The Librarian Writer

Well, I blinked and now 2013 is almost over. It's been a pretty good year. The screenplay I wrote was shot and is in post-production. There were many times this project almost died, so that was a huge victory. I'm making a major revision in my novel before I send it out to another round of agents. Libraryland was pretty good to me with record numbers for summer reading. And I was able to pull off some crazy fun programs, too. There were some excellent books and audiobooks that I enjoyed this year and I hope that you enjoyed my reviews of them. I also hope that 2013 was a good year for you. I know there are times when life just sucks, and I try to remember to enjoy the moments that don't. I worry too much about things that ultimately don't matter, and I'm trying to appreciate the things in my life that do matter. So here's to 2014: may it be a year without too many life-sucking moments!

Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays!  I appreciate everyone who stops by this blog and I hope all of you have love, warmth, and laughter to share with others. And I'd like to share this with you: Lil BUB's Yule Log:

Title: Bubble World Author: Carol Snow Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. Publication Date: July 30, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0805095715 352 pp. ARC provided by publisher You may be bundled up the layers as you sit by the fireside and sip on hot cocoa, but if you want to escape to somewhere sunny, Bubble World by Carol Snow is a perfect beach read. Escape is a key word here, as Bubble World isn't an actual place, but a virtual world where Freesia lives as she goes to parties and shops with her best friend. Except that Freesia doesn't realize that Bubble World is a virtual world. Not at first, anyway. As the Bubble World is burst, Freesia is brought back to a reality that is considerably less "de-vicious" that the one she left. (Warning: A lot of Bubble World slang is introduced in the opening chapters. I thought it helped with the world-building, but your mileage may vary.) Bubble World is a funny book with big ideas about identity, how we perceive ourselv...

Title: Dare You To Author: Katie McGarry Publisher: Harlequin Teen Publication Date: May 28, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0373210633 480 pp. ARC provided by publisher Dare You To by Katie McGarry is the second of her contemporary romance trilogy following a group of friends. I haven't read Pushing the Limits , which has gotten a lot of positive reviews and was a Teens' Top Ten for 2013. While the two stories are linked by crossover characters, you don't need to read one to enjoy the other. And I did thoroughly enjoy Dare You To . It's the kind of swoony romance that keeps itself grounded in reality. In Beth's case, her reality is a gritty, bleak one, with a mom who's a barfly and probably worse, but Beth doesn't let herself think about. She's just trying to get through the day, making sure the bills are paid and her mother eats. Then she meets Ryan at a late night taco joint. Ryan seems to fit the total jock stereotype, good-looking, full of h...

Yeah, so I didn't "win" NaNoWriMo this year. I didn't write 50,000 words in 30 days. But ... Around the middle of November (at about 20,000 words), I realized that my historical fiction needed more research before I could effectively do any more writing. I knew some stuff about the time and people I was writing about, but not enough of the right stuff. I could have bullshit my way through 30,000 more words, but would be the point of that? That would mean so much more work rewriting later on. So thanks, NaNoWriMo, for getting me started, but I spent the rest of the month doing research. And I'm a nerd, so doing research is fun. I still highly recommend NaNoWriMo for people who need a kick in the pants to start or finish a project. Maybe next year I'll use NaNoWriMo to finish this novel. Stay tuned ...

It's been a few years, but I'm giving NaNoWriMo another go. I've participated twice in the past and finished once. I'm hoping to go the distance on NaNo #3. What I like about NaNoWriMo is the quick and dirty deadline that's randomly imposed. 50,000 words. 30 days. That's it. You either do it or you don't. And even if I don't, I've started. And that's HUGE. I'm working on a historical fiction I've been thinking about for years. I've previously envisioned it as a play and a screenplay. I've done a fair amount of research. I even outlined it as a screenplay. But I've never started it. On November 1, I finally did. And this is why I do NaNoWriMo. Even if I don't finish. I've started. And that's HUGE.

Title: Rose Under Fire Author: Elizabeth Wein Publisher: Disney-Hyperion Publication Date: September 10, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-1423183099 368 pp. Reading copy from publisher via NetGalley Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein is a companion novel to Code Name Verity , which was recently named Number One of the Teens' Top Ten 2013 . Rose Under Fire is not a sequel to Code Name Verity . There are characters from Code Name Verity who make small but important appearances, but the novel really belongs to Rose Justice. Rose is an American teenager who transports planes for the British and gets captured by Nazis. She's sent to Ravensbruck, a women's concentration camp, where she meets the Polish Rabbits, a group of girls who were used for medical experiments. It's near the end of the war, but that makes everything just a little more desperate. When the enemy knows they're losing, how many can they take down with them? Rose Under Fire is a much more traditio...

