We’re taking a summer break from STACKED. Both Kimberly and I are ready for a little off-blog time to spend our summer relaxing and, well, navigating the world right now.

We will see you again in August, and in the mean time, happy reading!

The first reviews for my next anthology Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy have been coming in, and they’re incredible.

 

Here’s what Kirkus says:

Although we often take them for granted, our bodies—no matter what they look like, how we feel about them, or how others feel about them—are inherently political.

This anthology edited by Jensen contains a series of personal essays describing experiences that defined the authors’ relationships with their bodies. Avid young adult readers will recognize popular authors like I.W. Gregorio, who, in her capacity as a urologist, answers frequently asked questions about penises; Anna-Marie McLemore, who writes about struggling to get a diagnosis for their severe dysmenorrhea; Eric Smith, who discusses puberty and facial hair; and Alex Gino and Julie Murphy, who reflect on their evolving relationships with fatness. The book also includes narratives from celebrities like gold-medal–winning gymnast Aly Raisman, model Tyra Banks, musician and free-bleeding marathon runner Kiran/Madame Gandhi, and trans rights activist Gavin Grimm. Each author fully and impressively engages with their intersecting identities and the ways in which these intersections affect the way their bodies are treated by society. Taken together with short FAQ sections that address everything from the difference between body positivity and fat acceptance to respectful terms to use when discussing disability, the anthology is a comprehensive, compulsively readable guide to growing into our bodies in a politically fraught world.

A thoughtful, well-rounded anthology featuring diverse voices speaking out on essential topics. 

 

And School Library Journal is giving Body Talk a beautiful starred review:

Gr 7 Up–Jensen has collected personal narratives for a remarkable anthology that tackles various aspects of anatomy. Authors, athletes, celebrities, and other public figures share their experiences of negative self-image and how they came to terms with these feelings. Topics include visible “issues” (being overweight, having noticeable chin hairs, having scoliosis) and invisible ones (dealing with partial blindness, being Deaf, or having Crohn’s disease). These individuals are not afraid to share what they have gone through and how they achieved self-acceptance. As with her previous anthologies, Jensen expertly organizes these stories into chapters on a common theme. The experiences are relayed with equal parts honesty and knowledge. Throughout the book, readers can find “Body Talk FAQs” that fit the section in which they are located. The further reading guide contains nonfiction titles and fictional works where characters contend with those topics. Teens may not find a touchstone in every story but are likely to have experienced insecurity about one or more of the subjects. VERDICT A must-have anthology collection on an evergreen topic.

 

Body Talk hits shelves on August 18, and I’m really stoked for this book to be out there. It’s timely and timeless, and I think y’all will be super excited to see the VIRTUAL events lined up to go along with its release. Local pals: we’re working on an in-person event at my local indie as well, with details to come (and, of course, dependent upon how covid-19 looks by then).

But first, let’s talk about the sweet preorder incentives I’ve got set up!

 

 

Body Talk Preorder Incentives

Every preorder from a US resident or someone with a US address will be able to score a bookmark, as pictured above. The front reads “Your body is radical,” and the back features all three of my anthologies.

In addition, there’s a sweet sticker to come, too — it’s the same design as the front of the bookmark, reading “Your body is radical.” Order between now and August 18 and you’ll get these goods from me.

I want to sweeten the pot, of course, so there are a couple additional incentives.

If you order Body Talk from an indie bookstore, you’ll be entered to win a $25 gift card to a bookstore of your choice. Doesn’t matter what indie. Bookshop.org is fine, too. Just show me proof via the form below, and you’ll be automatically entered.

If you order Body Talk from my indie, a couple other bonuses: I’ll sign it for you, AND you’ll be entered to win a $50 gift card to the bookstore of your choice. You’ll also be entered for the $25 gift card. In other words, order from Read Between The Lynes (linked to my book!), and you’ll be entered for both a $50 gift card AND the $25 gift card, as well as get the book signed by me and get your bookmark and sticker. Sweet deal, eh? If you want me to personalize the book, leave a note in the comment field when you check out. Otherwise, I’ll just sign it with my fancy name.

Non-US ordering folks: I want to thank you, too. This is the tricky bit, though. Currently, Book Depository does not have a gift card option, and since Book Depository ships to the most non-US countries, I want to work through them. So, if you’re non-US, order the book and show me proof of purchase in the form below, and you’ll be entered to win a new book from the Depository equal or lesser than $25 US dollars. You’ll let me know what it is if you win, and I’ll send it your way.

