Happy St. Patty's Day!!

Just a little something to brighten your St. Patrick's Day!

Cover Love!

It's time for cover love!

Let's start with A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.

(From left to right: US, German, Spanish)

I think the US cover is great because it shows that the book is a historical YA but what it doesn't show is that there are paranormal aspects as well. That's what the Spanish cover conveys better. I like how the S of Spence glows and the unusual necklace around the girl's neck. The colors of the German cover are lovely but I wish it was a bit darker.

(Indonesian, French, Dutch)
I'm not sure about the French cover. Normally I'm all for dark covers but this one just doesn't appeal to me at all.

Next: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

(US, German, Czech)

I guess everyone has seen the US cover with the red apple before. It's eyecatching but I'm not sure if I actually like it. I think I prefer the German version, though it has a historical touch.

(Russian, Indonesian, Thai)

The Russian as well as the Czech cover remind me of The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I really like the Thai version. Sorry that it's so small!

Next: Percy Jackson -The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

(US?, UK, Dutch)
This is MG, so the feel of the cover is a bit different. All of the Percy Jackson covers fit the plot but my favorite is the UK version.

(German, German, Indonesian)

Often, the German covers are really lovely but I'm not sure what to think about the first one. It's kind of funny I guess, so that might be good for Middle Graders but on the other hand I feel that it's a bit uninspired. The second German version is much better imo.

So what are your favorite covers of the above?

Bad Blurb Tuesday!

To kick off a new weekly segment, Bad Blurb Tuesdays, let’s take a look at my off-the-cuff try at a jacket-copy blurb for Thirteen Reason’s Why. Then we’ll make fun of it and I’ll cry a little (not really) before revealing Jay Asher’s real blurb.



FIRST though, you all do know about Thirteen Reason’s Why being made into a movie staring Selena Gomez, right? RIGHT?!?!

I'm not a witch.  I only play one on tv.

Ignoring the fact that I watch more episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place than can possibly be healthy for one human being,* I love Selena and can’t wait for this movie.  Oh! Oh!  Logan Lerman might be up for the part of Clay (or so the MTV article says) and that makes me insanely happy!**

Okay, back to business, this is my attempt at smooshing all of the wonderfulness that is 13RW into a few paragraphs:
 
Clay Jensen finds a box on his porch filled with tapes.  When he plays the first one, Hannah Baker's voice comes out of the speaker like the ghost of a dead girl.  Because she is--a dead girl. 
 
Hannah committed suicide before Clay found the courage to tell her he had a crush on her.  Now, here she is, telling him he's one of thirteen people--thirteen reasons why she killed herself.
 
 
So, what do you think?  Let's tear it down.
 
Clay Jensen finds a box on his porch filled with tapes. So??? When he plays the first one, Hannah Baker's voice comes out of the speaker like the ghost of a dead girl. Because she is--a dead girl. Oh, this is one of those ghost books - the girl comes back and he tells her he loves her, she confesses that she always loved him too, but they can't be together...because she's dead.  I get it.



Hannah committed suicide before Clay found the courage to tell her he had a crush on her. Now, here she is So she's one of those corporeal ghosts that people can see..., telling him he's one of thirteen people--thirteen reasons why she killed herself. Wait.  What?

You are so dumb, Jamie.  I'm trying not to eye roll.

I can't believe the people at Razorbill refused to use my blurb on the back of the book!  For sure it's better than this one, right?  RIGHT?!?

The Real Blurb from Jay’s MySpace page: 
 
The rules are pretty simple. There are only two. Rule number one: You listen. Number two: You pass it on. Hopefully, neither one will be easy for you. (from Cassette 1: Side A)


Hannah Baker records the defining moments of the past few years of her life onto seven audiotapes. Thirteen stories involving several people at her school. She packs the tapes into a shoebox and mails them to the first person on the list. Then, she goes home to take her life.


Two weeks later, Clay Jensen comes home from school to find a box with no return address leaning against his front door. Inside are seven audiotapes, their sides labeled 1 through 13 in blue nail polish. He has no idea what’s on the tapes, which is kind of exciting…until he presses play.


With Hannah’s voice as his narrator, Clay spends the rest of the night wandering through town, visiting places mentioned on the tapes, unearthing the thirteen reasons why Hannah chose to kill herself.


And one reason belongs to him.

 
Fine.  This one's better.  Like 10 million times better.  It's got a hook, it's clear and compelling.  Heck, I'm going to read it again when I get home today.

