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Kid Lit Con 2011

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This is the second year in a row I’ve been fortunate enough to attend the Kid Lit Con, and I have to say, I’m impressed with how much I walk away with after this particular conference. There’s a renewal in passion for blogging, but more importantly, I find it’s a drive to make myself a better member of the community in that I want to continue to meet and develop relationships with new people.

Rather than give a blow-by-blow of the two-day conference, I did a lot of thinking about the sorts of conversations that happened at the event. It was interesting to sit in a session and see the same topics creep up again and again, simply because there was so much interest in them. Here is what I walked away with as the big ideas pervading the kid lit world, along with a dose of the moments that were enjoyable for me.

Big Ideas

I think on the whole, four things stuck out to me as big takeaways from KidLitCon, and they aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive: partnerships, presence, dialog, and the idea of critical reviews.

I think anyone who has been to a conference sort of knows that the big thing about them is less the sessions and more the connections you make with other attendees. That’s where the idea of partnerships sort of emerges as one of the big things I took away. When people are working toward a common goal — like spreading the word about kid lit, be it through blogging or publishing — building strength upon strength is essential. I had the opportunity to meet people at KidLitCon that I would never have otherwise met, but beyond that, I had the opportunity to discover people who had been thinking a lot of the things I’d been thinking about. When you make those sorts of connections, you find that there are cool opportunities that can emerge, too.

One of the sessions I went to was all about partnerships, and rather than follow what she had planned, the presenter (Stasia Ward Kehoe) talked about what she had overheard and been thinking about at the conference. What I think I found most enjoyable about the session was that a lot of her observations were strikingly similar to mine. The community only gets stronger when we look to one another to build each other up. One of the exercises she made us do (and trust me when I say that nothing strikes fear into me more than the moment a presenter is making us do something interactive) was to pair up with the person beside us, introduce ourselves and what we do, then talk about ideas for strengthening or adding fresh content to our blogs. As silly as my partner and I had been throughout that session — which I’ll talk about in the next section — Suzanne actually gave me some thoughtful and creative ideas for blog features. Had we not talked shop, I’d never think about some of the ideas she dropped.

Speaking of Suzanne, her panel with Sara of Novel Novice, really got me thinking about ways I can work with authors to help promotion books. And not only did it get me thinking about it from the blogger perspective, but also through my channels as a librarian. Living in a small town in Wisconsin does make it challenging to reach out to local authors, since there are few, but it’s also an opportunity to seek out those who are around. Of course, I don’t have to stick to my local literary world, either. This goes back to some of the things I was thinking about at BEA, and as I embark on a new chapter in my career, this feels like an opportunity now I need to capitalize on.

Presence was the second big takeaway from KidLitCon. It sounds like a big word, but really it’s simple: how you present yourself and where you have a presence matters. I went to a panel that included a number of authors who talked about their online presence and how they keep up their writing while balancing the need to be on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and so forth. Likewise, I went to a panel about marketing and how using social networks really made an impact on the launch of a debut author’s presence online. It comes down to the simple idea that where you are and how you present yourself matters.

I did a lot of thinking about this topic during a session on podcasting and vlogging, which is something that you’ll likely never see here. I speak on behalf of myself, not Kim or Jen, when I say that for me, these sorts of technologies feel too personal for me. I don’t listen to or watch them, as I feel like it’s somewhat an invasive means of communication and presence. That’s not to say it’s wrong; it just doesn’t work for me. I don’t like that sort of exposure, as I feel that writing and blogging itself is such an intensely personal activity, especially when it comes down to writing about books and why something did or didn’t work. Here’s the thing: it’s all okay. Everyone chooses how they want to make their presence, and for some, it’s via these technologies, and for others, it’s maintaining a Twitter account, a Facebook page, and a blog.

Moreover, another key component for me in the idea of presence was that it’s important to get yourself out there. Whereas I say that vlogging/podcasting feels too invasive, I’m not the sort of person who is afraid to get out and meet people. This sort of presence is as valid as the online one. You make connections that become important and invaluable and — wait for it — you develop the sorts of partnerships that make you a stronger community member. Over the course of this weekend, I did a lot of thinking about where I can strengthen my presence online and off, and the ability to always reevaluate and renegotiate these parts of my life is always invigorating.

The third big takeaway was dialog. This is, I think, the key to what makes us all better as members of the kidlit world, be it a role as a blogger, as a reader, or as an author. It’s important to be having the tricky conversations, and it’s important to tread tricky territory (which I’ll hit on next). Here’s the thing though: dialog isn’t necessarily always clean. It gets messy, and it gets confusing, and the fact of the matter is, sometimes it does little more than muddy ideas. But that is what the point is. Nothing is ever cut and dry, nor should it be.

