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books

Monsters Beware! by Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado

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I really loved the first previous two books in this fun and funny graphic novel series. In this installment, our hero Claudette has tricked her way into being chosen as her town’s champion in the annual Warrior Games, along with her younger brother Gaston and her friend Marie. Unfortunately for them, the Sea Kingdom has plans beyond simply winning the competition – they want to revive the evil wizard, frozen in amber in a previous volume, and rule the whole land. The Sea Queen’s children are the titular monsters, who transform from innocent-looking kids into creatures that devour the other competitors while no one is looking.

Unlike the two previous volumes, Claudette doesn’t really seem to be the hero of this book. Much of the story focuses instead on Gaston and Marie, who know what’s going on well before Claudette does. She’s off the page being oblivious and refusing to pay any attention to the warnings her friends are giving her. This is Claudette being Claudette; it gets a bit tedious for adult readers but probably won’t bother child readers. Of course, she comes through in the end, but by that point, I felt like she wasn’t really that necessary to the story. It’s nice in that it gives Marie and Gaston their moments to shine, but it also feels strange in a series called “Chronicles of Claudette.”

While there is an undercurrent of seriousness to the story, it’s mostly funny. The monsters look like oversized sea crabs and crack jokes after every meal. Gaston loves to cook and takes it very seriously, opening the door for a lot of puns about food. The Warrior Games themselves are the biggest joke: since Marie is competing, her father decides that the games must be safe, and combat competitions are swapped for activities like churning butter and setting tables. And despite the fact that the monsters gobble up almost everyone in town aside from our intrepid three, the happy ending is never really in doubt. Rosado and Aguirre actually give us even more happiness than we might have expected, with a plot twist that is surprising but also makes sense in context.

The art is fantastic as always, perfectly matched to the text to tell the story. The whole book is colorful and fun and a lot of the humor comes through in the characters’ expressions and movements. There’s an interesting bonus section at the end that describes how Aguirre and Rosado added a piece of the plot to the story after it was already drafted, which will be a great read for kids who want to make their own graphic novel. While I don’t think this volume is as strong as the first two, it’s a great addition, and the whole series is a winner. They consistently tell fun, action-packed stories with characters who buck gender norms, and they feature caring friendships and families, including a disabled father. This is one of my favorite graphic novel series to recommend to middle graders who love adventure.

Finished copy provided by the publisher.

Poet Amanda Lovelace Recommends Great YA Novels in Verse

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I’m really excited to share a guest post today from none other than Amanda Lovelace. You may know her as the author of the Goodreads award winning poetry collection the princess saves herself in this one. Her next book of poetry, the witch doesn’t burn in this one, hits shelves tomorrow (March 6). Amanda loves YA lit and I’m thrilled she’s here to share some of her favorite YA verse novels — and as much as it’s a format I read a lot of, Amanda’s offered up a selection of books I needed to add to my TBR myself.

Without further ado, welcome Amanda!

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In the wake of Rupi Kaur’s two massively successful poetry collections, milk and honey and the sun and her flowers, the world has decided it’s ravenous for more poetry. One of the many reasons why Kaur’s collections resonate with so many is because they both tell a tale, from beginning to end, in what some might consider a series of poem vignettes. Unfortunately, these types of poetry collections don’t seem to be too common (yet!), but you’re in luck, because novels told in the verse style get the same job done, and there’s plenty of them out there for you to devour while you wait for your next poetry fix!

 

Here are 5 of my favorites (all descriptions from Goodreads), in no particular order:

 

 

1) Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough (March 6th) (YA) – “Her mother died when she was twelve, and suddenly Artemisia Gentileschi had a stark choice: a life as a nun in a convent or a life grinding pigment for her father’s paint.

She chose paint.

By the time she was seventeen, Artemisia did more than grind pigment. She was one of Rome’s most talented painters, even if no one knew her name. But Rome in 1610 was a city where men took what they wanted from women, and in the aftermath of rape Artemisia faced another terrible choice: a life of silence or a life of truth, no matter the cost.”

 

 

 

 

2) The Lightning Dreamer by Margarita Engle (YA) – “Opposing slavery in Cuba in the nineteenth century was dangerous. The most daring abolitionists were poets who veiled their work in metaphor. Of these, the boldest was Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, nicknamed Tula. In passionate, accessible verses of her own, Engle evokes the voice of this book-loving feminist and abolitionist who bravely resisted an arranged marriage at the age of fourteen, and was ultimately courageous enough to fight against injustice. Historical notes, excerpts, and source notes round out this exceptional tribute.”