I hope you're excited for the announcement of the Teens' Top Ten during the week of October 21st! There were 28 nominees this year and I promoted them with displays and bookmarks at my library. These are proven teen-approved titles that make Readers' Advisory easy-peasy. Many of the titles are part of series, so you can hook a voracious reader with the promise of more awesome books. I haven't gotten to all of the nominees, but you can check out my reviews of Butter , Code Name Verity , Of Poseidon , and The Raven Boys . All of the Teens' Top Ten nominees are included here:

Title: Life After Life Author: Kate Atkinson Narrated by: Fenella Woolgar Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books Publication Date: April 2, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-1619696969 Listening copy via local library The thing to remember with Life After Life by Kate Atkinson is that it is a character driven story, not plot driven. Don't expect the traditional three-act structure of beginning, middle, and end. Don't expect linear storytelling where plot point A leads to plot point B. Because that's not what Life After Life is about. Life After Life is the story of Ursula Todd, a girl born during a snow storm in 1910 England, only to die and live and die again. And again. And again. Ad infinitum. But this isn't reincarnation where she comes back as other people. She always comes back as Ursula Todd, a girl born during a snow storm in 1910 England. But Life After Life is really about choices. Random choices that haunt us, deliberate choices that don't succeed, cho...

Title: The Originals Author: Cat Patrick Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Publication Date: May 7, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0316219433 304 pp. ARC provided by publisher The Originals by Cat Patrick has a great premise. Three sisters, Lizzie, Ella, and Betsy, live one life, each girl taking a different time of day. Because Lizzie, Ella, and Betsy aren't really sisters. They are clones. Their "mother" worked at a lab where they covertly cloned the three girls for a rich couple whose baby, The Original, died. Except the couple just wanted one baby and demanded the other two be destroyed. So the girls' "mother" took them and went into hiding. The three girls lived as triplets for awhile, but the doctor in charge of the lab was arrested and the government is on the lookout for girl triplets. So a scheme was concocted where Lizzie takes the morning shift, Ella takes the afternoon, and Betsy takes the night. All three of them live as ...

Title: When We Wake Author: Karen Healey Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Publication Date: March 5, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0316200769 304 pp. ARC provided by publisher I believe that good sci-fi should be a reflection of modern society taken to an extreme. And I think Karen Healey does this with When We Wake . Tegan Oglietti is a sixteen-year-old in near future Australia. She loves music, especially the Beatles, and she believes in stuff. She believes in God, she believes in service to country (her dead father was in the military), she believes in family, and she believes that people can make a difference. She's just fallen in love for the first time and she's happy and hopeful for the future. And then she's shot by a sniper at a rally. It was an accident, really. The bullet was meant for the Prime Minister. But now Tegan is dead. Well, kind of dead. Tegan, who had donated her body to science, is put into a cyrogenic state. And then, one d...

Title: Of Poseidon Author: Anna Banks Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel Publisher: AudioGO Publication Date: December 11, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-1620642696 Listening copy via Sync I realized that my monthly Reader's Corner column had turned into a monthly audiobook review, so I thought I go ahead and just make it an actual audiobook review. I was able to stock up on some audiobooks thanks to Sync , and the first one I'll review is Of Poseidon by Anna Banks . The story centers on Emma, a good girl who follows in the shadow of her best friend, Chloe. But things change drastically when Emma and Chloe go on a vacation to Florida. First of all, Emma meets cute boy Galen, who has the same mysterious violet eyes that she has. And second, Chloe is killed in a shark attack. So begins Emma's journey as she learns about the Syrena, a type of mer-people, and her role in a battle between Syrena kingdoms. Of Poseidon is a good mix of action, romance, and humor. The big plot ...

