#teen books
Give me a story that takes me away from this world.
There is refuge found in the pages of a book.
“Writing stories is a kind of magic, too.” - Cornelia Funke, Inkheart
7 reviews! Woohoo! Go check them out and read the book!
“We read to know that we are not alone.” - C.S. Lewis
As a writer, I want to capture the hearts and emotions of my characters. They bleed red like the rest of us. Their feelings–positive or negative–are sometimes too deep for words. People crave connections with others who are like them. They want to relate. They want to know they are not alone.
These two books have made a world of difference in my writing. They have allowed me to turn ideas into people with heartbeats. People who are as human as you and me.
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Trying to invent an ask game!
Send an ask with one or more symbols below for a snippet of my WIP that shows…
something heartwarming
sadness
fury
nausea
fear or anxiety
humor
a turning point
discovery
injury
a secret
☠️ death
a fight or explosion
fire or heat
a kiss or romance
embarrassment…or, bonus, send an emoji for me to interpret!
Tagging a few people to maybe help get this ask game off the ground? Feel free to skip out if this isn’t your thing, I totally get it!
@space-arcanist@livvywrites@alittlewarlord@notquitenovelist@ruth-lund@jayuswrites@lonbergwrites@ownworldresident@ladytauria@cadewrites
Ask away.
I LOVE fantasy books!
Looking for a fun, exciting read this summer? Something is Moving is a kingdom adventure book for teen/young adult readers. It is available in ebook and print on Amazon and also for FREE on Kindle Unlimited.
Summary:
People say the Arthur is haunted. That the ghosts of those who entered it and never came out still dwell within the mysterious forest.
For twelve-year-old Hari, who has grown up among peasants and thieves, the Arthur is her safe haven…her home. She and the rest of her village reside in the forest in secret, living a simple life free of the king’s tyranny and the cruelties of the outside world. Then comes the day when their peace is shattered by a stranger who is on a violent rampage, murdering innocent people and burning the villages to the ground. Forced to flee her wooded sanctuary, Hari believes no place can ever be safe again.
Bitter, hurting, and frightened of what each new day holds, she embarks on a journey to save her people and learn more about her broken past. But the darkness is spreading, and if Hari cannot learn to fight it, not even the truth about her family may save her from the darkness growing inside her.
Reader reviews:
“This book was a great read! I finished it in one day, I couldn’t put it down! The characters are endearing, captivating, and real. The author is not afraid to run them through the wringer, but still brings hope and healing to them all. I truly loved the family these characters created and the world that was described so vividly. I honestly felt transported as I read each chapter.” - Micaela
“I did not see the many twists and turns that happened throughout the entire book. It read so well, I could picture everything happening in detail. I felt connected to the characters from the start…” - Allison
“Something Is Moving had me on the edge of my seat the whole time and its twists and turns caught me by surprise. Hari is such a beautifully written character and I was able to relate to her so much. I enjoyed the suspense of it and I couldn’t stop reading.” - Amie
“The amazing character development and vivid descriptions transported me into the story. I fell in love with Hari and her adventurous spirit, love for life and desire for the truth.” - Gail
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¡Qué bonita bandera! AKA what heritage(s) do you claim?
I am Peruvian. Born in Peru to a mother who was born in Peru whose mother was also born in Peru and so on and so on.
When was the first time you saw yourself represented?
I didn’t really see myself represented in books until fairly recently—but maybe that’s my fault for being a less-than-stellar reader as a kid. The first books that were read to me were picture books in Spanish, and they’re books that I still have and treasure. But when we moved to America it was a huge cultural shift and all the entertainment I consumed was super Americanized. I didn’t really see any Latinx characters in anything I read until adulthood when I picked up Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I was honestly delighted to read Spanglish right there on the page—Spanish words that weren’t translated into English. To me that was a clear message that this was written for me, for us. Reading that and identifying with the Hispanic/American/New York cultures in that book was a thrill.
In YA it was really cool for me to see a Jewish/Latina character in Anna Breslaw’s Scarlett Epstein Hates it Here and an undocumented character in Nicola Yoon’s The Sun is Also a Star.
