News

Do we still need libraries?  In a word, yes.  From Phillips Academy.

A lesson in illustrating wheelchairs from someone who uses one.  From The Mary Sue.

Young adult fiction in 2012.  From Barnes & Noble Review.

Six important things you won't believe were invented in comics.  From Cracked.com.

Guess what?  Being a librarian is one of the least stressful jobs there is!  You know, because we sit around and read all day in the quiet.  From CareerCast.

Rachel Hartmas, author of Seraphina (so awesome) talks about the bumps she hit on the road to publication.  From PW.

I was just having this conversation with a friend the other day. When is it OK for a kid to read a book with more serious themes?  From The New York Times.

An illustrated tribute to Maurice Sendak.  From The New York Times.

The five books that inspire the most tattoos.  From PW.

There is now a Harry Potter shop at King's Cross Station!  Guess where it's located?  From The Guardian.

Nooooo!  Neil Gaiman plans his last book signing tour ever.  From The Los Angeles Times.

Predicted trends for 2013.  From Scholastic.

Umm, where do they get off making comparisons to Judy Blume's Forever?  These books' whole point seem to be to titillate.  That was not the point of Forever.  At all.  The sex scene in Forever is unique in the fact that is was brutally honest and that it was not titillating at all.  From The Independent.

A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return by Zeina Abirached

The Lebanese civil war has been going on since before Zeina was born.  It is a daily part of life.  Because of the bombings, Zeina, her little brother and mother and father live in the foyer; the only safe space in the apartment.  One evening, Zeina's parents go to visit her grandparents, and have not returned as bombing intensifies.  The other tenants from the building come down to keep watch over Zeina and her brother.

It amazing how things can just become part of everyday life.  The fact that there were snipers hiding at the end of your street, and you have to walk a certain way so you won't get hit.  The fact that bombings are any everyday occurrence, and sometimes people die, or your home gets destroyed.  That it takes hours to get a dial tone on the phone, that you can't go near windows, that you wait on long lines for gas.  And somehow there's still the belief that it's "more or less safe" there.  Because it's home, and that's how things have always been.

The foyer of Zeina's apartment is the safest place in the apartment building, so usually all the other tenants make their way down to them during heavy bombing.  Zeina's parents are not there, having gone to visit her grandparents.  But they left an hour ago, and haven't shown up yet.  All through the night, the tenants and children find ways to amuse themselves.  The adults also show differing opinions on what course of action should be taken in regards to the war.  Fight, leave, wait.

That evening, a shell lands in what was Zeina's bedroom, and the next day everyone has to find new places to go.  A few leave Lebanon, but most find other people to stay with.  Despite the constant danger, most do not seriously think about leaving.

The illustrations are striking.  Done in black and white, the pictures are deceptively simple.  The first few pages are of the streets, and it took me a minute to realize that there were bullet holes everywhere.  It just kind of blends in.  The style reminded me a lot of Persepolis.  

Much like Little White Duck, this is another excellent middle grade level book that allows young people to see what life is like for children growing up outside of the United States.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a severe facial deformity.  Many surgeries later, Auggie is healthy, but will never look like other children.  Auggie has been home schooled his whole life, but now, as middle school and the 5th grade approach, his parents have decided it's time for him to go to school with other children.  Auggie is both excited and scared.  He knows it will be difficult for the other kids to see past his face and realize he's just an ordinary kid like them.

This was a wonderful, thoughtful, heartfelt book. It was full of wonderful hopefulness, but also the harsh realities of being different.

I loved how much Auggie's family was part of the story.  It wasn't just Auggie's story, it was about his mother and father and his older sister Olivia.  It's easy to just focus on Auggie, and all that he's been through, but Auggie's medical issues have had a serious impact on the entire family, that that doesn't get ignored.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples

The native people of the planet Landfall and the native people of Landfall's moon, Wreath, have been at war for generations.  Much of the galaxy has been pulled into the war and forced to chose sides.  Alana and Marko are from opposite sides, but fall in love, run off together, get married and now have had a child.  And now both sides want them dead.

I had heard nothing but good things about Saga.  I finally read it.  It was just as awesome as everyone said it was.  More!  I need more!  And now, please and thank you.  I read the trade paperback, which collects issues 1-6.  There are currently 8 issues out, with the 9 coming out this month.