Title: Genius Author: Steven T. Seagle Publisher: First Second Publication Date: July 9, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-1596432635 128 pp. ARC provided by publisher via Netgalley Genius , written by Steven T. Seagle and illustrated by Teddy Kristiansen, is a quiet book. A book, at times, of quiet desperation. Ted is a bona fide genius, the wunderkind that skipped grades and is expected to make a mark. Except now Ted is middle-aged and never really fulfilled all those high expectations. Ted still wants to make his mark. In fact, he needs to or he'll lose his job and his insurance, right when his wife needs some serious medical treatment. So when his father-in-law, in an Alzheimer's muddle, mentions that he used to be Einstein's bodyguard and Einstein once told him a BIG SECRET, Ted thinks his luck has changed. If only Ted can pry the secret from the lost memories of his father-in-law. But the book isn't really about Einstein's BIG SECRET. The book is about ...

Title: Winger Author: Andrew Smith Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Publication Date: May 14, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-1442444928 448 pp. ARC provided by publisher This book should come with a disclaimer. Something like WARNING: May cause spontaneous laughter. May also cause uncontrollable weeping. Winger by Andrew Smith starts off as a boarding school romp about a 14-year-old genius who plays rugby and dreams about dating his best friend, Annie, who seems out of his league because she's two years older. Ryan Dean (that's his first name) narrates the story of his junior year at a fancypants private school in the Pacific Northwest. His rugby nickname is Winger and though he call himself a skinny-ass bitch, he never backs down from a fight. He is hilarious in his accounts of life at school and they're often punctuated by the comics he draws. What could have been a delightfully fun story about Ryan Dean and his pursuit of Annie and surviv...

Title: The Theory of Everything Author: Kari Luna Publisher: Philomel Publication Date: July 11, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0399256264 320 pp. ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley With a cover like this, you hope that the book will be as fun as it promises. Thankfully, The Theory of Everything by Kari Luna delivers on that promise. Sophie Sophia is a fourteen year old girl who moves into a new town with her mom. Again. Ever since Sophie's genius physicist dad disappeared, Sophie has been having hallucinations, or "episodes", where hearts roll off of sleeves or the school cafeteria becomes a Ramones rock video. Then Sophie meets Walt, her shaman panda, who is supposed to help guide her. Guide her to what, Sophie isn't sure, but she hopes it's her dad. Along the way, Sophie befriends Finny, who becomes her gay BFF, and cute boy Drew, who holds out a hope of normalcy for Sophie. The Theory of Everything is cute, quirky, and a mixed tape of BIG IDE...

Title: The Lord of Opium Author: Nancy Farmer Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers Publication Date: September 3, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-1442482548 432 pp. ARC provided by publisher I'm back from my summer hiatus and so happy to be able to review this book for you! I'm a huge fan of The House of Scorpion , which I listened to on audio , and am thrilled that Nancy Farmer is continuing Matt's story. I don't think it's much of a secret now that Matt is actually the clone of an evil drug lord known as El Patron and Matt was raised to be his organ donor. El Patron dies at the end of The House of Scorpion and Matt becomes the new Lord of Opium.   The Lord of Opium literally starts the next day after The House of Scorpion ends. If you haven't read The House of Scorpion , you can follow along well enough, but I highly suggest reading The House of Scorpion first. It's a different type of storytelling because it starts when Matt is very y...

It's summertime and the living is ... busy. Between work, family obligations, and you know, life ... I'll be taking the summer off from the blog. Expect me back sometime in August with more book reviews, writing tips, and library stuff. Have a great summer!

Title: Rapture Practice Author: Aaron Hartzler Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Publication Date: April 9, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0316094658 400 pp. ARC provided by publisher Aaron Hartzler is a good kid. He loves Jesus. He honors his mother and father. He doesn't go to movies or listen to rock music. He believes with all his heart that Jesus will return in the Second Coming and the faithful will fly up to heaven to meet Him in the Rapture. And then Aaron becomes a teenager. Rapture Practice is a memoir by Aaron Hartzler , the son of a preacher man, who learns that belief needs to come from yourself and not from your parents. I get Aaron Hartzler. I grew up in a Catholic family that switched to evangelical Christian when I was 12. My parents weren't as strict as Aaron's. We went to movies. We owned a television. But we prayed in restaurants before eating our meals. There was a big family meeting when my parents wanted to throw out my comic...

"I better start hoarding peanut butter." And so summer begins! Again, I haven't had much time to do much reading, but I have started Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler, and that has been so much fun. On the audiobook side, I listened to The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. It's a fantastic audiobook and a good, creepy story about a girl who's the daughter of a psychic and a group of boys at a private school who are looking for the tomb of an ancient king. And it's one of the Sync audiobooks this summer, so you can listen to it for free! The other audiobook I listened to was The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. It's an end-of-the-world story where the end isn't a bang, but a whimper. The year Julia turns 12, the Earth starts slowing on its axis. The days and nights become longer. Birds die off. Crops fail. Suicide cults form. But the story centers on Julia's perspective as a girl on the brink of adolescence, living in a suburb...

