Anyhoot, I had a great few days up north, first visiting family and friends and then heading off to Monday's SLJ Day of Dialog and Tuesdays BEA. It was a whirlwind trip that left me exhausted, but also excited about the plethora of upcoming releases and anxious for the next school year, even though this one hasn't quite ended just yet. There's so much to say that I could blab on and on about it, but instead, I will limit myself to my Top 5 Takeaways for each of the two conference days.
Top 5 Takeaways from SLJ's Day of Dialog:
1. I don't think it is possible to have spent a better $29.99 (I'm an SLJ subscriber) on anything, ever. Breakfast, ARCs, author panels, lunch, author signings, a cocktail party AND the company of school librarians? Unbeatable.
2. Katherine Paterson's keynote shows she's quite the character. And here I confess that I don't believe I've ever read any of her work. Addressing this ASAP.
3. Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) is just as witty and sarcastic in person as he is on paper. Moreover, though I think Tim Curry (a favorite of mine) does the voice work on his audiobooks, I highly recommend he do it himself, as his voice is rich and just simply amazing and his timing spot on.
4. Dave Roman and John Green (no, not THAT John Green, another one) are partnering to bring you the graphic novel Teen Boat. It's inspired by the 80s cartoon Turbo Teen (think one part Night Rider, one part Teen Wolf, all parts awesome), which probably no one other than me and my three siblings has ever heard of, but I'm so excited about this that it's embarassing.
5. Adam Gidwitz looks like a young Edward Norton. And more to the point, even though I haven't yet read A Tale Dark and Grimm
, he's so approachable and funny that I'm going to look into having him come to my school next year.Top 5 Takeaways from BEA:
1. People are ruthless and fairly ridiculous about getting free ARCs. Most of them don't even seem to care what the book is, as long as it is free.
2. Speed Dating with Children's Authors was dizzyingly and amazingly fantastic. I arrived early and scoped out the table that had stacks of bound sample pages from James Dashner's Death Cure
and waited patiently for his arrival. He was early and I got to chat with him for several minutes before the event began. Rock!3. Lunch options at the Javitz Center are NOT tasty and are VERY expensive. Next time, I'm registering for the Librarian's Lunch, which is free AND tasty. Mad props to the SLJ/LJ Librarian's Lounge which picked up the Javitz Center food offerings slack by providing tasty nibbles and beverages, a place to sit and compose oneself and good company.
4. If you are nice and not grabby and greedy, the publisher staffs can be really great resources. So friendly and helpful and willing to grab an ARC from the locked cabinet for you if you let them know you won't be there for the signing the next day, are really excited about a specific title and are both a school librarian and blogger.
5. The YA Editor's Buzz never fails to disappoint. The only thing that could have made it better would be not forgetting to have someone put out the ARCs at the end. They were stacked in the back in boxes, but no staff person manned the operation. ARC craziness ensued.
The SLJ Day of Dialog and BEA are definitely two of my favorite book events. I'll be writing more about the ARCs I picked up as soon as I get a chance to read them. Until then, I'll be looking to see how everyone else enjoyed their SLJ Day of Dialog and BEA!
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was that trees are evil. But like vampires and werewolves and zombies before it*, it seems like it's a thing. If two creepy covers can be "a thing". Do two covers make a trend?
Season of Secrets
by Sally Nichols
Sweetly
by Jackson Pearce
I haven't done a Tween Tuesday post in quite some time, but was inspired to do so today after receiving a copy of the soon-to-be-released 
in the mail from Amulet. This journal is an update from a previous release, but has (says the press release) "more than 60 new pages" and "includes 32 pages of full-color comics." The book is filled with prompts including "Unfinished Comics," "Your Desert Island Picks" and "Which Would You Rather Do?" (ex. Wear the same Halloween costume every year OR Wear the same pair of socks for a week - I choose Halloween costume!). The pages that gave me the biggest laugh were Rodrick's Activity Pages which featured things like an impossible to solve (literally) maze and questions like, "Answer this question yes or no only: Q: Are you embarrassed that you popped in your diaper today?*" Such a gem!
, and it's not because I'm not still ridiculously excited about it and the fact that they're making a movie. I haven't agreed with some of the casting decisions so I've decided it's better to just sit silently and wait for the movie to come together and then place judgment. Plus, I've been busily preparing for my 
in November of 2007, I have been stalking* him in an attempt to find out any information possible about any upcoming projects. Today that wait is FINALLY over! It has been 
fame) have co-written a novel, The Future of Us, which is set to release under Penguin's Razorbill imprint this fall.
since before its release, and I read-aloud to my 8th graders from Ryan Mecum's 
and we all loved it (even if some people had to hold down the vomit in their throats), and I loved the movies 
and 
. So what was I waiting for?
in full. The book is a series of haiku poems written by a man trying to escape a zombie apocalypse. It was a quick and relatively pain
, so I should've known what to expect, but I foolishly thought it couldn't be as disgusting. I was wrong.
(the first in a planned trilogy). This was more my style and I quickly became engrossed in the story. In zombie-apocalypse California, multi-racial (Caucasian and Japanese) protagonist Benny Imura has reached the age where he must decide on a career. Since his parents death (and subsequent zombification) when Benny was young, he has been raised by his emotionally distant half-brother Tom, a zombie bounty hunter. Benny had planned on a career within the safety of the fences, but Tom invites him to train with him out in the Rot & Ruin, and he quickly discovers that "killing zoms" more about brains than braun and that zombies 
. Wow! I can't believe it took me this long to finally get around to reading these books. Why didn't I just listen when everyone was raving about the first one years ago?
(thank goodness the 
was *just* released) in a matter of days. But if you're still not sure it's something you're interested in, watch this trailer.
Forbidden
by Tabitha Suzuma
by Amanda Grace
by James Klise
Fifteen-year-old Jamie is dismayed by his attraction to boys, and when a beautiful girl shows an interest in him, he is all the more intrigued by her father's work developing a drug called Rehomoline.
by Blake Nelson
by Elizabeth Berkley
, but she sticks to the shorter 
mysteries.
has also been quite popular with both my 7th grade girls who LOVE to read, and also those who avoid it like the plague. What other titles under or around 200 pages do you recommend?