Have you read our interview with Jay from a LONG time ago pre-GotYA when we were still Old People Writing for Teens?  If not, check it out HERE.




*Disclaimer - I have a 7 year old and an 8 year old. I'm allowed to watch Disney. ALL. THE. TIME. I think it's required of me, in fact.

**See above. It applies to Percy Jackson movies too.

Flashback Fridays: Movies that Shaped Our Generation

They're the movies we grew up with--the ones that have stood the test of time. They've bridged the generational gap to be appreciated by new audiences, and whenever we find them on television, we're instantly transported back to another time and place. So, let's take a look at a sampling of some of those movies.

First Stop...the 80's: Even if you didn't sport poofy, Aquanet sprayed Jersey hair, wear stirrup pants with Coke shirts, or check the time on your Swatch watch, you probably still appreciate the majesty of 80's teen flicks, especially those of John Hughes who gave us Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty in Pink, Weird Science, Uncle Buck, & Some Kind of Wonderful. Who didn't squeal when Jake Ryan showed up at the wedding to sweep Samantha off her feet, or who hasn't felt the angst of poor Duckie who loves a girl who only sees him as a friend? Not to mention who wouldn't love to runaway for the day and take over a city like Ferris Bueller.


Want a literary look at your favorite John Hughes's movies? Then check out the following.


In Don't You Forget About Me, twenty contributors pen essays on everything from late infatuations with Ferris Bueller, many, erm, biological factors of Weird Science, to ultimate fangirl/boy experiences with Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink.






Or there's You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried that complies interviews with twenty actors as well as the directors and producers behind the Brat Pack's memorable movies like The Breakfast Club, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo's Fire and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. As Gora, the author, puts it, "These films changed the way young people related to everything from class distinction to friendship, from love and sex to fashion and music."






Did you know that Brat Pack member Ally Sheedy has ties to the literary world herself? Not only is her mom literary agent Charlotte Sheedy of Sterling Lord Literistic, but at twelve years old, Ally penned the NY Times best seller, She Was Nice to Mice. She's also written a book of poetry called Yesterday I Saw the Sun









Hopping Over to Hogwarts With Harry:


Not since the late 70's Star Wars Trilogy premiers have opening days grossed such megabucks, but also brought a book series to life for so many people. What else but a love of a great series would get you to venture out to Midnight Showings, thus keeping you out late in lines that often wrap around a theater. Midnight showings are more than just a film experience considerng you can find people dressed as anyone from Harry to Hermoine even Dobby. But it's not just in midnight showings that Harry Potter has the ability to unite families; it can happen at anytime of the day or year. Just like Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint have grown up before our very eyes, many moviegoers have gone from children to teens in the span of the decade long movie series.














Mania of Mean Girls:No list of movies that defined a generation would be complete withoutMean Girls. Why? Because it brought the term "mean girl" as well as "Queen Bee" into the pop culture lexicon. It can also been seen in books like the Clique series, Some Girls Are, Blair in Gossip Girl, and Dominque in Jumped.

And while the film took a satirical look at the mean girl experience, one cannot discredit and downplay the seriousness of the subject matter, especially in light of the suicide's of teen girls who were bullied to death.

If you want some nonfiction based reading on the "mean girl" culture, then click on the following book covers.

















Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery:And just like snarky MC's have defined a lot of YA literature, the millennium brought us snark movies to parody the high school experience captured in so many films and books. One of the best is Not Another Teen Movie, which highlights 80's films like Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, along with 90's movies like Cruel Intentions, She's All That, American Pie, 10 Things I Hate About You, Varsity Blues, & Can't Hardly Wait. And you also need to check out the soundtrack because it's awesome and features some great updated 80's cover songs.

PS. If you're ever worried about contemporary cliche's in your novel, you should check this one out!


And yes, no collection of movies that shaped a generation would be complete without a look at Twilight. Yep, that's right. We went there. After all, the Twilight series is a phenomenon around the globe, and it got a lot of reluctant readers reading. Like Harry Potter, its fan base bridges the generation gap.







Must see Twilight Sites:
TWITARDED: an absolutely HILARIOUS parody site that goes behind the movies and books for full on RPatz and KStew obsession.

The HillyWood Show: the Hindi sisters, Hannah and Hilary, are actors, directors, and producers in this show that not only parodies Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, but also Dark Knight, Sweeney Todd, and Star Wars. You seriously have to check them out...the New Moon parody is amazing!