I mentioned Sync in a previous blog post , but it's been a while and it certainly bears repeating. Especially this year, because Sync is offering an amazing collection of audiobooks. For free. Sync gives people a chance to experience audiobooks and pairs classic literature with a current YA release. A new pair is released once a week throughout summer. Just sign up and you can be downloading free audiobooks all summer long. Sync will even send you a text or email reminder when the new audiobooks are available. How easy is that? (And did I mention it is FREE!?!) The first pair --  Of Poseidon by Anna Banks, read by Rebecca Gibel and The Tempest by William Shakespeare, read by a Full Cast -- releases on May 30, 2013 and will available for download through June 5, 2013. You can see the full schedule of Sync audiobooks here . Happy listening!

I've always loved names. I used to read the phone book and make lists of names I liked. Sometimes it was the combination of sounds, sometimes it was image that it provoked, sometimes it was just goofy. I'd combine names and make up names, sci-fi sounding names like Hysy Sigee and silly names like Constance Prattle. I bought a baby name book and used that to name characters, but then I discovered the Social Security Administration's list of baby names . It is nirvana for name nerds like me, especially if your novel takes place in the United States. The SSA released the data for 2012 this week and while the big news is usually the most popular names (Jacob and Sophia), there is a cornucopia of name goodness throughout the website. First of all, the database goes back to 1880, when the most popular names were John and Mary. And you can find the most popular names up to the 1,000th (Layton and Eula in 1880; Dangelo and Katalina in 2012). You can also find the most p...

"The Diviners is the cat's meow!" So April was not the cruelest month. It was one of those months that zipped on by in a whirl of collection development and library programming. While I got very little reading done, I did get a chance to listen to some wonderful audiobooks. (I have a feeling I should change this monthly post from Reader's Corner to Listener's Corner.)  First of all, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is absolutely magical. There's a love story and a coming-of-age story, but really, it's about a place so special that everyone who reads the book wishe s they could go to the Night Circus while wearing a red scarf to meet other people who know how special it is. The Circus itself is a character, the most impor tant character of all, built from love and pining and los s. T he other audiobook I listened to was The Diviners by Libba Bray. Evie O'Neill is a flapper in 1920's New York who has the ability to "read...

I've been a member of NetGalley for a few years now, and it still surprises me that more people don't know about it. NetGalley is a website where librarians, teachers, bloggers, book reviewers -- basically anyone who reads and shares those books with other readers -- can get free downloadable advanced reader copies. This is a valuable tool, especially for librarians, for several reasons. First, it's a great help as a selection tool, so you know what's coming out and how good of a read it is. Second, print ARC's can be a pain in the ass. Yes, it's awesome to get them in the mail directly from the publisher. But you can't put them in the collection afterwards and you can't have the Friends of the Library sell them. I give them away to the kids in the Teen Zone, which is cool, but sometimes the ARC can differ significantly from the final work, and that kid may never pick up the final copy. So NetGalley fits a much needed niche. By having the ebook ...

Title: Don't Expect Magic Author: Kathy McCullough Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers Publication Date: November 8, 2011 ISBN-13: 978-0385740128 256 pp. Reading copy via author Kathy McCullough , author of Don't Expect Magic , donated the paperback copy of this book to the public library where I work. My supervisor gave it to me to read to evaluate whether or not we should include it in our YA collection, since we already have the hardcover edition our JTeen collection. The difference between our YA and JTeen collections is, generally speaking, the difference between high school and middle school. Although there is some overlap, anything with "racier" content is in YA. John Green is in YA. Ellen Hopkins is in YA. You get the picture. Don't Expect Magic is a "clean" read, no bad words, no sex. But I think it has YA appeal, so I'm going to recommend that it be included in the YA collection. Delany Collins is the protagonis...