Playing off that idea was something I really thrived on during this conference, perhaps for the first time at any conference, and that was the back channel. Given that KidLitCon is a much smaller conference, reading through the hash tags and the digital conversations that happened was manageable and very helpful. There were many simultaneous conversations, and it was fascinating to see what was happening in a session I wasn’t in. More than that, though, this back channel helped me tremendously in thinking about my own presentation. I wanted to address the issues others were talking about among themselves, and this was invaluable. Post-presentation, reading what people had to say about what we said was just . . . affirming. And nice. There’s really no other way to say it. I can only have so many conversations in person, but I can go back to this hash tag and see what other conversations happened. I walk away with more than I could do on my own (do you see how I tied partnerships and presence into this one?).

The final big take away I have is that of critical reviews. This was a topic that kept being brought up again and again, and frankly, it scared me to see it so openly discussed the day before our presentation on this exact topic. People are opinionated about the topic, though it is obvious they’re not always the most informed about what it truly means. Listening to people talk about how they never do “negative” reviews was fascinating because I don’t either. I don’t know anyone who does negative reviews. Critical reviews look at the host of elements within a story and discuss where the strengths and weaknesses are. They aren’t there to pan a book, but rather to be a way to objectively evaluate a book on its own merit.

I’m never going to change how I write my reviews. I don’t go into them thinking about what impact they could have on, say, the author or the publisher who may read it. The fact of the matter is, the way I think about a book is the way I think about a book and nothing more. Every book, even those that rank as my absolute favorite books, have flaws. Nothing is ever perfect, and it’s not my goal in blogging to tout everything as perfect. It’s like we’ve talked about before in our post here: even we know that our reviews aren’t perfect.

Bringing this all back to the idea of the take aways from this conference — nothing in the blogging world is a pillar. The discussion of critical reviews that pervaded the conference ties in directly to the idea of partnerships, in whether there is a perception that being critical can have a lasting impact on the sorts of partnerships one can form with others; it also connects directly to the idea of presence, as critical reviews set you apart in the blogging world and offer something that gives you a unique presence in the discussion; and finally, critical reviews tie directly into dialog. The fact of the matter is that everything is a conversation, and what you bring to it depends upon your ability to be present, to develop partnerships, to be critical and thoughtful and constructive, and to be willing to engage in dialog.

Fun Moments

Obviously, the conference wasn’t serious the entire time. I had the opportunity to meet people I’ve only ever talked to via blogs or Twitter, and I got to listen to a fantastic keynote by Scott Westerfeld. Here’s a tiny peek into the fun that happened.


Fantastic lunch and dinner conversations with fellow bloggers. I can’t express how fun it was to meet some of the intelligent women who are the brains behind so much of the kidlit community.


I had the chance to meet Scott Westerfeld, who delivered what was one of the most engaging keynotes I’ve ever heard. His talk focused on the intersection of art and text, and it really raised the question as to why we don’t give kids (and ourselves, frankly) permission to enjoy pictures with our stories when we outgrow the picture book age.


I got to hang out with Suzanne Young and cause quite a bit of trouble for a few of the sessions because of it. Suze and I have been talking since I started blogging, as she was just getting ready for the publication of The Naughty List at the same time. She also introduced me to Sara of Novel Novice, and the three of us had a good time enjoying a few adult beverages, drawing fan art, and I was lucky enough to have Suzanne write a story about us. It’s an original I will obviously cherish forever.

I don’t have photos, but another thing that I found so valuable and enjoyable was the final session of the con, which was the diversity panel. I usually find these sorts of discussions so uncomfortable, but in this instance, I didn’t. It really shed light into an important topic of where bloggers fit into the discussions of diversity, as well as where authors fit in. The big boil of it all? There are stories to be told, and they need to be told.

Other little fun moments included having a lovely conversation with Mindi Scott about books and writing (including talking about the very things the diversity panel brought up); meeting folks like Ann Levy of Cybils fame (and discussing a potential panel topic we can do at the next KidLitCon); and seeing all of the incredible work that Jackie and Colleen put into the conference come together and enjoying the amazing food that was in abundance.

Kid Lit Con and Book Blogger Con

What really works for me about KidLitCon (KLC) and what separates it from other similar conventions like Book Blogger Con (BBC) is that the community is much smaller and much more varied. The goals are also different, in that it’s much more dialog driven. BBC is much more about learning, in my mind, with panels aimed to teach people; KLC is much more about opening up a dialog about what we’re doing and how we can strengthen it.