Sound good?

I’ve made the record keeping as easy as possible.

Click this link to upload your proof of purchase — a receipt, a photo of a receipt, etc — and click the appropriate answers. That’s all! If you have trouble with uploading the proof, leave a comment here and I’ll connect with you another way. 

 

Some Answers to Questions

• Does purchasing for my library/school count? Yes! Proof of purchase is all I need.

 

• When will you send out the bookmarks and stickers? Once a week!

 

• When will you let us know if we won a gift card? Publication week. It might not be August 18, but it will be by the end of that week.

 

• So if we order from your indie, Read Between The Lynes, we get to enter both giveaways? Yes, indeed!

 

• I’d like my book signed and/or personalized: Leave a note in your order from Read Between The Lynes. I’ll go in and sign them prior to their shipment to you.

 

• I preordered the book before you shared this. Can I still enter? Yep! Just fill out the form above. And big thank you for such enthusiasm.

 

• I ordered from Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Another non-indie bookstore. Do I get anything? Yes! You’ll get your bookmark and sticker. The gift card entries are for indie bookstore purchases, as a means of offering an incentive to do so. I don’t care where you purchase your books, since we all make decisions based on our own needs. But because my work required Amazon linking to keep the lights on, off-work, I like to incentivize indie bookstore spending and to my awesome indie especially. I don’t judge your choice — I’m just incredibly grateful for your support!

 

More questions might come up, of course, so always feel free to ask here, via Twitter, or via Instagram. And most of all, thank you for your support. Right now is the hardest time to be an author and promoting a book that is indeed relevant and timely. It doesn’t feel good to try to capitalize on the pandemic relating to disease nor the one related to racism. But it’s a book I believe in deeply, and the voices of color in particular in this book are ones I want to keep highlighting and trumpeting because they’re vital reminders of what it is to live and operate in a body in today’s culture.

 

And if you haven’t yet seen it, here’s the official description of Body Talk:

It’s time to bare it all about bodies!

We all experience the world in a body, but we don’t usually take the time to explore what it really means to have and live within one. Just as every person has a unique personality, every person has a unique body, and every body tells its own story.

In Body Talk, thirty-seven writers, models, actors, musicians, and artists share essays, lists, comics, and illustrations—about everything from size and shape to scoliosis, from eating disorders to cancer, from sexuality and gender identity to the use of makeup as armor. Together, they contribute a broad variety of perspectives on what it’s like to live in their particular bodies—and how their bodies have helped to inform who they are and how they move through the world.

Come on in, turn the pages, and join the celebration of our diverse, miraculous, beautiful bodies!

 

I’m writing this a few hours after our city and county leaders mandated a shelter in place order, effective beginning Wednesday, when this post publishes. While the library here has been closed to the public for over a week, most staff have still been reporting to their workplaces. This new order means that we’re all working from home now, which is a huge challenge for many library workers whose jobs are focused on people and physical materials. I feel fortunate that I can do my job remotely, and those of us who are able to do so are working hard to come up with projects other staff, whose normal job functions are now impossible, can assist us with from their homes. Turns out – there’s actually a lot of useful stuff we can do together.

While I’ve worked from home before, it’s usually only been once or twice a week, and I’ve always gone outside my house and done something afterward. This is more than just an unusual situation – the combination of working from home and not allowing myself (or being allowed by others at this point) to go spend time with other people is a strain. I anticipate it will be difficult for many of us. But I’ve been working from home and social distancing for over a week now, and it’s given me some time to figure out the things that help me the most when it comes to my mental, emotional, and physical health. Let me know what’s been working for you.

• Get outside the house at least twice per day. I had been training for a 10k run in April, and while that’s been cancelled, I want to maintain the progress I’ve made. Exercise is one of the essential functions that we can do outside the house, so I usually go for a short run in the morning before work. It gives me a burst of energy for the work day, and I always feel better generally after exercise. March and April are possibly the best weather months here in Texas, so I’ve also been going out for a walk in the late afternoon/early evening, effectively bookending my day with sunshine (usually) and the outdoors. It’s helped me more than I thought it would. There are several other people who are also out and about, and while we don’t have face to face interaction, we do wave, nod at each other, make eye contact, and kindly move out of each other’s way to maintain six feet of separation. It’s a small connection, but it’s there.