"I don't think Elphaba's that bad." Another crazy busy month is almost over. But I did manage to get some reading in. I finished reading Scarlet by Marissa Meyer and now I'm almost done reading Don't Expect Magic by Kathy McCullough (review forthcoming). In audibooks, I listened to the delightful (and incredibly short) I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. I also listened to Wicked by Gregory Maguire . I haven't seen the musical, but I know a few of the songs and have a rough idea of what it's about. The book is substantially different from what I thought I knew. The novel's world-building is phenomenal and its characters are rich and complex. Elphaba grows up to be the Wicked Witch of the West, but "wicked" is a dubious term. The novel starts shortly before her birth and continues to her inevitable death. Elphaba is outcast from the moment she's born because of her green skin. But when she makes the wrong choices, does it...

Pablo the Cat I can no longer put it off. This weekend I have to sort through my papers and organize my tax information. But if you can put it off a little longer, here are some random cat videos to help you procrastinate. (And that good-looking cat in the picture is Pablo, who gets his fluffy coat and big paws from some Maine Coon ancestor.) First up is Henri, the French Existentialist Cat . There are a whole series of Henri videos now, including an endorsement deal he got with Friskies. But the first is still the best. Henri the French Existentialist Cat: If you think teaching your cat how to walk on a leash is hard, you might have better luck teaching them how to walk their human. How to Walk Your Human: Finally, this video was so funny that the tears of laughter blinded me and I had to watch it again. And again. Scientific Proof that Cats are Better Than Dogs: Enjoy!

Title: Scarlet Author: Marissa Meyer Publisher: Feiwel & Friends Publication Date: February 5, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0312642969 464 pp. ARC provided by publisher Marissa Meyer fans will not be disappointed in Scarlet , Book 2 in The Lunar Chronicles. It has all the heart-pounding action, humor, and touches of romance that Cinder has. Scarlet centers on Scarlet, the granddaughter of Michelle Benoit, a former pilot who once made a diplomatic mission to Luna. When Michelle disappears under mysterious circumstances, Scarlet goes on the hunt for her and teams up with Wolf, a street fighter who is more than he seems to be. Meanwhile, Cinder is a fugitive and trying to figure out what to do next. While she's on the lam she meets Captain Carswell Thorne, an American Federation pilot who may be more trouble to her than he's worth. Eventually, Cinder and Scarlet meet up at the best/worst possible time and the stage is set for Book 3. Scarlet is a rollicking go...

"Patrick Stewart should play the Major." I'm starting to get slammed at work with planning summer reading and other programming, so I haven't been able to read as much as I'd like. I am almost done with Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, Book 2 in The Lunar Chronicles. It's been a lot of fun so far and a review will be forthcoming. In audiobooks, I took a break from YA books last month. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson has been on my TBR pile for awhile, so I decided to listen to it instead. What a charming story! It hits every Anglophile button for me. There's wit and social satire and quaint village life and romance. In this case, the romance is between sixty-something Major Pettigrew and his Pakistani neighbor, Mrs. Ali, who runs the village shop. Both are widowed and what starts out as a friendship turns into something more. Of course there are obstacles, most notably Mrs. Ali's nephew and Major Pettigrew's country club f...

Title: Altered Author: Jennifer Rush Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Publication Date: January 1, 2013 ISBN-13: 978-0316197083 336 pp. ARC provided by publisher Altered by Jennifer Rush is a real thrill ride of a novel. Lots of action, lots of twists and turns. The story centers on Anna, who lives in an old farmhouse with her father. Downstairs is a secret lab where four young men are kept in high-security cells for tests and observation. Anna long ago figured out that her dad works for the Branch and that the four men are genetically altered super-soldiers. She befriends the guys, smart-ass Cas, studious Trev, angry Nick, and the leader of the group, Sam. On the day that the Branch comes to collect their test subjects, Anna is caught in the mayhem that occurs when the guys make their escape. Soon she's on the run with them as they follow clues that they hope will tell them who they really are. The clues also lead Anna to question everything sh...

Title: Safekeeping Author: Karen Hesse Publisher: Feiwel & Friends Publication Date: September 18, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-1250011343 304 pp. ARC provided via publisher Safekeeping by Karen Hesse is a bit of an odd duck. It's a quiet book, an interior journey as much as it is a physical one. It's the story of Radley, a young woman who was volunteering at an orphanage in Haiti when America implodes in civil unrest. She rushes home to Vermont, or at least tries to, but finds that new security measures means she own her own, on foot, trying not to be noticed by police. When she gets home, her parents have disappeared. She decides to hoof it to Canada, where many Americans are seeking asylum. Along the way she meets a girl with a dog and a secret. The book is interspersed with black and white photographs that Radley's mother supposedly took. They are stark, lonely photos of found objects and isolated landscapes. The story is really Radley's journey as a ...