I won’t come out and say one is better than the other, as they aim to reach different audiences. For me personally, KLC hits on the things that help me grow and find passion in what I’m doing. I think a lot of it has to do with being around not only fellow bloggers, but also authors and aspiring authors, and those interactions do give rise to thinking about the whys and hows of blogging. I also feel like KLC is an easier place to mingle and it feels like a place of equal footing. The conversations follow throughout the convention, whereas I felt sometimes BBC’s conversations never got started, simply because of the size of the event and the diverse experiences in the room.

Lastly

I cannot express my gratitude to Julia, Abby, and Janssen for taking the time and energy to put together a session with me on a topic about which I am utterly passionate. When my nerves came to a huge crest on Friday night, it was nice to be talked down from the ledge over and over and assured everything would go fine.

Since people have been asking, yes, the information from our panel will be available, but it won’t be immediately. We went into the presentation without a formal plan, and thus, what we’ll share is what we’ve come to find as the key points.

I also have to give both Colleen and Jackie a huge thanks again for such a fantastic event and for being such great hosts. The amount of work that went into such a staggeringly huge and successful conference is mind blowing, and these two handled it like pros.

The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson

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I loved Mary E. Pearson’s The Adoration of Jenna Fox. In fact, it’s what got me through a reading slump back in 2009 and sucked me even deeper into the world of YA. So naturally, when I discovered there was a sequel, I was all over it. If you haven’t read The Adoration of Jenna Fox and you’d like to at some point, I recommend not reading my review – there are spoilers.

The Fox Inheritance is actually not about Jenna Fox, primarily. Instead, it tells the story of the two friends that were in the car accident with Jenna – Locke and Kara. Even though Jenna destroyed the machines that housed Locke’s and Kara’s minds, she didn’t realize there were copies. Now it’s 260 years later, and those copies have been brought out of their suspended existence and given brand-new, BioPerfect bodies.

Locke and Kara are brought back to life by Doctor Gatsbro, who keeps them at his estate and provides for all of their needs. Locke and Kara’s very existence is illegal, since none of their original bodies survived the crash, meaning they don’t meet the “Jenna standard” of ten percent. That doesn’t stop Doctor Gatsbro from inviting investors over to take a look at the two friends – investors who hope to one day have their own brains uploaded and stored while a new body is created to replace the old, worn-out one.

Once Locke and Kara realize they are merely shelf models for Gatsbro’s illegal money-making venture (and that he will never let them go and make lives of their own), they decide to make a run for it. That’s where the story really begins. Locke and Kara must learn to navigate this new world that they know nothing about and deal with the emotional turmoil that accompanies their existence. Naturally, they decide to find Jenna.

The story is told entirely from Locke’s point of view in a taut, fast-paced first person present tense. I complain constantly about how sick I am of first person present tense, but Pearson used it well in Adoration and she does so again here. The pace is fast and the surprises are many, just how I like my dystopias.

In Adoration, Pearson created a future world more advanced than our own, but not entirely different. In The Fox Inheritance, she’s hurtled us much further into the future and let her imagination run with it. In future America, there are two Americas split not on physical lines, but ideological lines, and those who don’t commit to one or the other are outcast. (Texas is also its own country, and while I find it amusing that so many science fiction and fantasy writers decide to do this, I also don’t want to give people here any more ammunition, so can we please place a moratorium on this for awhile?)

There are also robots (“bots”) all over the place that are used to help humans with a variety of everyday operations – driving cabs, shining shoes, serving food, and so on. The bots are so advanced that they seem human, but they’re tightly regulated. Dot, the bot who drives the cab Locke and Kara escape with, isn’t even built with a lower body since it’s not deemed necessary for her function. Naturally, many of these bots seem human in many respects and yearn to be free.

There are also a ton of other little details that make the world seem truly futuristic, like the freeways that automatically direct the cars and the communicator built into each person’s palm. I loved all of these details, even if I felt that not all of them worked completely (the strange split in the country is particularly weak).

There’s a lot more that Pearson does well here. She gives the reader a good sense of the horror Locke and Kara must have felt trapped in limbo for 260 years. Jenna 260 years later is realistically adult and wise, though her body looks as young as ever. And Locke’s and Kara’s anger and confusion and grief over their situation are heart-wrenching.

Sometimes Pearson’s plotting is predictable, but it’s always exciting and well-written. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to fans of the first book and dystopias in general. It’s a fast, fun read that also makes you think a little – what more can you ask for?

Review copy received from the publisher. The Fox Inheritance is on shelves now.