 

• Play games virtually with friends and family. I started playing Words With Friends on my phone, but it doesn’t give the face to face connection and camaraderie that in-person games do. The next best thing to actual in person board game nights are videochats where people at 2 or 3 (or more) different locations can play the same game together and see each other’s faces and carry on a conversation. There are board games out there that can be played in such a way with minor modifications. The first I tried was Roll for the Galaxy. Since both my friend and I own a copy, and it doesn’t require one player’s pieces to interact with the other player’s pieces, this actually worked really well. Plus it’s just a super fun game. There are plenty of other games, especially party games, that are suited to this kind of format, as long as each player has a camera and can see the game setup, wherever it is. Both Codenames and Just One can be played this way – and only one person needs to have the game to make it work. Even if you have no board games you feel you can adapt, you can always do charades.

 

• Find a home project to do. This hasn’t been anything big for me. The first one I planned was simply finishing unpacking my suitcase from PLA and putting the suitcase away, something I had been putting off but took almost no time to accomplish. Accomplishing something concrete and physical helps me to feel like I’m not just sitting around the house, and it’s a bit of exercise, too.

 

• Ensure my work space at home is tidy. For me, this has meant making the bed each morning, washing all the dishes before I go to bed at night, and putting away all the stuff I normally let gather on tables and countertops. A less cluttered space makes me feel less confined indoors.

 

• If it’s nice weather out, open the windows. Heck, even if it’s not that nice, I’ll open them. I love to hear the birds chirping and the sounds of my neighbors out walking their dogs. It makes me feel less isolated to hear the sounds of life going on outside. Plus, the way my house smells when it’s had fresh air blowing through it for a couple of hours is amazing.

 

• Put on a nice shirt and earrings. When I work from home in normal situations, I do usually just wear shorts and a t-shirt and forego any jewelry. But this week I’ve made sure to wear my normal work clothes, and it has made me feel more like I’ve done something during the day – again, helping me avoid that “all I’ve done all day is sit around on the couch” feeling.

 

• Read murder mysteries. I thought I’d want to read lightweight stuff, but turns out I am in a murder mystery groove and can’t get enough of them right now. Perhaps it’s because these characters’ situations are so much more dire than mine. I can’t see my friends or family face to face and am worried about my job and the people I love, but I’m not navigating a loved one’s murder (or being murdered myself). These also fully occupy my mind while I’m reading them, since I’m focusing on putting all the pieces together and trying to figure out whodunnit before the sleuth does. In the past week, I’ve read two adult mysteries (You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen and Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson) and one YA mystery (One of Us is Next by Karen M. McManus). All have been very satisfying.

 

This is a hard time for our communities. I’ve been on this earth 34 years, came of age during 9/11 and the war in Iraq, and this might end up being the most trying time I’ve lived through so far, mostly because the immediate future seems so uncertain, and the parts that are certain are pretty scary. We are fighting an enemy we cannot see, which I think adds to the fear and anxiety that almost everyone is feeling right now.

At times like these, it’s helpful to turn away from the news sometimes and focus on lighter things. I’ve seen a lot of requests for fun, lightweight things to watch and read, to take our minds to happier places and provide some occasional relief from reality. This list is my contribution to the effort. All of the books below are ones that make me smile every time I think of them. They’re fun, funny, exciting, escapist, and have happy endings. I hope you find something that makes you smile, too.

 

Heist Society series by Ally Carter

Who doesn’t love a good heist story? This series is like if you took the tv show Leverage, changed all of the characters to teenagers, and set them loose on the art world. The ensemble cast is great, and you’ll love them just as much as they (eventually) love each other. Full of witty banter and exciting twists, this series is great fun for teens and adults alike. You can read my reviews of the second book here and the third book here. | Goodreads

 

 

 

Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters

I’ve loved this historical mystery series ever since I was a kid and my family listened to it on the many cross-country road trips we took during the summer. Its protagonist is Amelia Peabody, a not-so-proper Victorian-era Englishwoman who comes into a rather good-sized inheritance after her father passes away that enables her to travel the world. She develops a love for Egyptology, which goes hand-in-hand with her love for her husband, an Egyptologist of some renown whom Amelia meets in the first book. This initial volume serves as a romance novel, too, but Amelia and Emerson’s relationship throughout the entire series, as they age from young to old, is one of the primary joys of these books; the romance does not end with the marriage. Funny, more than a little silly, with a good mystery in each volume and lots of ancient Egyptian history, this series is a treat for fans of mysteries, historical fiction, feminist protagonists, humor, and romance. These are best read via audio, narrated by the truly outstanding Barbara Rosenblat, who for me will always be the voice of Amelia.