 

 

3) A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman (YA) – “Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance—so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered. For a girl who’s grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest dancers. Then Veda meets Govinda, a young man who approaches dance as a spiritual pursuit. As their relationship deepens, Veda reconnects with the world around her, and begins to discover who she is and what dance truly means to her.”

 

 

 

 

4) Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott (YA) – “A novel in verse, Paper Hearts is the story of survival, defiance, and friendship. Based on historical events about a group of girls who were slave laborers at the munitions factory in Auschwitz.”

 

 

 

 

5) Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (MG) – “Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.”

 

 

growing up a word-devourer & avid fairy tale lover, it was only natural that amanda lovelace began writing books of her own, & so she did. when she isn’t reading or writing, she can be found waiting for pumpkin spice coffee to come back into season & binge-watching gilmore girls. (before you ask: team jess all the way.) the lifelong poetess & storyteller currently lives in new jersey with her husband, their bunnycat, & a combined book collection so large it will soon need its own home. she has her B.A. in english literature with a minor in sociology. her first collection, the princess saves herself in this one, won the goodreads choice award for best poetry of 2016.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

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Stevie Bell has been accepted into Ellingham Academy, a prestigious boarding school with no formal application – teenagers who want to attend simply write to the school, stating why they think they should be granted admission. Stevie is a true crime aficianado, and the powers-that-be at Ellingham think she belongs there. Stevie is eager to get away from her parents, who want her to focus more on dating and less on murder, but what she really wants is to solve the Ellingham cold case.

Wealthy tycoon and lover of games and riddles Albert Ellingham founded the school in the 1930s as a place where, according to him, “learning is a game.” But soon after it opened, his best intentions backfired in the most horrifying way: his wife and young daughter were kidnapped by someone who left a riddle as a calling card, signing it “Truly Devious.” They were never found and the crime was never solved, though someone was convicted of it (that someone died soon after). Stevie knows this is one of the greatest challenges she could undertake, and she makes it the focus of her senior project.

But things are about to get very real and a lot less cold at Ellingham. One of the students dies under mysterious circumstances, and the incident has overtones of Truly Devious. Stevie doesn’t know who to trust as she faces solving a cold case along with a very hot one. Is it an accident, as the school administrators claim? Or is one of her classmates guilty of a horrible crime? And is it connected to the original Ellingham kidnappings – has Truly Devious returned?

This is such a cool setup. I love mysteries set in two different time periods, where two different crimes could be connected – or maybe not. It adds layers to the mystery and makes it that much more intriguing. Of course, when you have two mysteries within a single book, there’s a lot riding on how they both turn out. Ideally, both solutions are equally ingenious. Ideally, the reader gets two solutions. Less ideally but still acceptable, the reader gets at least one really good solution and then learns that life sometimes doesn’t give you all the answers and is satisfied with forever not knowing the other solution.

Unfortunately for readers of Truly Devious, there are no solutions given here. Neither mystery is solved. Sure, we get one big revelation concerning each near the end, but an actual whodunnit? Nope. The book ends with To Be Continued (and probably a lot of groans of frustration).

By reading through the Goodreads reviews, I can tell you that this doesn’t bother everyone. Readers seem to be split half and half. And despite this glaring flaw of no resolution to a mystery (which is a requirement for the genre, much like a happily ever after in romance), this is a mostly well-written book with an intriguing plot and interesting characters. There’s going to be a sequel, of course, so readers who need solutions to the mysteries they read can wait for that and then read both books together as if they were one very long book (assuming, that is, we get answers in Book 2).

The book is a bit slow to get going; the modern-day death doesn’t happen until about halfway through. Not all of the cast of characters felt distinct, even by the end. The exceptions are the the amateur sleuth (Stevie), the love interest, the prime suspect, and the murdered teen, whose personalities come through clearly on the page. There’s also a bit of politics thrown in in the form of a fictional congressman who shares commonalities with many powerful Republicans today, which I think teens will appreciate – it brings a currency to the story that counterbalances the historical crime. I’m hoping that this facet of the story is explored more fully in the next book, including how and if it connects to either murder.

Ultimately, though, I was Truly Disappointed by this book. Maureen Johnson, I wanted to like it – but why’d you have to leave me in the lurch like this?