"Wasn't this supposed to be a 3-hour tour?" I hope 2013 is treating you well so far! I'm still behind on some book reviews, but I hope to catch up on those later this month. The most recent book I've added to my to-be-reviewed pile is Altered by Jennifer Rush. Also on the to-be-reviewed pile is Safekeeping by Karen Hesse. I've barely cracked open the first few chapters of Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, but lots of fun packed into those beginning pages. Lately, I've had some trouble with audiobooks (the downside to borrowing them from the library is that you can get a couple of discs in and then get a disc that WILL NOT PLAY). *sigh* But I did get to listen to the complete audiobook of Nation by Terry Pratchett. Librarian confession: I've never actually read a Terry Pratchett novel before. Love Doug Adams and Neil Gaiman, but Terry Pratchett has escaped me. So happy I finally got a chance to experience Terry Pratchett with Nation . It'...

Title: Love and Other Perishable Items Author: Laura Buzo Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers Publication Date: December 11, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-0375870002 256 pp. ARC provided by publisher This novel was originally published in Australia under the title Good Oil , which makes sense once you read the book. The American title makes it sound a little chick-lit, but the book is much smarter and funnier than that. Fifteen-year-old Amelia takes a part-time job as a cashier at her local supermarket. When cute boy Chris trains her, Amelia falls hard for him. She realizes that charming, funny, smart, and occasionally brooding Chris is twenty-one, and therefore out of her league. But she cannot stop thinking about him. Or talking about him. Or making a fool of herself over him. Meanwhile, Chris is pining for a girl who broke his heart, watching his friends become more successful than him, and wondering what the hell to do with his life. The book is written from both Ameli...

Title: Tune Book 1: Vanishing Point Author: Derek Kirk Kim Publisher: FirstSecond Publication Date: November 13, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-1596435162 160 pp. ARC via Netgalley Another graphic novel book review for graphic novel fans! Derek Kirk Kim's Tune is a webcomic about Andy Go, an art school drop-out whose life gets considerably worse and wacky after he meets a couple of aliens. Tune Book 1: Vanishing Point is the print version of the first ten chapters of Andy's adventure. Chances are you know at least one person who is like Andy, a pop culture geek who thinks he's talented enough to drop out of school and become successful overnight. When that doesn't happen, Andy is pressured to find a job, any job, by his parents. Having realized that he is qualified for absolutely nothing, Andy decides to apply for a job at a zoo. Except he doesn't know that this zoo is in another dimension and he's the exhibit. And, oh yeah, he finds his long-time cr...

Title: Cardboard Author: Doug TenNapel Publisher: Graphix Publication Date: August 1, 2012 ISBN-13: 978-0545418737 288 pp. Reading copy via local library Ever since I heard Doug TenNapel speak about Cardboard at the ALA conference last summer, I've been dying to read this graphic novel. I ordered it for the library and devoured it as soon as I could (yeah, I'm a little behind on my book reviews) . Cardboard   begins with a down-out-and-out dad who doesn't have the money to buy his son, Cam, a birthday present. Cam's mom has recently passed away, and dad feels like a total failure. When the dad comes across a mysterious street vendor willing to sell him -- for the last bits of change in his pocket -- a magical cardboard box, the dad is skeptical. But the dad is good with his hands and figures he and Cam can make something cool out of it. Yes, the cardboard box is magical. Yes, they do make something cool out of it. Yes, it does go all horribly wr...

Welcome to 2013, everyone! Another year is upon us, which means fresh starts and big plans. The big thing for me this year is that the screenplay I wrote last year is going into production later this month! It's been a rollercoaster getting it to this point, but so worth it. First, major thanks to Kelli Bennett , my producer extraordinaire. She approached me with a crazy idea to make a microbudget film and I said, why not? I've always wanted to write a script that was nonlinear and from multiple points of view and I thought such a script would be perfect for an independent feature. Kelli kept challenging me to make it clearer, make it meaningful, make it better. There are still challenges to come, distribution being the big one, and I'll keep you posted throughout the year. On the fiction front, I just got back a critique from agent Mary Kole , via one of the Writer's Digest seminars . I was pleased with what Ms. Kole had to say, and after I revise via her ...