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My 5 favorite places to write…about

May24

Today’s WordCount Blogathon theme is “My 5 favorite places to write.” And here I am, hands flying across my computer keyboard. But I really don’t do my writing at my desk at all. That’s just where I rearrange the phrases and paragraphs that I’ve mulled over and polished and discarded and remade as I’m out walking in the mornings, crafting my book recommendations so that they’re just right.

And I find that the books I recommend often come from certain places that resonate repeatedly with YA readers. So here are my five favorite YA lit places to write about (with some BooksYALove recent and upcoming featured titles):

1) The future: Whether it’s the just-around-the-corner days of Awaken (5/23/11 post) and Trickster’s Girl (5/7/11 post) or the rocket-ship-in-the-driveway far-future of Ender’s Game (5/19/11 post) and Across the Universe (5/4/11 post), “speculative fiction” can be the ultimate in escapist literature.

2) Fantasy: but no rehashes, please! If the cover blurb is overrun with difficult character names or boy wizards or disparate friends on a quest for an obscure object, then it’ll get passed over. YA fantasy readers want real story in an unreal place (Green Angel and Green Witch), real feelings and questions in possibly unreal beings, like Kristin Cashore’s Fire who is a beautiful monster, and Lenah, a 500-year-old vampire who longs to be human again to end her Infinite Days.

3) Around the corner: realistic fiction that could be happening over on the next block (Zen & Xander Undone 5/8/11 post), where young people and families face difficult questions (Dancing Through the Snow 5/17/11 post), have to live through unfair situations (Blindsided 5/9/11 post), or just put up with everyday life together (Ten Miles Beyond Normal posting on 5/26/11).

4) A long time ago: historical fiction that explores life in another era, especially if young adults are featured, as in Julie Chibbaro’s Deadly typhoid epidemic and Celia Rees’ The Fool’s Girl set in Shakespeare’s day. Warriors in the Crossfire (5/3/11 post) and Heart of a Samurai are amazing, heartstopping.

5) Far away, in another land: fiction that brings us into another culture as an outsider sees it (Mamba Point) or as residents live it (Saraswati’s Way 5/15/11 post), books that give us perspectives on teens’ lives to inform our own, sometimes humorously (Sequins, Secrets & Silver Linings 5/12/11 post) and sometimes as a matter of life and death (This Thing Called the Future).

Hmmm…so my walks aren’t just strolls around the neighborhood; they’re writes and rewrites to invite readers to fascinating places through outstanding YA books.
See y’all later – it’s time for my walk!
**kmm

Haiku – editing your thoughts

May10

It’s the ultimate editor’s blue-pencil job: paring down your dreams, thoughts, inspirations, message, and intentions into that oh-so-regimented haiku format (and today’s Wordcount Blogathon theme). Yep, 5-7-5 pattern, no deviations (but no rhyme-requirements either).

‘T ain’t easy, but as an antidote to our these-days tendency toward logorrhea (and blogorrhea), the disciplines of haiku can make us slow down, refocus, edit our writing, pare it down to the essentials.

Zen Ties  is the second of John Muth’s books [YouTube book trailer] about a Zen master panda living in a regular American neighborhood [publisher site] – this time Koo, his haiku-speaking nephew, comes to visit:

Tea was very good
My cup holds emptiness now
Where should I put it?

There can also be a humorous side to haiku’s rigor, as shown by Guyku: a Year of Haiku for Boys,  by Bob Raczka and Peter H. Reynolds [review] [publisher site], which features this summer-related guyku:

Lying on the lawn,
we study the blackboard sky,
connecting the dots.

The GiggleIT Project is a free international online writing project for students, and it includes haiku as one of its 2011 competitions. Once their teacher or librarian registers a class/group, then students’ creative writing and artwork can be showcased to a world audience. I should know, since I’m the GiggleIT publicity chair!

Voices of children,
All colors and all ages,
Lift us with laughter.
**kmm

Why do we read, anyway?

May6

So, why? Why do we read fiction, specifically?

It’s easy to talk about all the reasons that we read informational texts – we need to know how to do something or where to get something or how we got to where we are now.

But fiction fills a different role in our lives. Sometimes we read fiction to affirm our own worldview, selecting authors and titles that we know that we’ll be comfortable with. Series and novels with predictable plots can be soothing, a stable place to escape for a while from an unpredictable real world.

Other times, we’re reading fiction that races in completely the opposite direction, taking us into the life of someone so unlike us that we simply must leave behind a preconception or two so that we can dive into their story as it carries us along. Or we’re suddenly in a place whose rules don’t correspond to what we understand as normal, regular, and routine.

You’ll probably find more of the latter than the former recommended on this blog. After all, don’t the bestsellers usually appeal to the masses? Oh, sometimes a novel from one of the BigName publishers will wander onto this list, but not because it satisfies the majority viewpoint, I promise!

And back to why we read fiction – research reported in Psychological Science notes that “When we read, we psychologically become part of the community described in the narrative—be they wizards or vampires. That mechanism satisfies the deeply human, evolutionarily crucial, need for belonging.” (Becoming a Vampire). (Hat tip to Barking Up the Wrong Tree)

So whether you read for information or escape or belonging, let’s get beyond the bestsellers to the really good stuff, shall we?
**kmm

Blogathon 2011

May1

badge for WordCount Blogathon 2011 Participant
Yes, I signed up for the Blogathon 2011 challenge as set forth by http://michellerafter.com/the-2011-wordcount-blogathon/ to blog every single day in May.

Why? So we bloggers can make our communication a habit, so we can be intentional about creating that good habit, maybe so we can make sure we really have something to say after all!

But the best thing for me is that nudging from comrades-in-arms who’ve also signed up for Blogathon – we’re all trying to keep each other on track and posting daily.

So, away we go, in the merrie, merrie month of May, with good books just ahead….

The right book for the right reader

May1

Did you ever get a recommendation for a book or movie that was just-right, that struck a chord in your heart, that you quoted from long afterward?

This blog will introduce you to young adult (YA) books of every genre, books that often take place far beyond our own neighborhood, yet show us ourselves in a new light. Many are from smaller publishers or first-time authors. All are worth your consideration.

If you’re in high school or older, every book on this blog is for you. I’ll note any significant situations of violence that may disturb sensitive readers, but will assume that you know yourself well enough to put aside any book that embarrasses or bores you. I agree with Daniel Pennac’s Rights of the Reader, seen with Quentin Blake’s illustrations at http://www.walker.co.uk/UserFiles/file/Rights%20of%20the%20reader/NYOR_ROTR.pdf

I blog about fascinating, underappreciated YA books because I’ve fallen in love with them or the characters won’t let me go or the situation portrayed is so startling that I have to make sure you have a chance to experience it, too. Many publishers send me books, and I am free to review or discard any title.

For starting me on the book recommendation path, I thank Barb Langridge with all my heart; every recommendation posted originally on her wonderful site www.abookandahug.com (where I continue to recommend great books for kids, tweens, and teens) will be tagged as such. All selectors’ notes are new to this blog, but no story spoilers are ever given!!

Please share what you think about the books – talking about what we’ve read just makes it better!