Once upon a time, a customer tapped a book that was facing out on the shelf. It was called This Lullaby. Her finger still on the cover, she turned to me. "Have you read this ( Read more... )

Deb Caletti imbues all of her stories with realistic sensibility and captivating characters. At the risk of sounding foolish while attempting to be succinct, I will say that I love all of her books, I recommend all of her books, and I think you should get them all right now. ("You" meaning "all teens and adults ( Read more... )

Megan Shull writes truly refreshing and realistic stories for kids and teens. Here now are my thoughts on her three books to date.

Yours Truly, Skye O'Shea - Ages 8 and up ( Read more... )

If you are an artist of any kind - a writer, a poet, a singer, a painter, a filmmaker, anything creative - and Austin Kleon is not already on your radar, please tune in:

In his book Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative, Kleon encourages people to be confident when approaching their projects, even when that voice in ( Read more... )

Author, screenwriter, and composer Mary Rodgers has passed away ( Read more... )

Here's a special post spotlighting the Alice McKinley series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor ( Read more... )

Novels by Wendy Mass will make readers think about life on a grand scale as well as a more personal one.

A Mango-Shaped SpaceEvery turn of the page offers another peek into the mind of a 13-year-old girl named Mia. She sees colors related to numbers, letters and sounds but has kept this a secret ever since she was little and realized that other ( Read more... )

Last year, we lost acclaimed fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones. To honor her life and her legacy, Penguin Books and Firebird have organized a blog tour, which I'm honored to be a part of today ( Read more... )

Natasha Friend tackles some big questions in her books: What if you finally became friends with someone popular - but the friendship hurt you? What if your best friend encouraged your eating disorder? What if your parent got remarried to someone with half a dozen other kids? What if you had to move? What if your parent was an alcoholic? Yet her ( Read more... )

For years, as I would assist kids in the bookstore who enjoyed fantasy, sci-fi, and horror novels, I would think, "These kids will love books by Christopher Golden . . . in ten years ( Read more... )