Copy provided by the publisher.

 

Anatomy of a YA Anthology: On ALL OUT, edited by Saundra Mitchell

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“Anatomy of a YA Anthology” is back with a brand new anthology to spotlight with an editor who has had experience with the process of anthology creation before, All Out edited by Saundra Mitchell. All Out hits shelves tomorrow, February 27, and the reviews of the collection have been nothing short of positive.

 

Your Name

Saundra Mitchell

 

Your Anthology’s Name

All Out: The Not-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages

 

Anthology Description

From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, forbidden love in a sixteenth-century Spanish convent or an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene, ALL OUT tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten.

 

How did you get your idea/what was the initial spark?

I had edited an anthology before (Defy the Dark, Harper, 2013) and I was raring to go again. My agent (Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret) mentioned one day that he would love to do a queer historical anthology. I took that as an invitation and dropped a proposal in his inbox the next day.

 

Where did you begin researching your idea and/or developing the idea into a more clear, focused concept?

After the initial proposal, Jim and I hammered out specifically what ALL OUT should be. We’re both queer, and it was easy to figure out what we didn’t want: the moralistic, miserable stories that were available to US as teens. It was important from the start that ALL OUT be the anthology we wish *we’d* had at sixteen. You know, stories about queer characters having adventures, living in cursed towns, discovering magic, abandoning Hollywood…

The historical aspect was important to us as well– queer history isn’t taught in schools. It’s kept and carried on through universities, but also oral histories. So we wanted an anthology that reflected the fact that there have always been queer teens, even if they were made invisible in the history books. It’s a lighthouse for queer teens: you’re not alone, and you’ve never been alone.

 

How did you find your writers?

I asked all of my colleagues whom I knew were queer– because I love, love, love working with my friends. Then, I crept around like a creeper asking authors I love (but didn’t know) if they might possibly be queer, because I wanted to invite them to an antho. I really did that. I sent multiple messages on Twitter that started with, “This is the rudest question in the universe, and I apologize, but…”

I visited multiple Twitter chats, including #TransLitChat and #AceLitChat, because the few trans and ace authors I personally know were unavailable. The goal was to make sure that as many kids as possible could see themselves represented in this anthology. I’m delighted to say that I met the wonderful Nilah Magruder through #AceLitChat.

Finally, my agent told me he’d just signed a new author that he thought would be perfect for the project. I had had open calls for the final slot in DEFY THE DARK, because I love working with new, unpublished authors, so I was thrilled to take his suggestion. That’s how we got the extraordinary Tehlor Kay Meija!

 

How did writers pick their story or essay topic ideas?

I asked each of these authors to write the story they wish they could have read when they were wee queer teens. The only constraint is that it had to take place no later than 1999.

 

As an editor, were you responsible for contracts between you and your writers? Did your publisher or agent handle the administrative/legal side of things?

I control the vertical! I control the horizontal! All of my authors are contracted to me. My agent and I negotiated all contract changes with contributor agents. I contact the contributors and their agents with all business details, requests and information. I built my schedule based on the publisher’s delivery schedule, and then I held my authors to it. Normally, I would also process all payments and tax documents, but my agency was kind enough to remit checks for me this time. (My personal publishing schedule was so hectic that I was afraid I might miss something.) When it comes time for royalty statements, I’ll also be generating and sending those out, as well.

 

How did the editing process work between you and your writers?

I am a hands-on editor when it comes to anthologies. Some authors bounced ideas off of me; some went away to write their stories, and returned with them. No matter how I got the first drafts, I carefully read each one. I wrote revision letters and in-line notes on the first drafts.

This is the first point where I involved sensitivity readers. Many authors wrote their own representation, and many included others in their stories, as well. So we wanted to make sure that we got it as right as we possibly could. In addition to Sensitivity Readers, I also referenced a variety of inclusivity sites and guidelines like Disability in Kidlit and We Need Diverse Books.

I talked to a few authors on Skype, because they preferred to go over notes that way. I think I also did a couple of Google Chats with some authors, because real-time discussion is more organic than long e-mail chains. Basically, a pretty standard first draft/first letter situation, I think.

Once an author finished their revisions, I re-read. If there were any remaining major issues, I wrote another letter or more in-line notes. Mostly, at this point, though, it was line editing and minor suggestions. There was one author at this point who requested another sensitivity pass, because she was concerned about the trans representation in her story.

