HPL
Teen Territory Blog

Are you a fan of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series?

Good news if you are! There's a graphic novel now!

Uglies: Shay's Story came out this month and is the graphic novel version of the original Uglies book. It's written by Scott Westerfeld and Devin Grayson and illustrated by Steven Cummings.

The book trailer can be found below:



Click here to reserve your copy of "Uglies: Shay's Story" today!

Somewhere in the midst of Internet link-clicking, I stumbled upon this beautiful set of photos of children with their toys from around the world. Taken by photographer Gabriele Galimberti, these photos depict kids with the toys they treasure most from countries like the USA, Italy, Iceland, Botswana, Costa Rica, India, Australia, and many others. Ultimately, I think it reminds us that kids are kind of the same anywhere you go, but according to the photographer, the way each of the children played revealed a lot about their countries. “The richest children were more possessive,” he said, “At the beginning, they wouldn’t want me to touch their toys, and I would need more time before they would let me play with them. In poor countries, it was much easier. Even if they only had two or three toys, they didn’t really care. In Africa, the kids would mostly play with their friends outside.”

This got me thinking about my most prized toys as a kid. I grew up in Long Island, New York in the 80's and early 90's. There were a few clear standouts: Magic Nursery Babies, Care Bears, Puppy Surprise, Maple Town figurines, Littlest Pet Shop, and Yum Yums. Were these toys important to any other kids of my generation? What were your most favorite childhood possessions?

The 2013 award-winners are here! The American Library Association (ALA) officially announced the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults on Monday of this week at its midwinter meeting in Seattle, Washington. This list includes the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz awards! And here they are!

The winner of the 2013 John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature is:

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

And the three Newbery Honor Books are:

Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage


This year's winner of the The Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children is:

This Is Not My Hat illustrated and written by Jon Klassen
And the five Caldecott Honor Books are:
Creepy Carrots! illustrated by Peter Brown and written by Aaron Reynolds

Extra Yarn illustrated by Jon Klassen and written by Mac Barnett

Green illustrated and written by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

One Cool Friend illustrated by David Small and written by Toni Buzzeo

Sleep Like a Tiger illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski and written by Mary Logue

The 2013 Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults is:

In Darkness by Nick Lake
Four Printz Honor Books also were named for this year and they are:

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Dodger by Terry Pratchett

The White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna

For the full list of this year's award-winners, including the Geisel Award, Coretta Scott King Awards, and Laura Ingalls Wilder Award read the American Library Asscociation's press release here.

Did you virtually attend last Tuesday's "An Evening of Awesome" with John and Hank Green? The crowd was sold out, which no author has done since Norman Mailer's memorial service, which was almost five years ago!

If you missed the big night, don't worry! You can still watch the evening's events on YouTube! (Scroll to minute 35:12; that's when the good stuff begins.)

Enjoy, nerdfighters!

This coming Tuesday, January 15, author John Green and his brother, Hank, will present “An Evening of Awesome” at Carnegie Hall. This will be a speaking event (also with musical guests, The Mountain Goats) to mark the 1-year anniversary of his most recent, and probably most famous, book, The Fault In Our Stars.

But you can be in the audience right from home via livestreaming video and various Tumblr meetup events! You may or may not know, but John Green has long been known for keeping in contact with his fan base (aka the Nerdfighters) through various forms of social media, and he has said that Tumblr is his social media platform of choice.

There are two opportunities for participation: the livestream event on January 15, and an Ultimate John Green Trivia Challenge, which will run the weekend of January 19-20. All the questions for the Trivia Challenge are fan-sourced from Green’s Tumblr (you can submit a question here!).

Updates and information about how to attend or organize an event can be found on Penguin Teen’s Tumblr and John Green’s Tumblr.

You can read the full article about these "awesome" events at Publishers Weekly by clicking here.

YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) has selected five books as finalists for the 2013 William C. Morris Award, which honors a book written for young adults by a previously unpublished author. YALSA will name the actual winner at the Youth Media Awards on January 28.

And now...without further adieu, the 2013 finalists are...

Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby

Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo

After the Snow by S.D. Crockett

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Have you read any of the finalists? If not, be sure to place one on reserve by clicking the links above!

Suzanne Collins, author of the Hunger Games series has a new book due September 10, 2013! This time she's going for a younger target audience--ages 4 and up! It's a picture book called Year of the Jungle and, according to this Entertainment Weekly article, it is autobiographical.

The book is illustrated by James Proimos, and follows Suzy's struggle to deal with her father's absence as he serves in Vietnam. She counts down the days until her father’s return, and when he finally comes back, Suzy finds that the war has changed him but he loves her all the same.

On her inspiration for the book, Suzanne Collins says:

"For several years I had this little wicker basket next to my writing chair with the postcards my dad had sent me from Vietnam and photos of that year. But I could never quite find a way into the story. It has elements that can be scary for the audience and it would be easy for the art to reinforce those. It could be really beautiful art but still be off-putting to a kid, which would defeat the point of doing the book. Then one day I was having lunch with Jim and telling him about the idea and he said, ‘That sounds fantastic.’ I looked at him and I had this flash of the story through his eyes, with his art. It was like being handed a key to a locked door. So, I just blurted out, ‘Do you want to do it?’ Fortunately he said yes. That afternoon, on the train ride home, the book started unfolding in my head. There’s a natural humor and sense of fun to his drawing style that makes the story approachable. As the emotional life of the main character evolves into darker places, the pictures beautifully keep pace with it, but they never lose that Proimos quality. His art made telling the story possible."

Click here to read the full article in Entertainment Weekly.

How exciting!