STACKED

books

In My Mailbox (17)

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Welcome to In My Mailbox, a weekly meme highlighting the books received for review, purchased, or picked up from the library, started by Kristi at The Story Siren.

This week, I was super excited to see some non-Cybils titles mixed in with the Cybils lot.

For review:

Hellie Jondoe by Randall Platt: Hellie is an orphan and a pick pocket in 1918 during the world flu outbreak.

The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells: I’ve read and reviewed this one here.

We Hear the Dead by Diane Salenari: A book about a couple of prank pulling girls who start a whole new spiritual system.

Wishful Thinking by Alexandra Bullen: Second book in the “Wish” series. I disliked the first book. So there it is.

Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg: I’m looking forward to giving Eulberg a second shot. I read her first book — The Lonely Hearts Club — and found the decidedly anti-male message to be a little bothersome. Fortunately this isn’t a sequel.

Happyface by Stephen Emond: I read this one and reviewed it here.

The River by Mary Jane Beaufrand: This mystery is set in rural Oregon against the banks of a river. I read this one last week and will probably have the review up this week. An excellent book.

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger: I’ve read this one, too, and my review can be found here.

Freaks and Revelations by Davida Wills Hurwin: I know this one is based on a true story about hate crime, with one main character being gay and one being a violent misfit. I’ve been meaning to read it for a while and am excited to have the chance.

Fairview Felines by Michele Corriel: I met Michele at KidLitCon and she offered me a copy of her book to read. I’m looking forward to a nice middle grade mystery post-Cybils.

From the library:

The Heart is Not a Size by Beth Kephart: I know this one is set in Juarez, Mexico. Kephart’s writing style has always been pleasing to me, but the story on this one might not be my cup.

Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Weiss: I have a regular teen volunteer who comes in to help me out once a week. She claims she’s not a reader but she’s always got a book with her, and she’s always eager to tell me what she thinks of the book I send her home with. This week, she told me this was one of her favorite books and I should read it. I sent her home with books, so of course I had to take home her recommendation. She said it’s quick enough to read between my Cybils titles.

And that was this week’s busy mailbox!

Twitterview: Debut Style

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Welcome to another installment of STACKED’s interviews, Twitter-style. This month we’re bringing you even more — three 2010 debut authors have stopped by to give us a taste of who they are and what they’re doing. You’ll see their reviews coming soon (with the exception of Daisy’s, which is right here). Each has been given 5 — and only 5 — questions to strut their stuff. Without further ado, please welcome Daisy Whitney, Mindi Scott, and Stephanie Perkins.

Daisy Whitney

Pitch your book in 140 characters or fewer.
THE MOCKINGBIRDS is about an underground, student-run justice system that polices and protects the student body, and the date rape case they try.

The Mockingbirds deals with an issue similar to LHA’s Speak. Have you found yourself responding to criticism or needing to defend your title?

Not yet, but I am fully prepared to as I believe books on tough topics can help us as people to deal with challenging situations.


How has being a journalist influenced your work?
I learned how to write quickly, on deadline, and not be married to my words.

What do you hope readers take away from THE MOCKINGBIRDS?
That it’s cool to take a stand!

What’s next for you?

I turned in a sequel to THE MOCKINGBIRDS and now I am working on an edgy, sexy mystery novel.

Mindi Scott

Pitch your book in 140 characters or less
Seth McCoy just had a terrible summer after finding his friend dead. He *might* be ready to stop being numb; he just has to figure out how.

Seth’s voice is spot on, a rarity for any teen male voice, let alone one written by a female. How did you get so into the male mindset?
At 1st, I read tons of boy POV YA & had my husband read all my scenes. Once I finished a draft, though, Seth’s voice became natural to me.

If you could be a character from any book, who would it be?

Someone once said that I remind her of Jessica Darling from Megan McCafferty’s series. I can get behind that. 😉 (Kelly says: That was Me! 🙂

You’re an ice cream fan (after my own heart!). What’s your flavor?

Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food. Marshmallow cream, chocolate ice cream, caramel & chocolate candy. Oh, did I mention marshmallow cream? Yum!

What’s next for you?

I’m working on more contemporary YA. So far, the manuscripts I have in progress are all from girl points of view, so we’ll see what happens!

Stephanie Perkins

Pitch your book in 140 characters or less:
It’s about true love in the City of Light.

You’re stranded in Paris. You don’t know a soul. What three things would you eat and what three things would you do?

Fleur d’oranger macaron, banana Nutella crepe, non-pasteurized yogurt. Walk beside the Seine, drink wine, visit Notre-Dame.


Share your most embarrassing moment:

Having to admit to my parents that I’d done something terrible.

