The News

As many of you have heard by now, I am leaving Flux and Llewellyn on September 26 to take the editorial directorship of Carolrhoda, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group in Minneapolis, where I will be acquiring children's books of all sorts for all ages (including YA). I do this with a good deal of sadness because my time working at Flux (and keeping this blog) has been the most rewarding of my career, but this new challenge is very exciting and offers me unique opportunities. I simply cannot pass it up (and yes, I will continue to blog. After Sept. 26, go here for details.).

I have tried to send an email to all Flux authors, but inevitably somebody will get missed or Spam filtered, so please do give me a call if you have questions or concerns. I look forward to speaking with as many of you as possible.

Thanks so much to all of you who made this such a great three years. Please keep in touch.

That new Google Browser

No, I'm not going to geek out on you (though I could). But even if you're not interested in Google's Chrome, it's worth checking out the comic famed comics artist Scott McCloud created to explain the thing. (New York Times article here.)

Tad Mack on REMEMBER THIS

Readers' Rants just posted a delightful review of S.T. Underdahl's Remember This.
"A heartbreaking, fabulous family novel. Bring your tissues."

Good notices for LAMENT

Maggie's book is just now heading out of the warehouse, and we're hearing good things. Like this, from Book Divas.

" I was not able to put the book down until I read the final page."

Or this from Readers' Rants.

SLJ for JUMP THE CRACKS

School Library Journal just posted a very positive review of Stacy DeKeyser's YA debut, Jump the Cracks.

"DeKeyser accurately describes the thought process that Victoria goes through as she comes to the realization of what she's done. While at the heart of her choices is her anger over her parents' divorce, the author does not oversimplify the situation. Teens are sure to find this an interesting read."

More cover love

At SuperPunch.

An interview with Emily Wing Smith

When a book design is finished and we find we've got extra pages in the last signature, Production Editor Sandy, Designer Steff, Marketing People, and I talk about how we can fill them. More often then not, we end up doing an interview or perhaps discussion questions, and more often than not, I get to do the interviewing. Most recently, Steff finished the design for The Way He Lived, and I sent Emily six questions. Her answers are, as I expected, very thoughtful, but I thought her answer to my last question was particularly worth sharing early.

AK: The young adult genre has gotten a lot of attention lately, and there's a lot of discussion about what makes a book "YA," as opposed to "adult." In your mind, what makes this book YA?


EWS: I didn’t give any thought to whether or not my book would be young adult. I’ve wanted to write young adult fiction since the time I was a young adult myself. I read YA literature in junior high and high school, studied YA literature in college, and specialized in YA literature in graduate school. I feel the same way a lot of YA authors feel: that in my heart, I will forever be seventeen years old.

My own feelings aside, however, I think The Way He Lived is a young adult book because of its tone. While many books for adults feature young adult characters, adult books generally have the tone of “look at what I’ve learned.” The tone in my book (and I think this is true of young adult books in general) is “learn with me.”