FFFT: It's been too long

1. If you're into lists or looking for books beyond my blog to read, here's a few more BEST BOOKS lists:
The Teens Are All Right: 2011's Top 5 YA Novels from NPR
100 Titles for Reading and Sharing: Children's Books 2011! from the New York Public Library
2012 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults from the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA)

So many books, so little time! Some of books listed on the above lists have been reviewed on the blog- check them out!

2. From the wonderful Cassandra Clare's blog (if you like the Mortal Instruments or Infernal Devices series, you'll love this blog), a definition of YA:

For adults who read YA

“To my mind, YA is a subset of adult fiction, not of children’s fiction, and should be considered as having an entry reading age rather than an age *range*. The entry level is probably 13 or 14, but there is no upper level because the books are also for adults. Saying YA is 13-21, or 13-18 or whatever misses the point, because it suggests that the books are not for older adults, whereas I would say that in fact the core audience of people reading YA (and YA SFF in particular) are in fact 16-35. But this is only the core and the readership extends more broadly upward in age and down as well.” [From Podcast Coode Street Episode 20, second comment]
— Definition by Garth Nix. Love it!
Cassandra, I love it, and I love you!

3. SECRET WORLDS!! What all my favorite books are about. Read about the connection between Narnia, Hogwarts, and more! Quote: "It’s no wonder that these stories don’t just draw teens in droves, they draw adults, too." Brilliance written, of course, by Cassandra Clare.


4. Wonder what goes on behind the publishing curtain? Another favorite author of mine, Veronica Roth, reveals all!

5. Still wondering why George is curious or what the Brown Bear actually sees? Check out this funny article debunking famous children's books! 

Friday Food for Thought

Fridays are hereby designated as days for sharing. I always find lots of neat stuff online through the week relating to YA lit and to books in general, and I want to share it with you. This week’s finds include:

The world’s smallest library

Book art in Edinburgh

 This is now my computer background- so beautiful! 

Have you heard about the gay-YA hoopla? This sums it up better than I ever could, but it is a bit lengthy. The gist I got was that earlier this week, an literary agency was reported to have suggested an author "straighten" a gay character. The internet exploded in protest, and many authors and publishers insisted they would never do this. Eventually, everyone agreed that YA books should have diverse characters, and to show publishers/authors/agents your support, readers should buy books that have gay (or other diverse) characters. As @maureenjohnson likes to remind me on Twitter, #YAsaves. Kids need books like these too. (Has anyone read Will Grayson, Will Grayson? Great book with gay characters.)

I also read (okay, skimmed, there were a lot of names and numbers) an interesting article about children's bookstores in the tough economy. You can read it here. They remain positive and slightly hopeful about the position of children's books, but I was miffed at their reporting. Being a Kansas City native, I noticed that while our favorite indie bookstore, Rainy Day Books gets the article lead, our well-known exclusive seller of children's books, The Reading Reptile, isn't mentioned at all (is this article about kid booksellers or isn't it?). It's easy to think that the big bookstores are the indie's worst competition, and now that Borders is gone, the indies will do better. But maybe competition between the indies will now grow worse, and that's not necessarily a good thing.

Just food for thought.