Twilight Moms: This site caters to the older Twilight fans. And the forums have all sorts of book and movie conversations going on. They also get press access to do interviews with the cast members. And a really cool thing about this site is they try to give donations to charity.

Joss who??

Popular culture (commonly known as pop culture) is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society.

Today, I blogged about where I've been for the past decade. 

I'm pop un cultured. 

I read Kathleen Peacock's blog and I laugh, because I totally get her humor, but the references to TV, music, movies and other stuff that I'm sure is way cool, leave me biting my lip and muttering, "I don't get it."

I want to get it.  I totally want to get it.  How can I be one of the cool people on Twitter (no, this is not a #YA Mafia post) if I don't know the code?  The lingo?  The You Tube vids to post?  HOW???

How will an agent or editor ever love me if I can't toss an off the cuff Buffy quote into my email?  Who the heck is Angel?

I'm DOOMED!

Or am I?

Lovely YA Community, tell us here at GotYA, are you a pop culture pro, or will I be seeing you at the nerd table in the cafeteria too?

Cover Love!

In today's Cover Love post I want to spread the love for a few awesome covers of 2011 debut authors. It was sooo hard to choose only ten for this list because there are so many amazing covers!

Here's my top ten (in no particular order):

So Shelly by Ty Roth
This is one of the books that I'd buy even if I wasn't interested in the actual plot, just because I want it on my shelf. Pure cover lust, I admit it. But fortunately I want to read it just as much as I want to look at it.
What I Love: It's haunting and I love the way the girl holds her dress up and how she walks towards the water. I can't help but wonder if the end of the dock will stop her or if she'll just walk on and drown in the water.

Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

Rose petals anyone? Roses aren't even my favorite flower and yet I love this cover. What's not to love about it? It shows a girl that's dressed in rose petals and her rose dress is falling apart! Also those little four words on the cover: Love, death, destiny and danger. Can't resist them. I love me some danger, death and love (umm, that might have sounded creepy...).

Possess by Gretchen McNeil
Did I ever mention that I love creepy covers? I do. And this on is creepy in a beautifully haunting way. The way the branches look like veins on her skin? Wonderfully creepy. Dark and mysterious, two other things I can't get enough of.

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez
This book was on my to-read list before I saw the cover (like most of the others, so I'm not a total cover addict) but I have to admit that I wasn't sure about it. I don't read that much contemporary and I don't play any instruments (the mc plays the violin) but after seeing the cover I have to get my hands on it.
Why I love it? One word: PINK. Uhh, yeah, pink is a color I can't get enough of. And the way the girl throws her head back and the way her hair fans out = beautiful.

Hereafter by Tara Hudson
I seem to have a strange love for book covers with girls who stare at a lake with their back turned to me. I love the cover and the way the girl and her beautiful dress are fading, kind of melting into her surroundings.

Anna dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Another cover my creepy radar detected. Love that it's mainly held in black and white with a few blood-red highlights. This book cover promises the reader a good scare and nothing's better than a book that gives you chills and makes you afraid of the dark.

This book has been on my to read list forever and of course I discovered it because of its cover. Now this one is a bit different from most of my other choices. It's not as creepy, not as dark or haunting as the others, but those lips covered with sugar? Beautiful. And the title is pink and so are the lips. PINK ftw.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

This is a serious case of title love in my case but the cover is just as awesome. It keeps me wondering: Is the guys trying to pull her down or is he trying to save her from drowning? I've decided it's the latter without having read the book. Why? Because his grip around her waist is possessive in a lover kind of way and because this book screams sexual tension at me, and if he wanted to kill her that wouldn't be sexy at all, imo.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

A cover that gives us hints about the plot in a beautiful way. Like the bird in the cage symbolizing the MC's life in a golden cage. I absolutely love the dress.

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

I've had my eyes on this one for a while and today Victoria revealed the final cover. Love the swirls and how the girl stands behind the veil. The font is beautiful too.

So tell me what are your favorite covers of 2011?

Interview with Kirsten Hubbard and a Like Mandarin ARC Giveaway!

So, I have a confession to make. When I nabbed an ARC of Kirsten Hubbard's Like Mandarin, I was a little worried. Don’t get me wrong—I’d been dying to read the book for over a year. But during that wait, I met Kirsten several times, and she’s like this unbelievably awesome person. Almost as crucial: we totally color-coordinated at ALA.

What if I read Like Mandarin and it just wasn’t for me? What would I say?

