The Horror Writers Association has announced the finalists for the 2012 Bram Stoker Awards, which recognizes the best in horror and dark fiction.
Here are the nominees for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel:
Bray, Libba – The Diviners
Lyga, Barry – I Hunt Killers
Maberry, Jonathan – Flesh & Bone
McCarty, Michael – I Kissed A Ghoul
Stiefvater, Maggie – The Raven Boys
Strand, Jeff – A Bad Day for Voodoo
Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman
Back in the 1830s, there were no women doctors, only men could have that career. But also growing up in the 1830s was a young girl who would end up changing that. Elizabeth Blackwell was not particularly well behaved: she was always exploring, working to toughen herself up, and even carried her brother over her head until he backed down. Elizabeth had not dreamed of becoming a doctor, but she was inspired when an friend mentioned how much nicer it would have been to be examined by a woman. When Elizabeth started talking about her new dream, people mocked her and told her it was impossible. She applied to school after school, until finally the 29th school she applied for said yes! But Elizabeth would have to face additional challenges in school and beyond as well. This is the story of a woman who would not take no for an answer and the way that she changed the face of medicine along the way.
Stone has written a very engaging biography of Blackwell. Much of the story is spent on her childhood and the challenges she faced getting into medical school. I love the image of a spunky young girl who just wants to explore and demonstrates determination from a very young age. She is an inspiring figure for youth, someone who discovered her dream and stood by it despite the many obstacles in her way and the mockery she endured. Stone’s author’s note continues Blackwell’s story and offers a photograph of the real Dr. Blackwell.
Priceman’s illustrations done in gouache and India ink are filled with bright colors. They bring the past to life, showing the energy of the young Elizabeth Blackwell and incorporating the vistas and buildings of the 1800s. While they are bright and vibrant, they also serve to make sure that readers are cognizant of the period in which the book takes place.
Blackwell is a real-life heroine that young readers should be aware of. This bright and welcoming new biography for younger readers is a welcome addition to library collections. Appropriate for ages 6-9.
Reviewed from copy received from Henry Holt and Co.
Here are the links I shared on my Twitter and Pinterest accounts this week that you might find interesting:
CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Cressida Cowell’s top 10 mythical creatures | Children’s books – http://buff.ly/XfVDjs
Illustrator Sophie Blackall on Subversive Storytelling, Missed Connections, and Optimism | Brain Pickings http://bit.ly/YBpAHO
Indian children’s books find readers worldwide – NY Daily Newshttp://buff.ly/15iJkXf
Nonfiction 10 for 10 List for 2013! | There’s a Book for That – http://buff.ly/XnZNTx
‘Red Kite, Blue Kite’ and ‘Fish for Jimmy’ – http://buff.ly/XpTU8g
School Library Journal’s Battle of the Kids’ Books http://buff.ly/XNUlfC
Why I Love Dirty Children’s Books | GeekDad http://buff.ly/12kD2Xi
EBOOKS
Four companies that are changing digital reading in Africa — paidContent http://buff.ly/1333zEk
Is Amazon About to Break the Law? TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics http://buff.ly/15siD2m
Killing the Pay First, Read Later E-bookselling Model | Publishing Perspectives http://buff.ly/Xmdja9
LIBRARIES
25 Writers on the Importance of Libraries – Flavorwire http://buff.ly/XULAk0
Jeff Sturges on libraries and makerspaces | ALA TechSource – http://buff.ly/15srelv
Terry Pratchett: ‘I taught myself more in the library than the school taught me’ – video-Children’s books http://buff.ly/15s8y5j
Vine Offers Boundless Creativity for Libraries; Have You Heard? – Blog http://buff.ly/Xmd7Yo
Why Libraries Should Be the Next Great Start-Up Incubators – Jobs & Economy-The Atlantic Cities http://buff.ly/Y38mX0
READING & WRITING
BBC News – War and Peace: Tolstoy novel to be adapted for BBC One http://buff.ly/15s2PN1
Defending the Freedom to Read http://buff.ly/Y57nFL
Lumio – the folding lamp that looks like a book – http://bit.ly/VOvrMZ
MAKE | MAKE Asks: Books that Inspire you to Make http://buff.ly/15s8u5Q
RT @bookpatrol: The end of an era: Reader’s Digest files for bankruptcy | @BloombergNews http://ow.ly/hOZC7
What 16 top #yalit literary #agents are looking for in the opening of your manuscript from @4YAlit #writing:http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.com/2013/02/inspired-openings-special-agent-edition.html …