How do you connect to your heritage through your books (if at all)?
In my latest novel, No Good Deed, the protagonist is named Gregor Maravilla—a nod to both his Eastern European and Latino heritage. A motif in the story involves his bunkmate constantly teasing him for being just another white boy and Gregor constantly having to stand up for his heritage and remind his bunkmate that he’s actually half-Latino. That was written from experience. There’s been plenty of times in my life where people pull the classic Mean Girls line and ask me why I’m so white if I’m really Latina, or they don’t believe me because of my name. It was important for me to show that Latinxs come in all different forms, and we’ve all got a connection to our Latinx heritage.
What do you hope for the future of Latinx books?
I hope to learn more from cultures that aren’t my own. I want to see every kind of Latinx on the page.
What is the book that inspired you to write for kids/teens?
Gossip Girl!
What are you writing now?
Working on something brand new but it’s way too early to talk about it just yet. My latest novel, No Good Deed, just came out this summer from Scholastic.
Goldy Moldavsky was born in Lima, Peru, and grew up in Brooklyn, where she still lives. Her debut novel, KILL THE BOY BAND, is a New York Times bestseller, and her latest novel is NO GOOD DEED. Both books are published by Scholastic in the US and MacMillan in the UK.
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¡Qué bonita bandera! AKA what heritage(s) do you claim?
Puerto Rican
When was the first time you saw yourself represented?
I read fantasy and sci-fi almost exclusively as a kid so I probably spent more time with elves and dragons than fictional humans. In any media, the first time I remember being aware of and appreciating seeing someone who looked like me in a genre work in any format was Jessica Alba in the TV show Dark Angel.
How do you connect to your heritage through your books (if at all)?
The main character of The Girl at Midnight series is Puerto Rican. She’s also the only human in the books, so it’s not actually a huge part of the plot but I did make sure to include a scene in The Savage Dawn where she travels to Puerto Rico and encounters magical bird people living in El Yunque. It’s such an enchanting rainforest and that was a blast to write.
What do you hope for the future of Latinx books?
In the past couple of years, publishing has made huge strides in diversifying books for younger readers, but there’s still so much ground left to explore, particularly in genre titles. I want to see Latinx protagonists tackling cyberpunk dystopias and traveling through portals and fighting evil wizards.
What is the book that inspired you to write for kids/teens?
The Secret Circleby LJ Smith. When I was a kid, that was the sort of book I wanted to write.
What are you writing now?
Right now, I’m working on a sci-fi YA book I’m not allowed to talk about yet! I’ve wrapped up The Girl at Midnight series with The Savage Dawn but it’ll always have a special place in my heart.
Melissa Grey was born and raised in New York City. She wrote her first short story at the age of twelve and hasn’t stopped writing since. After earning a degree in fine arts at Yale University, she embarked on an adventure of global proportions and discovered a secret talent for navigating subway systems in just about any language. She works as a freelance writer in New York City. She is the author of the Girl at Midnight series: The Girl at Midnight, The Shadow Hour,andThe Savage Dawn. To learn more about Melissa, visit melissa-grey.com, follow @meligrey on Twitter, and look for melissagrey_ on Instagram.
Website*Twitter*Instagram*BuyThe Savage Dawn!
Today we welcome Walter Jury (and bonus! Later we have his co-author S.E. Fine as well!) to the Penguin Teen Author Spotlight. Walter and Sarah have crafted a riveting, fast-paced adventure about a kid caught in the middle of a centuries-old conflict between humans and aliens…who look just like them. If you’ve been looking for that fast-paced thriller to get your heart racing and keep you busy while you wait for the school year to wind down (don’t lie, we know the feeling), look no further. This is it. And today, stick around to chat with not one but TWO authors of SCAN.
Name: Walter Jury
Novel: Scan
Available: Now
Who’s your favorite author, living or dead? John Steinbeck. What a perspective and I love the simplicity of his writing and storytelling.
