Fun Book News!

Meg Cabot is celebrating the release of Size 12 and Ready to Rock, the latest book in her Heather Wells mystery series, by giving us an--OH MY GOD, is that an '80s-style pop music video?!?!?!



(It is.)

See Meg Cabot on tour in the US this summer!

July 10: Des Moines, Iowa – Des Moines Public Library (7 pm)
July 12: Cincinnati, Ohio – Joseph Beth Booksellers (7 pm)
July 13: Dayton, Ohio – Books & Co (7 pm)
July 14: Cleveland, Ohio – Cuyahoga Public Library at the Independence High School auditorium (2 pm)
July 15: Pittsburgh, PA – Barnes & Noble, Homestead (2 pm)
July 17: Lansing, MI – Schuler Books & Music (6 pm)
July 19: Indianapolis, IN – Barnes & Noble, Carmel (7 pm)

-

In other news, the first book in Cassandra Clare's bestselling Mortal Instruments series, City of Bones, is now on e-book sale for $0.99! I already own the series in p-book form, but have been wanting the chance to buy the e-book for my Kindle for a cheap price. It's not litt-ruh-chur, but it's guilty-pleasure fun nevertheless.

-

Finally, if you've been following Jeri Smith-Ready's WVMP Radio series, an vampire series of the highest caliber (and if you haven't read it yet, you should get on it), you should know that Jeri has recently released an e-book called Let It Bleed, which is essential reading between the third book, Bring on the Night, and the fourth and final book, Lust for Life, which will be released in both p- and e-formats this fall. Jeri has generously made the e-book free on her website, but you can be just as generous back and donate something for her time and effort in appeasing fans and the characters. Go check it out!

Bookish Alert! Bookish Alert!

Books for Kids

So listen to what these amazing bloggers, Britney and Farrah, are doing. They know the power of books to make a difference in children's lives, and so they've put together a charity to help out the Phoenix Children Hospital and the Scottish Rite hospital in Dallas, Texas. It's INCREDIBLY easy to help out. Just watch the video, in which Farrah explains their wonderful idea, and for each "like" that the video receives (note: you must have a Youtube account to "like" the video, and you can only "like" the video on the Youtube site itself, not by watching it below), Farrah, Britney, and some wonderfully generous YA authors will donate $1 to buy new books for the children at these hospitals.



They do have a limit as to how much money they are able to donate, which is $405 (they're not made of money, after all!), and they're soooo close to reaching it, that it would be splendid if you could watch the video and "like" it. OR, it would be even more splendid if you chose to contribute to this charity and raise the number of "likes." Contact either Britney or Farrah here. Thank you so much for doing this really easy thing to get books into the hands of children!

Shelterbox in Japan

Few YA authors have as much influence as Maureen Johnson, and lately she's done it again by putting together another Shelterbox drive to raise help out the people whose lives were changed forever by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. And look at the wonderful prizes that people have donated, and that you could possibly win if you donate to Shelterbox. Donate through the link in Maureen's blog post, and be sure to follow the directions for how to donate. This is a really wonderful cause and would mean a lot if you could donate whatever amount you can spare.

Inside a Dog

Now, one of my favorite bookpeople, Adele, formerly goddess of Persnickety Snark and now superwoman at the Centre for Youth Literature at the State Library of Victoria, wanted to let y'all know about the relaunch of the site she's captain of, Inside a Dog (which takes its name from Groucho Marx's awesome quote). It's sort of like a Goodreads for YA lit, featuring multimedia book reviews, forum boards, author visits, and free stuff. Plus it has an insanely hip site design that should win prizes, IMO. Check it out, especially if, not not only if, you're in Australia. It would be wonderful if we could all help Adele get as much traffic on her new baby as possible!

soulfulplanet.com

Philly Area Blogger Meetup

So the other night I met up with Jamie of The Perpetual Page-Turner and Jess Lawlor and we got to talking about how we really wanted to organize a blogger/author meetup and possible book swap for everyone in the Philly area. If you're in the vicinity of Philly and this sounds like something you'd like to participate in, let us know by reading Jamie's post and then filling out the form expressing your interest. And it would also really help if you could talk this up to bookish people you know in the Philly area who might be interested in this. Thank you so much!!

If You Have ADD, Want to Laugh, Like Making Lists... Fun Stuff in YA

Twitter is an amazing tool for spreading interesting/funny/memorable things that you find, but sometimes a blog post can help do that too. This post is mostly for if you're looking for laughs, giggles, and smiles.

First off, check out the cool photo-essay that was on Publishers Weekly featuring book-publishing industry people's book-inspired Halloween costumes. Of those who saw it with me last night on Twitter, the most votes goes to the group recreation of the Hush, Hush cover, but I'm pretty impressed by the guy dressed up as Edward Cullen. Not many people can pull off the pale and brooding look as well as he does in that picture! Now why didn't I have ideas like these, or know people who'd be up for ideas like these, for Halloween last weekend?

Next, my lovely blogger friend Khy (from Frenetic Reader) made me laugh endlessly she started quoting lines from the Twilight movie at me. She then showed me some great Twilight-inspired pictures:

(I hope you can click on it to enlarge it.) I thought that one was pretty funny--and then she showed me this:

(Again, click on it to get the full impact.)

Oh, Mean Girls. You will be forever a classic in must-watch movie history. Also, now you know that you can make me bust out into laughter by saying, "Say it...OUT LOUD" to me. Oh, gosh, I am so mature.

If you're like me and really like making lists for your personal enjoyment, then you should definitely check out this cool new site called 5ft Shelf. Basically, you get five feet of virtual space on which to put your absolute essential best books, movies, and music albums. Create your own shelf, see what others have on their shelves, and see what the most popular items are. Not only is it individually fun, it's also an interesting way to see what people consider the "essentials" of modern media. And yeah, I think I'll go and put Mean Girls on the "movies" part of my shelf...

And then my lovely author friend Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush) had awesome news to share! Remember the beautiful cover of Hush, Hush, which is hands-down one of the best covers ever made? Well, she got to take a sneak peak at an early comp (that's like a rough-draft sketch) of Crescendo's cover (that's the sequel, coming out in Fall 2010) and apparently it is even better than the cover of Hush, Hush. I can hardly believe it. I mean, can you even imagine that? I'm not an artistic thinker, so I'm just going to sit here and die a little as I impatiently wait for the release of the cover and, eventually, Crescendo itself.

Oh, and finally! I've been wanting to be a part of a book blogger Secret Santa-like thing since July, when winter was just an idea and not a looming reality. Now there is not one, but TWO opportunities for a blogger gift exchange! Kate at The Neverending Shelf is hosting a Secret Santa (get to it by following this link), which I'm definitely excited to participate in, and there's a Book Bloggers Holiday Swap that's not just limited to books that you can find here. But hurry! Signups for Kate's Secret Santa ends November 15, and the last day to join the Holiday Swap is November 12. This is international, so it can be a really cool way to receive some wonderful and surprising things for the holiday season. :)

Hope you guys check out and enjoy the links, news, and pictures!