I am *so* glad she followed her instincts and spoke up on that. I sourced three more transgender readers for it, and they all zeroed in on a particular passage. I had missed it on multiple reads, but the trans readers found it instantly.

Once I had all the stories, I sent them on to TS Ferguson, my editor at HarlequinTEEN for his pass. He had very few notes (yay!) and returned them to me with copyediting. When it came to copyedits, I did most of them, but I passed them on to individual authors if there were rewriting queries, or queries where I felt the author might have strong feelings. (Do you want this to be a semi-colon, or a comma? Did you mean to use this word twice here? Is this the best word here?)

I gathered all the copyedited stories and sent them back to HarlequinTEEN, and off it went to become a book! When the typeset pages came back, I passed PDFs to each author so they could have one more look at their story. This is when we discovered that all of the primary-language, non-English words had been italicized. I asked TS to change those back, which was no problem! But it was a fun challenge, because one story, which is written in English with primary-Spanish speakers and Spanish words (not italicized) which also included secondary-French language (italicized!) I asked for a third-pass copyedit on that story, just to focus on the language.

(Seriously, y’all. This is how the sausage gets made!)

 

Money talk: how did you get paid for your work? How did your writers get paid?

HarlequinTEEN won the auction for ALL OUT, and they paid me a standard advance. Half on signing, and then the balance on Delivery & Acceptance.

I split the total amount of the advance in half. One half was mine, the other half was split among the contributors. I paid them on the same schedule that I got paid: half on signing, half on D&A. This is how royalties will be paid out, as well– the authors will be paid when I get paid.

 

What role did you take on as editor of the anthology? Were you hands on? Hands off?

I try to be the editor that the authors need. So if they want me down in the trenches with them, that’s where I’ll be. If they want to go away and hide, and come back with a story, I leave them alone. I try not to be intrusive; I try to time reminders and or requests carefully, so no one is overwhelmed. For me, the anthology is a big project. For the contributors, this is one story they’re writing, in the midst of their primary career.

 

How did you communicate changes and/or concerns between writer and your editor/publisher?

I have had such a great relationship with TS at HarlequinTEEN. He has treated me as the editor and helm of this project from the beginning. Any questions, problems or issues I had, I felt 100% comfortable taking directly to him as a peer. He put a lot of trust in me, and allowed me to steer this collection on my own, and I really appreciate that. (I do want to say that this was the same relationship I had with the editor on DEFY THE DARK, as well. Anne Hoppe is a dream of a collaborative editor!)

 

When it came to the package of your anthology, how much say did you have in the cover or design? How much were contributors involved in that part of the process?

The contributors weren’t involved in the package and design, except to the extent that I sent them comps so they could see where the cover was headed, and let them know what the final cover was. I feel like I had a lot of say in the cover design– TS and HarlequinTEEN took my and my agent’s suggestions seriously. We went through a lot of different covers, trying to get just the right one. (And if you’ve seen an advance copy of ALL OUT, you’ll note it has a different cover from the final. Everybody worked SO hard to get this cover right!)

 

What was your favorite part of the anthology creation process?

I love, love, love reading the stories. I really do. The magical thing about anthologies for me is that I get to ask my favorite authors to write stories *just for me*. It’s a book lover’s dream.

 

What was your least favorite part?

Ugh. I hate it when I have to ask an author to start over, or to radically change what’s on the page. It’s demoralizing as an author to get those requests, and I hate to give them. But, through two anthologies I’ve learned, sometimes those reboots turn into the most extraordinary stories in the collection.

 

What were some of the biggest lessons you as an editor learned in creating an anthology?

I’ve learned so much about how other authors work. How their language works, how they draft. What the difference between their initial idea and their final piece can be. I’ve also learned that the thing I think is the best fix sometimes isn’t. I encouraged one author here to just retool the ending of a story. They decided to start over… and their new story blew me away. It’s a good reminder that my job as editor is to help the author shine.

 

If you aren’t already working on another anthology, would you do another one? Why/why not?

Honestly, I’m an anthology maniac. If I could start another one today, I would. I have a concept and a wish-list of authors sitting on my hard drive right now. Alas, I must wait. ALL OUT comes out February 27, and I actually have several novels under contract that I need to work on as well. But I would do it again in a heartbeat. I love working with other authors. I love creating collections that I think teens will love. The process is frustrating and chaotic and infuriating and exhilarating and delicious. I hope there are so many more to come!