Um, yeah…RIDICULOUS worry. Why? Because Like Mandarin is freaking amazing, that’s why. This book really blew me away with its lush setting, its timeless feel, and its intricate portrayal of two very different female characters and their unexpected relationship—all of it showcased by Kirsten’s lyrical prose.

But don’t take my word for it. See for yourself by reading my interview with Kirsten below, and then entering to win an ARC of Like Mandarin.

Which character are you more like, Grace or Mandarin?

You know, I’m not much like either one of them! I’ve always read a ton, like Grace, but I’m definitely not the shy, wallflower type. I’ve always been more outspoken, like Mandarin (often to a fault) – but that’s really where our similarities end. They’re more the types of girls I was fascinated with, especially Mandarin.

Setting plays a huge, awesome role in Like Mandarin. What made you choose Wyoming?

The Wyoming badlands are in my blood, even though they’re as far as possible from the Southern California suburbs where I was born and raised. My mother grew up in small-town Wyoming, and we used to visit my grandparents there in the summertime. Everything about that setting fascinates me; I’ve felt it as strongly as I’ve ever felt any sense of place.

Did you ever compete in a beauty pageant, or have any friends who did?

Nope. I think I was first intrigued by pageants after reading The Baby-Sitters Club #15: Little Miss Stoneybrook… and Dawn as a kid (no, seriously!) and I’m sure my twin sister and I threw together a couple pretend pageants. But I never participated in a real one, nor did my friends. They weren’t really on the radar where I grew up. I do vividly remember JonBenet Ramsey’s murder, and seeing her woman-child face on the cover of every magazine in the supermarket was both fascinating and repellant – which I think describes child beauty pageants well.

Mandarin does some pretty crazy things in the book. What’s the nuttiest thing you ever did in high school?

Every night of the Ventura County Fair, they’d set off fireworks over the beach beside the fairgrounds. The summer before junior year of high school, a friend and I stripped to our underwear and drove into the freezing ocean. There was nobody around, but it was one of those epic, unforgettable teenage moments, where we felt like we were in a movie, with our wet skin changing colors under the lights. It really was cold though.

Like Mandarin has such a lovely, classic feel to it—which books/authors inspired you?

Thank you! I didn’t read much YA the first time I wrote Like Mandarin (version 1.0) about four years ago, though I’ve more than made up for it in since. My favorite books are a total hodgepodge, though they tend to be literary, and in most cases I cry at least once. So, from LM’s early days: Watership Down by Richard Adams, Atonement by Ian McEwan, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, everything by Louis Sachar and Roald Dahl.

If you had run away from home in high school, which five personal items would have been in your backpack? (besides clothes)

I graduated from high school in 2001. It doesn't seem like that long ago, and yet, I didn’t have a laptop, cell phone or digital camera back then, which are the first things I’d bring now! So, realistically...

1) Watership Down (my favorite book in high school)

2) A big, fat hardcover sketch journal and pens

3) my gray-blue Jansport backpack with the leopard-print fabric I sewed on the pocket

4) Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins (a tossup between that and Siamese Dream, but Mellon Collie was a 2-disc set!)

5) my stuffed lamb, for sentimental reasons

Do you have any advice for YA writers attempting to get published?

My two favorite pieces of advice are:

Give readers what they want, not what they expect. In other words, never stop surprising them – in a good way. Satisfy them – unexpectedly. Don’t be predictable – but don’t alienate your readers, either. Give them the ending they want – even when they had no idea they wanted it.

Write that next book. Too often writers cling to their first project, revising it so much they aren’t seeing it anymore, waiting while they endure the query-go-round instead of writing. The best remedy for rejection, the best time warp for long waits, the best thing ever, period, is getting excited about a new project.

Which YA Highway member do you love the most? HA—KIDDING! How about: must-have writing snack food?

LOL.

My two standbys are Tazo chai tea, and Trident Tropical Twist gum. Neither one’s really a snack, though. I eat a whole lot of Peanut Butter Puffins. And those light Laughing Cow cheese triangles. Not together. Though maybe I’m missing out?

(Debra's note: Mmmmm, Peanut Butter Puffins! But where is the chocolate???)

Thanks so much for the interview, Kirsten!

Now, want to win my ARC of Like Mandarin? (Pssst: you do, you do, you TOTALLY do). All you have to do is leave a comment, telling us the nuttiest thing YOU ever did in high school. Entries close Monday at noon, PST.

And if you don’t win? Don’t worry. Check out Like Mandarin at Goodreads, then order your copy at Amazon or Indiebound, just in time for its March release!