What are you doing to celebrate the release of Anna and the French Kiss?

A release party at my favorite indie bookstore (Malaprop’s in Asheville, NC) with French pastries and my friends!

What’s next for you?

Two companion novels: Lola and the Boy Next Door (2011) & Isla and the Happily Ever After (2012).

Guest post: Kate Messner on the Research Process

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We are thrilled to be a stop on author Kate Messner’s Sugar and Ice blog tour! Sugar and Ice will be released on December 7, 2010 and you can find more information about Kate and her books at KateMessner.com or at her LiveJournal blog.

For Claire Boucher, life is all about skating on the frozen cow pond and in the annual Maple Show right before the big pancake breakfast on her family’s maple farm. But all that changes when Claire is offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity-a scholarship to train with the elite skaters in Lake Placid. Tossed into a world of mean girls on ice, where competition is everything, Claire soon realizes that her sweet dream-come-true has sharper edges than she could have imagined. Can she find the strength to stand up to the people who want her to fail and the courage to decide which dream she wants to follow?

Sugar and Ice was a book that happened by accident.
In the summer of 2008, my daughter heard about a basic skills figure skating day camp at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid. She’s not a competitive skater, but it sounded like fun and wasn’t too far a drive, so we signed her up. I had big plans to drop her off for the day and head for the coffee shop across the street to finish revising The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z., which was due to my editor in a couple weeks.
But I missed the fine print…the part that said when I signed the girl up for skating camp, I was also signing myself up for a parent education program. I tied her skates on the first day and picked up my backpack to head for the coffee shop, only to be handed a thick “skater-mom” folder and directed back to my seat. What followed was a parade of experts, talking about everything from thousand dollar blades to sewing sequins more effectively.
“Wait!” I thought. “There’s been a mistake! My daughter doesn’t even skate in competitions…”
But when the next speaker was a sports psychologist who specializes in working with skaters and their families, I stopped wishing for my latte and took out my notebook. Her insights and stories were fascinating, and I couldn’t help thinking that a story was falling into my lap.
What if a girl with no interest in competition were suddenly plunked into the middle of this uber-competitive world? I paged through my notebook, the part where I keep a list of places I love and might want to use as a setting some day, and that’s where I discovered Claire, the main character of Sugar and Ice, a small town girl whose family runs a maple farm near the Canadian border.
I scribbled notes all through that weekend and would return to the Olympic Center numerous times for research while I was writing. I sat at the Empire State Games and Junior Nationals competitions and collected skating details in my notebook, jotting down details about the girls’ outfits, making notes on their music. I asked questions about the moves, and inter
viewed skaters. I spent several afternoons listening in as a high-level coach wor
ked with his skaters on the ice; I wrote down the kinds of things he told them
about how to hold their shoulders, the words he used to encourage them and to push them harder.
More than two years after that door closed at the Olympic Center, trapping me in the parent education session, Sugar and Ice is being released from Bloombury/Walker, and I couldn’t be more thankful.

On Nanowrimo and Cheerleading: A Giveaway

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You may not have noticed how quiet it’s been on the blog this month for me, but it has been. Many of the posts were written weeks ago and run on autopost. I’ve been knee deep in Cybils reading and taking part in Nanowrimo.

I’ve had this book idea in my head for a while, and I wanted to take advantage of the forced word count to get it out. I’m a deadline driven person. In taking part, I forced myself to meet (and exceed) the daily word count to finish my 50,000 words in — get this — 21 days. Now that the month’s over, I’ve hit over 55,000 words. I’m knee deep in editing and already have another idea or two brewing in my head.

I wanted to take the first of the month to give a shout out the awesome cheerleaders I had along the way. You know who you are and I apologize for the bad art and zombie jokes. Thank you guys! I am completely and utterly flattered.

As a big thank you, I’m giving away 2 — yes 2 — finished copies of what I think is my favorite 2010 read, Courtney Summers’s forthcoming Fall For Anything.

When I say I don’t get emotional about many books, I mean it. It’s rare I cry or shout or want to tear the limbs off a character to make them understand what s/he is doing. I wanted to do all three while reading Fall For Anything. I don’t know if it’s okay to call it a favorite because it is a book that hurts, but it’s a good hurt and if hurting is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

This is a US-only giveaway. I will post my review on December 21 — release date — and I’ll pick the winners on December 22. You can read a fuller description here of the book. To date, it’s already garnered 2 starred reviews, including one from my review source of choice, Kirkus.

I might throw in a copy or two of a James Frey title, too. I know how much Courtney adores him.*

*I think A Million Little Pieces would be a fabulous companion to Fall For Anything, don’t you?