What’s your favorite thing about your book? The final action sequence is hands down my favorite part of SCAN. It serves as the culmination of Tate’s journey through a tumultuous time in his life, following the tragic events that serve as the catalyst for our story. It also was a very fun sequence to write as we use a grand canvas that hopefully will be an explosively fun experience for our readers to enjoy.
If you could spend one year on a deserted island with one character from literature, who would you choose? Strumhond from Leigh Bardugo’s amazing SIEGE & STORM. Manipulative and wily enough to wiggle us out of a jam if necessary, but also clever and quick enough to keep everyone on the island entertained.
Where do you write? I can write anywhere—it isn’t a where, but a how. And the answer is simple—I need to shut off the wifi and Internet connections to write. Because my job is a deep passion and I am hungry to discover, read, find new literary material for films at every turn, if I don’t cordon myself off into an offline world, my desire to source film & TV material is hard to quell!
Who is your favorite hero or heroine of history? Abe Lincoln. I admire Lincoln’s fortitude. The fortitude to stand up for what is right was built over years and years of heavy adversity—the kinds of adversity that could have broken many men. It was that adversity that gave him the ability to create lasting change in this country.
Do you tweet? What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever tweeted? ITweet at times, but I am a daily lurker, following the news on my interests, rather than act as an active Tweeter. I don’t know if I can name something funny that I tweeted—but the last funny thing I Tweeted was a conversation between other folks—it’s on my Tumblr.
What is your favorite season? Summer. Hands down. I love going on trips in the summer to exotic fun locales. Living in New York City, I don’t so much mind the cold and the snow as long as it’s a reasonable winter, but summer makes me feel alive.
If you could teleport anywhere in the known universe right now, where would you go? Kepler-186f. That is the new planet that scientists discovered, per news reports on April 17, 2014. It supposedly can support human life. How incredible would it be the first person to walk and discover a new planet. Although I’m curious if they have dinosaurs or the like there. Maybe I don’t want to be first. I’ll be second and follow that old joke about outrunning a bear: Two campers come upon an angry bear. The first says, “I’m glad I wore my running shoes.” The second says, “You can’t outrun the bear.” The first says, “I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you.”
Do you have any writing rituals? Writing for me can happen at any time. As long as I have a fit of inspiration on what I want to write, I can just write. I don’t like to snack or eat (I associate eating with reading—I like to read when I’m eating), and I don’t like to listen to music (that can be distracting if a song comes on that gives me too much adrenaline). But I like quiet time with no distractions.
What is your idea of earthly happiness? The health and happiness of myself and my loved ones—especially my close family: my wife and two little boys. Financial security. Growth of my mind and my mental problem solving.
What is the best concert you’ve ever been to? I will go with the first concert I ever attended. The Bad tour by Michael Jackson at Madison Square Garden in March of 1988 when I was 10. I remember it well—it was a very memorable first concert.
What are you currently working on? Sarah Fine and I are at work on book two in the series. We are also kicking around other ideas for the future, but we have a task at hand so those new ideas will have to wait!
………….
Thanks, Walter! We’re on the edge of our seats as we wait to find out what happens next in the SCAN series!
Find Walter on Twitter and his Tumblr.
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Tried of staring at the Teen section trying to solve the mystery of which books are mysteries? I made a list. A MYSTERIOUS LIST… Of mysteries!
Can you solve them all?
http://thefirstdutyofastoryteller.blogspot.com/2014/07/trend-alert-private-school-mysteries.html
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You ever like a book so much, you wanted to make it your staff recommends book?
Read all about it: http://thefirstdutyofastoryteller.blogspot.com/2014/06/staff-recommends.html
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Trend Alert! Bucket Lists are so big in teen books right now.
Check out my blog for full descriptions–these books make for some good reading.
http://thefirstdutyofastoryteller.blogspot.com/2014/05/trend-alert-buckets-and-lists.html
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Glass people are coming to replace my window tomorrow… I had to take all of my books out of my bookshelf, since the bookcase is directly in front of my window.
:/
How many of these babies do you recognize?
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