Wisdom’s Kiss by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

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Wisdom’s Kiss is a companion novel to Princess Ben in that it’s set in the same world, but it’s not a sequel. Ben is present as an ancillary character, but the story centers on three others: Fortitude (Trudy), a young serving girl with the ability to see the future, Tips, the boy  Trudy loves who leaves town to be a soldier, and Wisdom (Dizzy), a princess who has managed to accept the marriage proposal of a man she does not love.

These three characters all manage to meet up, and the ways in which their lives intersect form the story of Wisdom’s Kiss. The book includes all three of their perspectives, as well as the perspectives of five others, such as Tips’ trainer Felis el Gato and Ben herself.

And therein lies the problem. There are eight points of view
in this book, which for most books is seven POVs too many. Very few authors can
pull off two POVs, and even fewer can do three. In my experience, George R. R.
Martin is the only author who can successfully write as many POVs as he pleases
and still produce a stellar novel.

Murdock’s problem with the multiple POVs is two-fold.
Firstly, they’re not straight up third person narratives across the board.
Instead, the book is an amalgam of first person, third person, diary entries,
encyclopedia entries, and so on. Here’s a list in case you’re curious:

1.      
3rd person traditional story of a
young girl
2.       Memoirs of a man
3.      
A play
4.      
Memoirs/diary of a duchess
5.      
Encyclopedia entries
6.      
Letters from a boy to a girl
7.      
Letters from a queen to her granddaughter
8.      
Diary entries of a princess

Got all that? What’s more, Murdock throws in some cutesy
extras to a few of the POVs, such as cross-outs and strange grammar, which adds
to the confusion. With the events told in so many different ways, there’s no
cohesive narrative thread. The story doesn’t ever feel like it’s going
anywhere, which means it moves at a glacial pace. Furthermore, the already-slim
novel being split eight ways means no one character really gets a chance to
shine, which in turn means characterization is slight or nonexistent.
The second problem with the POVs is redundancy. It can
occasionally be interesting to read about the same event from different
perspectives, but it’s overdone here. Too often, no new insights are gained by
the re-telling and I found myself skimming the pages to get to the next
chapter. This exacerbates the pacing problem I mentioned above and makes a lot
of the book a real snore.
I can admire what Murdock has tried to do with the POVs, but
it doesn’t work like she wanted it to. There are some bright spots: Murdock has
a good sense of humor – particularly with Felis el Gato’s memoirs – and the way
Trudy’s story shakes out is surprising. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to compensate for the slow pace and flat characterizations brought about by the multiple
points of view.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Wisdom’s Kiss is on
shelves now.

Reviews, Twitter-Style

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Back by popular demand, more reviews Twitter-style. These are all longer than 140-characters, but they’re quick looks at recent reads that didn’t necessarily merit a long review on their own.

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey: This Australian import has been getting quite a bit of buzz because it’s earned the most starred reviews this year. But honestly, it was disappointing. I was engaged with the story from the beginning, as the mystery and the mental anguish within Charlie reminded me a lot of Paranoid Park and Gentlemen, but the last third of the book becomes one large information dump, essentially bringing the pace to a dead halt and killing any character growth. Moreover, even though I’m not a big mystery reader, I knew the solution to the story near immediately and never found myself questioning the plot twists — they weren’t really twisted. I’m sort of surprised the acclaim this one is getting. It’s not a poorly written book, but I don’t get the rave reviews, either. It was simply okay.

Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt: I was a huge fan of The Wednesday Wars, and though I am glad I read the companion (not sequel), I found it falling into some of the middle grade tropes I really dislike. The writing is strong, and Doug’s voice is well-done, but there are situations I felt were rushed in the end of the story. Though I’ve read arguments suggesting the end makes sense in context of the title, that doesn’t forgive it for me. The bigger issue I had was with what happens to Lily, as I feel it’s almost an eye-rolling cliche at this point. But, I do think Schmidt might earn his redemption with this novel, as I think it’s a Newberry potential title. It’s clean, though it tackles some challenging issues, and it’s perfectly appropriate for middle schoolers and up.


Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles: This is the third and final book in the Perfect Chemistry series, and I think it is the weakest. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy this because there were times I had to put the book down because it gets that steamy. Rather than give us a bad boy this time, Elkeles mixes up the storyline and gives us a good boy and a bad girl. The Fuentes family returns to Illinois, and for me, the setting is what really makes this novel. The manner it deals with gangs and associations has huge appeal to teen readers. The writing itself is not spectacular, but Elkeles’s books are less about that and more about the pacing and characters, and with those, she does a good job. Fans of the first books will appreciate this one, and though you could read this book without reading the other two, I’d suggest starting with Perfect Chemistry to become acquainted with the back stories and to see the strongest entry in the series.