How can I begin to extol the awesomeness of Saga?  First off Alana and Marko are great characters.  Yes, they have the whole star-crossed lovers thing, but not in an annoying stupid I-can't-live-without-you kind of way.  Although they clearly love each other very much.  They are an equal team, they have each other's back, they are very funny, and they are going to save their child if it's the last thing they ever do.  Alana is tough.  She has a sarcastic edge to here.  Marko seems to be the more introspective and thoughtful, but Alana is the one who pulls him back when he goes into a rage.  Their relationship seems so natural and genuine.  You know, they really seem to care and like each other.

The world is really interesting and I'm looking forward to learning more about it.  There are all different sorts of creatures in this world, since there are all sorts of planets involved in the war.  Alana's people, from Landfall have wings, but don't seem to be able to fly.  Marko's people, from Wreath, have horns and have some kind of magical ability.  There's also a strange planet of robots (but robots that can procreate?  Interesting) with televisions as heads.  The prince of the robot kingdom is one of the one's hunting down Alana and Marko.  He also seems to be suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome after being in a particularly  gruesome battle.

Then there are the bounty hunters that have been sent to search for Alana, Marko, and their child, who after much discussion is named Hazel.  The two we meet in volume 1 is The Stalk and The Will.  The Stalk is this incredible looking body of a spider, armless torso and head of women but with spider eyes being, and The Will seems to be a human.  The Will is a confusing man.  He's paid to kill people, but is also trying to free a six-year-old child from the sex-slave trade.

Fiona Staples' illustrations are great, as always.  There's always such detail.  People have facial expressions that fit with their personalities.  People have different kinds of body types.  Not everyone looks the same.  The world around the characters are drawn with as much detail as the characters themselves.  With scenes that are provocative, it never feels explicit or done to titillate.  There is a sex scenes between he robot prince and his wife.  The Stalk is topless.  But these things are not sensationalized.  They just are.  They are part of the world, and they are not there purely to thrill the reader.

Hand shakes all around.  Everyone should read it.  Yes, everyone.  And I need to find myself the next issue.

Waiting on Wednesday: Asunder by Jodi Meadows

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine to spotlight an upcoming release that we're excited about. This week I'm waiting on Asunder by Jodi Meadows.

DARKSOULS
Ana has always been the only one. Asunder. Apart. But after Templedark, when many residents of Heart were lost forever, some hold Ana responsible for the darksouls–and the newsouls who may be born in their place.

SHADOWS
Many are afraid of Ana’s presence, a constant reminder of unstoppable changes and the unknown. When sylph begin behaving differently toward her and people turn violent, Ana must learn to stand up not only for herself but for those who cannot stand up for themselves.

LOVE
Ana was told that nosouls can’t love. But newsouls? More than anything, she wants to live and love as an equal among the citizens of Heart, but even when Sam professes his deepest feelings, it seems impossible to overcome a lifetime of rejection.

In this second book in the Incarnate trilogy, Ana discovers the truth about reincarnation and will have to find a way to embrace love and make her young life meaningful. Once again, Jodi Meadows explores the extraordinary beauty and shadowed depths of the soul in a story equal parts epic romance and captivating fantasy.

Asunder comes out January 29, 2013. 

Giveaway: Dancing in the Dark by Robyn Bavati

Our first giveaway of 2013 is an ARC of Dancing in the Dark by Robyn Bavati!

He tossed her into the air as if she were weightless, and just for a moment she seemed suspended there, defying gravity. I couldn't take my eyes off her. I knew what she was feeling. It was in every movement of every limb.

Here was a power I had never seen before, a kind of haunting loveliness I had never imagined. Seeing it made me long for something, I didn't know what . . .

Ditty was born to dance, but she was also born Jewish. When her strictly religious parents won't let her take ballet lessons, Ditty starts to dance in secret. But for how long can she keep her two worlds apart? And at what cost?

A dramatic and moving story about a girl who follows her dream, and finds herself questioning everything she believes in.

Dacning in the Dark comes out February 8, 2013.

Giveaway ends January 16, 2013.

Every Day by David Levithan

Each day, A wakes up in a new body.  A tries to do the best he can not to interfere with the person whose body he's in life.  But one day, he meets a girl, and everything changes.  In love for the first time, no matter where A is or what body he's in, he always wants to find her.

I'm using the pronoun "he" because that's what we default too, but there's actually nothing that suggests that A is a boy or girl.  A is just as likely to be in the body of a male as a female, and does not have a preference for either one.  A is genderless, but since we don't have a pronoun to go with that, I'm using "he" because that's what they do on the book flap.

This was certainly an interesting and unusual story.  A has always been like this, and accepts that it will always be the same.  It is of course a difficult way to live, but A has learned much from always being in someone different.  But it has not allowed A to form any kind of lasting attachments, because of course they can't be kept.