Happy Halloween!! Annie Donwerth Chikamatsu won our Second Annual Candy-Cookie Poem Drive & Contest!  She will be receiving a copy of Shel Silverstein’s latest posthumous book of poetry, “Everything On It”! Hard candy might last longer But taffy gives me more to do– the back and forth of pull and chew. Thanks to all of [...]

By Mark Budman

Some people swore that the house was haunted. I didn’t believe them. Some people would swear on the Bible and still lie. What do unbelievers use when they take oath in court? Steven Hawking’s The Grand Design? [...]

So, partly as a corollary to Lourdes’s excellent and right-on “Where are all the Young “Adult”s? blog, and also as a kind of indirect response to all the “is there too much darkness in YA?” debate of the summer,  I’d like to ask:  Is there too much “adult” in Young Adult? By “adult” here, I [...]

I was browsing the picture books in my local children’s library recently when I discovered “It’s a Book” by Lane Smith. The book is marketed toward kids aged 6 and up, but I think it totally misses its target. It will resonate better with teens and adults who remember life before Kindle and iPods (Thank you [...]

These past three months have been a whirlwind for fans and writers of YA. From articles in the Wall Street Journal, to Slate and NPR the term “young adult literature” has been heard far and wide. But instead of compiling a list of retorts after reading some of these articles, I have decided to share with you one of the many YA-centric questions [...]

When you think of psychological thrillers in contemporary YA, the novels of Gail Giles top the list. For almost a decade her stories have tackled the darker, less observed characteristics of teenagers and constantly tested the boundaries of what can be and should be discussed in YA. By acknowledging of this darkness, Giles constantly highlights what is truly bright and meaningful in our world; she reminds us why the teenage experience is so singular and unique.