Blood Wounds by Susan Beth Pfeffer: I’ve really come to dislike the reviews of this one that suggest Pfeffer has strayed from her well-loved “Moon” series. I believe an author can branch out wherever they want to, and it’s unfair to compare the works cross-genre. That said, I thought this family drama was interesting, and it’ll have appeal for many teen readers, I think. There’s a fast pace to it, and there are a lot of questions of what if. I felt like I never got a good grip on where the story would take me, and I kind of liked that. However, there are a number of subplots that are underexplored in the story, including ones on social class and on cutting, that are almost unforgivable. There is a huge issue of social class, right within Willa’s family, but they’re left there unexplored and Willa herself wasn’t as emotionally invested in that as I was (wouldn’t you hate if your step sisters got everything and you got nothing?) Had these subplots been played upon a little more, this book would have been stronger for me. Also, the cover is terribly unappealing — there’s a house involved in this story, and I kept imagining how cool that could have been as a cover and how it would have been a little truer to the plot. Alas.

Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones: This has been another book that’s gotten a lot of acclaim lately, and while I see it, I don’t necessarily think it’s the strongest book I’ve read this year. This thriller will appeal to a lot of readers who stick it out through the clunky beginning of the story, where we’re introduced to two characters, Blink and Caution. We’re introduced separately, and we’re not entirely sure how the two of them will fall into each other’s orbits; as soon as we get to that part, though, things speed up. This story of two street kids tackles issues of class and survival quite well, and there’s enough twisting and turning to keep the pages moving. That said, I was not into the use of second person. I find that to be a very tricky way of writing, and with the story here being strong as it is, I felt the second person actually slowed the narration down. It wasn’t necessary. It was a means of heightening the tension in the story when it didn’t really need to be heightened, as there was enough tension without it.

Shelter by Harlan Coben

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There are so many adult authors who have decided the YA market is where they should apply their less than considerable talents these days, most notably __________ (fill in the blank with the author of your choice). It’s gotten a little tiresome. We know that writing for children and teens is not the same as writing for adults, and it’s frustrating when adult authors don’t know this and then fail miserably (or even fail in just a mediocre way).

Harlan Coben is not one of these authors. In Shelter, he’s created the sort of YA mystery I love: a fast-paced story with plenty of twists and turns and lots to think about. It’s a thrilling story, but it’s not a straight-up thriller. Too often I find that books described as thrillers don’t have much of a mystery to them – they’re all action – but that’s not the case with Shelter.

Mickey Bolitar’s dad has just died and his mom is in rehab for drug addiction, so he’s come to live with his uncle Myron, whom he’s not particularly fond of. (Myron Bolitar stars in his own series of books for adults.) The move necessitates a switch in high schools, something Mickey dreads, but he’s able to quickly carve out his own group of people: best friend Ema, quirky to the point of embarrassment Spoon, and pretty girlfriend Ashley.

Then Ashley goes missing. Of course, he sets out to find her, and it takes him places he never would have expected (including a strip club). The plot is twisty and surprising, but Coben doesn’t throw in anything that is completely out of left field. I wasn’t able to guess what was coming, but when it did, I believed it. That’s the hallmark of a good mystery.

Giving away any more of the plot would ruin the story a bit, so I won’t say any more, but what I can say is that Coben is clearly a pro at what he does. He is able to juggle so many different elements without dropping a single one, and it’s impressive.

Along with the complex mystery, he gives us a little insight into the relationship between Mickey and Myron, develops some intriguing characters in Ema and Spoon, and tackles the heartbreaking effects of drug addiction in Mickey’s mother. In other words, it’s a fully developed story that doesn’t write down to its audience or attempt to make its youthful characters into something other than youths. __________ (The author you used to fill in the blank above) should take a page from Coben’s book.

Of course, Shelter isn’t perfect. Some of the aspects of “teen culture” that Coben created seemed a bit too cliche. Ema and Spoon are fun to read about, but sometimes Spoon’s quirks strain credulity. It also strains credulity that Mickey, who is a self-deprecating but obviously pretty outgoing and good-looking guy, would choose Ema and Spoon – two of the school’s biggest outcasts – for his companions.

Those minor reservations aside, Shelter is a terrifically fun, edge-of-your-seat read. I read it in a single day and hardly even noticed the time pass. I hope Coben writes more about Mickey. The YA field could use more well-written mysteries that provide more than just thrills. I can’t really think of another author who currently provides this level of quality in their mysteries for teens. (I was a Joan Lowery Nixon addict as a teenager and those were some awesome mysteries, but seriously dated now.) Coben knows how to do it right.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Shelter is available now.