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Faves on a Friday: Have You Got Issues?

October 2nd, 2009 by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich · Email post Email post · Print Print

It's not easy to write about 'issues' in a way that's not didactic or preachy, but there are those authors whose passion and prose create a story that does more than just introduce us to people and places -- we develop new ideas, make new meaning in our lives, and are inspired in unexpected and lasting ways. Below, readers and writers share their experiences with children's literature that 'has issues':

"Of course, in SHINE, I was focused on the issue of post-9/11 discrimination against anyone who was perceived to be Arab, Muslim, or Middle Eastern, but that was an issue I… Continue reading

Categories: 0Content · Articles · Connect · Faves on a Friday · Perkovich, Olugbemisola Rhuday

TELL ME A SECRET by Holly Cupala

August 7th, 2009 by Holly Cupala · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2010
  • Publisher: HarperTeen
  • Release Date: June 22, 2010
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-0061766664
  • ISBN (paperback): TBD
It’s tough, living in the shadow of a dead girl… In the five years since her bad-girl sister Xanda’s death, Miranda Mathison has wondered about the secret her sister took to the grave, and what really happened the night she died. Now, just as Miranda is on the cusp of her dreams—a best friend to unlock her sister’s world, a ticket to art school, and a boyfriend to fly her away from it all—Miranda has a secret all her own. Then two lines on a pregnancy test confirm her worst… Continue reading

Categories: 2010 Spring · Connect · Contemporary · Cupala, Holly · Death · Drama · Events · Family · First Love/First Crush · Grief · HarperTeen · Literature · Local · Love · National · Peer Pressure · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Secrecy · Suicide · Washington · Young Adult

MODELS DON’T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES by Erin Dionne

November 27th, 2008 by Erin Dionne · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: February, 2009
  • Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
  • Release Date: February 5, 2009
  • ISBN (hardcover): 978-0803734-35-7
  • ISBN (paperback): 978-0-803732-96-4
Thirteen-year-old Celeste Harris is no string bean, but comfy sweatpants and a daily chocolate cookie suit her just fine. Her under-the-radar lifestyle could have continued too, if her aunt hadn't entered her in the HuskyPeach Modeling Challenge. To get out of it, she's forced to launch Operation Skinny Celeste-because, after all, a thin girl can't be a fat model! What Celeste never imagined was that losing weight would help her gain a backbone . . . or that all she needed to… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Contemporary · Dial Books for Young Readers · Dionne, Erin · Events · Family · Friendship · Humor · Local · Massachusetts · Middle Grade · National · Rated PG · Self-esteem/Self-image

MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS by Sydney Salter

November 2nd, 2008 by Sydney Salter · Email post Email post · Print Print

  • Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
  • Publisher: Harcourt
  • Release Date: April 1, 2009
  • ISBN (hardcover): TBD
  • ISBN (paperback): 978-0152066437
It's the end of junior year, and summer is about to begin. The Summer of Passion, to be exact, when Jory Michaels plans to explore all the possibilities of the future--and, with any luck, score a boyfriend in the process. But Jory has a problem. A big problem. A curvy, honking, bumpy, problem in the form of her Super Schnozz, the one thing standing between Jory and happiness. And now, with the Summer of Passion stretched before her like an open road, she's determined for Super Schnozz to… Continue reading

Categories: 2009 Spring · Author speaking availability · Body Image · Contemporary · Events · Family · First Love/First Crush · Friendship · Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) · Houghton Mifflin Harcourt · Humor · Local · National · Nevada · Rated PG-13 · Romance · Salter, Sydney · Self-esteem/Self-image · Utah · Young Adult