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This Week at Book Riot

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Quiet week this week over at Book Riot, but that’s because I’ve been working on something that took quite a bit of my writing power and time. But here’s what’s up:

  • Continuing my 3 On A YA Theme series with three books that feature girls who run. I could have included 100 more books, probably, so feel free to hop into the comments and add more. 

This Week at Book Riot

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Here’s a look at what I wrote this week over at Book Riot:

  • For 3 on a YA Theme I talked about an interesting trend of nail polish lines being created around YA dystopians that have (or are) hitting the big screen. The comments gave some insight into the nail polish side of it, too, though less insight into the why dystopian YA specifically. 

Recently at Book Riot

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Since I’ve changed up the biweekly “Links of Note” posts into something a little different, I haven’t been linking to some of the stuff I’ve been writing at Book Riot back over here at Stacked. Since I’ve been writing a little more over there — and soon will be adding a new regular feature I’m really excited about (I’ll get to that in a second) — I thought I’d do a roundup of what I’ve been talking about at the Riot.

  • Reading Pathways: Blake Nelson — if you’ve wanted to read any of Nelson’s work but don’t know where to begin, I’ve created a pathway into his books. These are good starting places with an idea for what he’s writing about and why you might want to pick it up. 

  • In His Own Words: Walter Dean Myers — I pulled together some of Myers’s talks, articles, and passionate pleas for books, diversity, and reading with kids in a tribute. Included is Myers’s talk at SLJ’s Day of Dialog from 2012, when he was a keynote speaker. 
  • My Grandpa, The Non-Reader — I don’t like to blog a lot of personal stuff, but I was doing some shelf rearranging in my house a few weeks ago and stumbled across my unopened copy of Marley and Me and decided it was time to talk about why that book is important to me. 
  • LEGO Stories: Your New Favorite Tumblr — Do you know about the LEGO Stories tumblr? It’s a blast. I pulled out some of my favorite LEGO stories they’ve put together. 
  • The Perfectly Shaped Treat: Literary Cookie Cutters — I went down an Etsy hole one afternoon and pulled out some bookish cookie cutters. I’m pretty positive I’m going to follow this one up with some bookish dishes at some point. I think I could build an entire literary kitchen. 
Book Fetish

I’ve been doing the Book Fetish feature for a few months, sharing responsibility with another Rioter. But now that she’s settled back into her routine, I’m giving it back over to her fully. No worries though: I still plan on writing about neat bookish things, and I’ve been asked to create my own weekly feature to take the place of doing this one. I’ll be putting together a weekly “Three on a Theme” series, featuring three YA books or YA book-related things each week that center around a single theme. It’s my hope it’ll delve into lesser-known YA, into backlist, and into fun YA stuff that isn’t what you’re already seeing everywhere. This will be in addition to the “Beyond the Bestsellers” series, which I’m still putting together semi-regularly. The series will kick off (fingers crossed) July 23 and run on Wednesdays. 
Here are the last few Book Fetish posts I’ve done. Rather thank link you to the words, you can just click on the image and get to the post because it’s more fun that way:
There are some other really exciting things on the horizon with what I’ll be doing at Book Riot, and I can’t wait to begin sharing that stuff as it comes down the pike. 

An Interview with Laurie Halse Anderson at Book Riot

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I’m so excited about a post I had at Book Riot earlier this week that I wanted to direct readers over there for the day. I got the opportunity to interview Laurie Halse Anderson. We talked about the 15th anniversary of Speak, the way that the YA world has changed over the last 15 years, how she feels about challenges to her work, and we dug into gender and the book world. Check it out.

It’s neat to get the chance to interview someone that you’ve “known” since you were a teenager. I read Speak when I was in high school, and it’s a title that has stayed with me since. As you may or may not know, Laurie and her publisher are working on the #Speak4RAINN15 campaign to raise money to help survivors of sexual violence this month. Details are on the Riot post. When I posted the piece, I made a donation (which will be matched) and I encourage anyone who can make a donation to do so, too. If you can’t, the next best thing you can do is spread the word, which also makes a difference.

I’m really proud of this interview, and I love the conversation Laurie and I were able to have. I hope you enjoy it, too!