonderful new, dark voice!


I also want to recommend two adult writers:
Andrews, Ilona (MAGIC BITES, MAGIC BURNS, MAGIC STRIKES): magic returns, off and on, between waves of magic—so unreliable. The citizens of Atlanta survive, somehow. That includes Kate Daniels, mercenary/soldier of the Guild/mercenary of the Order, who with fearsome battle skills, a sorcerous sword, and an interesting array of magical skills, gets her butt kicked and kicks butt on a regular basis. Beginning with the loss of her mentor, Kate finds herself more and more involved in the affairs of a demi god (a crazy one), shapeshifters of all kinds (hurray! Hyenas!), vampires, zombies, monsters from the dawn of time, and pathologists. The Beast-Lord, Curran, a lion shapeshifter who rules the city’s shifters, engages in verbal battle and fraught alliances with her often, backing her up, dragging her into his battles, and making her crazy. (Just don’t say to him “Here, kitty, kitty.) (Really. Don’t. He doesn’t like it.) It’s fun, hot, full of action and mythical awe.

Strout, Anton (DEAD TO ME, sequel in the works): Simon is an ex-street kid with psychokinesis—he learns from what he touches. He’s decided to go straight, and works for the Department of Unusual Affairs in New York, tumbling into and out of love with ghosts and evil office managers. There’s lots of humor and wisecracking and people getting dented. Honestly, the writing is not stellar. But I think the Harry Potter folks will love it because I think this is what everyone does after they graduate. Seriously—this is what they do. Give it a whirl.

I hope you find some good ones here--I sure did!

This is an amazing book. I am unnerved at the way I kept managing to lose it around the house from the time it came out (when I got it) until I found it for the sixth time yesterday and chose to read it instantly before it lost itself again. It makes you wonder about things like faeries, which is nonsense! Right?

The reason I ticked sf as well as fantasy is because the characters live in a bleak and scary world, the result of a war between humans and fae. Almost all the things we taken for granted are gone--or changed. Trees are vicious and will attack and kill humans. Butterflies burst into flame without warning. Rivers call people to their doom. Vegetables fight being harvested. And in Liza's village, the taint of the Faery--clear hair, silver eyes, magic--means expulsion or death. Only three weeks before, her father, in charge of clearing magic from the town, took his brand new daughter and left her on a hilltop. In the morning only bones remained. Not long afterward, Liza's mother left him.

Liza decides, against her father's warnings and lessons, fixed in her flesh with beatings, to go in search of her mother. Though she forbids him to do it, her friend Matthew goes along, and his truth--that he is a shapeshifter--is the first of many things she will learn along the way, about the war, about other villages and how they manage, about the reality of magic and the Fae, about the future, and about her own magicless self.

The world is incredible and scary. Liz is a totally human hero, filled with doubts and bigotries she has to overcome. The book is dark, terrifying, and magnificent. If you haven't read it yet, go forth and do so! ;-)

Believe it or not, Tim and I have been following all of your suggestions and making copies for us to go over when plans for the book are formalized. I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU!!!! to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to post.

I've already gotten a number of the companion books you've mentioned, too--they've been a big help!

Many, many thanks--you guys are the best!

Tammy

Some years ago, a woman named Rachel Kauder Nalebuff approached me about doing an essay about my first period for a book she wanted to have published. She told me it was going to be about women's first periods, about a lot of different women's personal experiences, to be shared with anybody who wanted to learn about it, deal with their own first times, and discover this happens to a lot of people in different ways. She didn't have a publisher at the time, but she was positive that she would find one. Talking to her, I believed she would find one, too, so I wrote a short essay about my own first period, from when my mother still had a grip on things and had taught me what to expect.



MY LITTLE RED BOOK was published in February 2009.

It's a great book, for girls just learning about menstruation and for women looking to see what kinds of experience other women had when they encountered this particular step toward adulthood. You also get to see a new face of a favorite author: Rachel got writers like Erica Jong, Gloria Steinem, Cecily von Zeigesar, Meg Cabot, and me to contribute. There are stories from all over the world and over the last seventy years, showing how times and attitudes change.

Give it to a friend for her birthdays, bridal, or baby shower. Give it to a mom who helped you through those first strange days, or the girlfriend who gave you a better way to look at it. Give it to a guy who's just moved in with his first girlfriend, or a young father with his first daughter. Take the last shame off our periods!

I know this is probably a HUGE mistake ;-) but,
a number of you mentioned you had things you would like to see in the projected Tortall companion.

Well, now might be a good time. WAIT!!!!!

DO ME A FAVOR. Check the entries previous to yours to see if someone else has already made the suggestion you're about to make. If someone has, just add "me, too" or something like it so we know there's a demand for that thing.

Remember I'm still working on MASTIFF and this will go easier if I don't have to wait through a thousand posts!

But seriously, suggest what you would like to see. We can't promise anything, but we'll listen!

Since I can't thank everyone who chimed in with advice on companion books individually and still have time to write, can I thank you all as a group? I was really starting to get depressed over how little I could find, and thanks to you we've already added five more books to our stockpile, and everyone is going over at least one. (More companion books are on order.)

This was the most tremendous help! Thank you so much!

I know it's small of me, but I would feel so much more confidence in people who write advice on horses, weapons, warcraft, etc., on the internet, if they spelled the words of the area in which they are supposed to be experts correctly. It's hard to take horse facts seriously when the headline reads "Hoses distances."