Author Elizabeth Peters (pen name of Barbara Mertz) was a great Egyptologist like her character, though she went what we could consider the more traditional route, earning a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago in 1952 (certainly nontraditional at the time for women!) and authoring two works of nonfiction on ancient Egypt. Her life, while not full of catching murderers and breaking ancient curses, is pretty interesting in its own right. | Goodreads

 

The Brothers Sinister series by Courtney Milan

Courtney Milan writes great historical romances, and this series is my favorite of hers. Set in Victorian England, all of Milan’s protagonists are smart (smarter than their male counterparts, usually), many of them are employed or, if that’s not allowed, do research on their own (my favorite in the series is a scientist based on a real-life woman), and all the books are pretty explicitly feminist. The heat level is high, too, but never exploitative, and always completely consensual. If you’re looking for historical romance that feels really rooted in its time period, with accurate and interesting historical details and fun, unusual characters not often seen in romance novels, this series is for you. You can read my full review of the series from 2015 here. | Goodreads

 

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

If you’re looking for a book that will make you laugh out loud, you can’t go wrong with this one, which was the basis for the 2015 Dreamworks movie Home (but is much better, of course). The story begins when an alien race named the Boov invade Earth and decide to relocate all humans to Florida. Twelve year old Gratuity “Tip” Tucci finds herself in an unlikely alliance with a renegade Boov named J.Lo, and they team up to find her missing mother. This is a road trip book crossed with a buddy book set against the backdrop of an alien invasion. The pure silliness of the Boov undercuts the seriousness of the plot, reassuring the reader that everything will be OK in the end (and it is).

Crafted in the format of an essay that Tip has been forced to write by the new Boov rulers, the book also includes plenty of doodles, comics, photographs, and other visual treats, all of them funny. I hadn’t laughed this hard while reading a book before, and I haven’t since. This is a great pick for tweens on up. You can read my full review from 2010 here. | Goodreads

 

The Devil’s Intern by Donna Hosie

Mitchell was hit by a bus and now he’s dead. As luck would have it, he’s ended up in Hell, and he’s landed the prestigious position of intern to the Devil with a capital D (not to be confused with the lower-case devils as all other denizens of Hell are called). He spends his time hanging out with his three best friends – all teenagers who died in different eras of history, including a Viking warrior – and trying his best to please his immediate boss, Septimus, and avoid the Big Boss, the Devil. Things really get going when Mitchell learns that Septimus has a device that will take the user out of Hell and fling him – plus any tagalongs – to any point in history. Naturally, Mitchell decides to use the device to prevent his death. He initially tries to do it alone, but his friends insist on coming along. This is a really enjoyable, funny, and often moving read – just don’t think about the premise too hard. | Goodreads

 

The Klaatu Diskos series by Pete Hautman

This series is for readers who like their science fiction a little (or a lot) weird. When both of Tucker’s parents disappear, gone through the strange shimmery orb above their home, Tucker vows to find them. This sets him on a journey both backward and forward in time, including such times/places as the death of Christ, a ritual sacrifice at the top of a futuristic pyramid, and his own town thousands of years in the future, unrecognizable and strange. He meets benevolent people who try to help him, murderous people who try to kill him, and strange people/non-people who may be trying to help and harm him at the same time.

This series is wild, and I mean that in a good way. It’s full of time travel and aliens (maybe?) and robots (maybe?) and new religions and cultures and futuristic technology, and it presents the reader with all of this in such a way that every page is a new discovery of something bizarrely fascinating. It’s so solidly science fiction that it makes other “science fiction” books seem like impostors. What’s more, Hautman refuses to hold your hand as you read it, so you’ll be lost a good portion of the time (but in a good way!). Every time I turned the page, I read something that made me exclaim “What?!” (and I do mean audibly). You’ll be so engrossed trying to figure out what the hell is going on that you won’t have time to think about anything else. You can read my full review from 2012 here. | Goodreads

 

Over on Book Riot this week…

• Excellent enamel pins for writers

• 170+ YA books hitting shelves in the first quarter of 2020. Bulk up that TBR!

• All of the sweary notebooks to help you kick ass this year.

There’s also a new episode of Hey YA. Eric and I talk about our reading goals for the year, along with some of our most anticipated new reads. Oh, and we have an announcement: the show will be going weekly! You’ll have to tune in to see what those new episodes will sound like.