TECHNOLOGY
All web pages ‘are 19 clicks away’ – Telegraph http://buff.ly/XmelTy
As 3-D Printing Becomes More Accessible, Copyright Questions Arise : All Tech Considered : NPR http://buff.ly/Xmvht9
Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder | Technology – http://buff.ly/RnaEQz
If A Social Network Falls In A Forest… | TechCrunch http://bit.ly/XKXv3I
The Risks of Music Piracy in 2013: http://mashable.com/2013/02/20/music-copyright-piracy-infographic/
Tumblr Is Not What You Think | TechCrunch http://j.mp/12CV9b7
TEEN READS
3 Social Media Lessons From Young Adults And The Authors Who Speak To Them | Co.Create – http://buff.ly/15vUojF
Comic-book superheroine Cat aims to see off gender stereotypes by being smart & fully clothed! |http://bit.ly/Y0pTPE
Glen Weldon On LGBT Characters In Graphic Novels : NPR – http://buff.ly/XpWoDv
How the internet is kickstarting a teen poetry revolution | Children’s books http://bit.ly/15uvn8A
The Millions : Walking Enigmas: On the Reading Habits of Teen Boys – http://buff.ly/12mc0iu
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley
Released April 2, 2013.
This memoir in graphic novel form details Lucy Knisley’s relationship and ongoing love affair with food throughout her childhood and young adulthood. With each chapter in the book showing an episode in her life that impacted how she related to food, Knisley has penned a book that is not at all about weight watching, but instead the story of how a gourmet is born. The daughter of a chef, Knisley grew up helping out at farm stalls and working at her mother’s catering jobs. She also details how her mother both introduced her to the wonders of food in both taste and the way it can connect people. Each chapter ends with a recipe, showing readers how to create their own sushi or navigate selecting a great cheese.
Knisley’s style is reminiscent of that of Raina Telgemeier with characters who are drawn with an innate humor but also a profound affection. Knisley writes of her relationship with food in particular, but the book is also a love letter to her mother and the impact she had on Knisley throughout her life. I am profoundly grateful for a book about a girl’s relationship with food that does not contain even a moment of weight concern or dieting. Instead it is about finding or creating great food in one’s life.
Funny and delicious, this book is sure to whet the appetite for more books by Knisley. Get it into the hands of teens who enjoyed the books by Telgemeier. Appropriate for ages 14-17.
Reviewed from digital galley received from Macmillan Children’s Publishing.
When No One Is Watching by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by David A. Johnson
With all of the discussion about quiet and introverted children in classrooms right now, this book could not be more timely. For those of us who were shy as children, you will recognize yourself in these pages. Told in first person, the young female narrator finds it easy to be herself when no one is watching. She is able to dance and spin when alone, but finds herself off to one side when her extended family gets together. Alone she can be brave and imaginative, when on the playground with other kids she leans alone against a wall. As the book progresses, another child suddenly pops out in the illustrations. It’s a new best friend, who is quiet and shy too. Together the two start to not care about who is watching them at all.
Spinelli does a great job of explaining the freedom of being alone, the imaginative play and the activity that happens when a child is comfortable and free. She contrasts that clearly in her poem, where the girl who had been brave and active is now quiet and unsure. Happily, Spinelli does not make this way of feeling seem wrong or strange. Rather, she has created a character who is shy but willing to make friends and starts to naturally progress to being more sure of herself.
Johnson’s illustrations have a marvelous texture to them. The main character pops on the pages, dressed in bright colors with wild curls and tumbling shoelaces, she is engaging and shining. The other characters fade into the background, until Loretta, the new best friend appears and is just as bright as the protagonist. It’s a subtle and successful look at connections between people.
A strong book that looks at shyness in positive and understanding way, this book will be embraced by children looking for someone just like them in the pages of a picture book. Appropriate for ages 4-6.
Reviewed from copy received from Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.
Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet by Andrea Cheng
Told in virtuoso verse, this is the true story of the life of Dave, an enslaved potter who lived in the years before and after Emancipation. Dave was an artist, most likely making over a thousand pieces of pottery in his lifetime of work of which only 170 survive today. He inscribed some of his pieces with either his own name, his master’s name and also poetry that he wrote, brief verses that offer a glimpse into his world. The amount of bravery that small act took is monumental, since Dave faced potential death because he was demonstrating his ability to read and write in a time when it was forbidden for slaves in South Carolina to do so. Dave serves both as an example of the injustice and brutality of slavery and also as a remarkable example of the artistry and strength of human beings.
Cheng tells Dave’s story in very short poems. They are not all in Dave’s voice, sometimes instead being in the voice of his owners, his wife, or his children. Cheng does not soften the harshness of slavery, offering poems that speak directly to the separation of families through selling them apart and the brutality of the punishments inflicted. I would not call it unflinching, because one can sense Cheng flinching alongside the reader as she captures the moment but also makes it completely human and important.
Cheng also did the woodcuts that accompany the poetry. They are a harmonious combination with the subject matter thanks to their rough edges and hand-hewn feel. Done only in black and white, they share the same powerful message as the poems.
This powerful book informs middle grade readers about a man who could have been one of the many lost faces of slavery but who through art and bravery had a voice. Appropriate for ages 12-15.
Reviewed from digital galley received from Lee & Low Books.
Flight 1-2-3 by Maria van Lieshout
Take a ride on a plane in this follow-up to Backseat A-B-See! The trip begins with a cab ride to the airport and asks readers what they see. There is 1 airport, 2 luggage carts, 3 check-in desks, and the book progresses to very large numbers, like 100 passengers and 33,000 feet. Van Lieshout uses all of the official signage you see around the airport to inspire her art. Those signs are on each page, right next to the numbers to help with counting. The characters too have a graphic, sign-like quality to them, though the main family has its own quirks like yellow tennis shoes and hair in a black ponytail.
With minimal text and art that is a playful look at official signage, this counting book will appeal to kids who love planes and also to those heading out on their first plane trip. Appropriate for ages 2-4.
Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
The second book in the Lunar Chronicles continues the story of Cinder, who is now imprisoned waiting to be taken to Luna. It is also the story of Scarlet, a newly introduced character, whose grandmother is missing. Scarlet refuses to give up on her grandmother, though no one is willing to help her. Eventually, she meets Wolf, a street fighter, who is willing to take her to where her grandmother is being held. Along the way, the stories of the two girls draw closer and closer together as the ties between them are clarified. The book rings with action and adventure, the echo of spaceships, and the wonder of mental Lunar abilities. Identities are revealed, friendships are forged, and one is left breathlessly waiting for book three.
Meyer writes an amazing tale. Her pacing is just right, lingering at moments that readers want to never end and rushing headlong into the action. The result is a riveting read, where the author has also created a world that is believable and intriguing. Her characterization is also strong, with now two incredible female protagonists. Perhaps best of all is that you can rely on Meyer to not have men rescue her heroines, in fact they are much more likely to be the ones rescuing the men.
So many series succumb to the sophomore slump, but this book is just as wild, riveting and immensely readable as the first. Appropriate for ages 15-18.
Reviewed from copy received from Feiwel and Friends.
The Museum by Susan Verde, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
Verde captures the energizing nature of a visit to an art museum. Told in first-person verse, the young female protagonist dances and spins through the gallery, drawing inspiration and emotion from the art around her. As she moves to a new piece of art, it evokes a new reaction that is entirely in keeping with the art in front of her. Finally, faced with a blank white canvas, she discovers that her own mind starts to fill in the art on its own. As she leaves the museum at the end of the day, her world is transformed by the art she has seen that she now carries along with her. This is an engaging story of a museum visit that is sure to inspire young readers to want to try it for themselves.
Verde’s verse is filled with motion and zing. While some may see visiting a museum as a more sedentary and intellectual activity, Verde fills it with motion and emotion alike. She conveys through the young girl’s physical reaction what is happening to her mentally. It is a very successful take on the transformational quality of art and how it can speak on many levels to viewers.
Reynolds’ art adds to the feel of motion and engagement in the book. His young figure is constantly in motion, even when she takes a short break, she is inspired by art. Reynolds’ illustrations are done in his signature fluid style, yet he is able to capture different art periods very effectively.
Ideal to use with a class before a museum exhibit or with children before a family visit to a museum, this is also a book that will inspire reflection about art during a regular day. Appropriate for ages 4-6.
Reviewed from copy received from Abrams.
