Girls in Sports Week

I'm participating with a group of authors and bloggers this week at A Backwards Story to discuss girls in sports, a topic pretty close to my heart.  Should girls be allowed to compete with or against boys in predominantly male sports? Would you like your daughter to join the boys' football, hockey, baseball, golf, etc teams at your local high school? Inquiring minds.

To join the discussion, go here.  A Backwards Story also review Hooked which, of course, was pretty nice too.  The review can be found here. 

Have a great week!

Got Spare Time?

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to play more piano.  So far, I'm failing miserably.

Seems that whenever I get spare time I either read or hike, two of my other hobbies.  So my piano sits.  And collects dust.  That's not good.

I've been (trying) to spend less time online so that I'll at least walk by my piano and pick up some of my sheet music.  Sometimes I'm even successful.  But I could be better about it.

What are your hobbies? When do you do them? How do you make time?

Inquiring minds.

Literary Awards

Some rather cool news to share...

I learned last week that HOOKED has been nominated for Best Fiction by YALSA! YALSA stands for Young Adult Library Services Association.  There are lots of other great young adult titles on the list, so I'm really honored simply to be nominated.  And to be listed among the stories of some of my fave authors like Gayle Forman and Rainbow Rowell? Yeah, makes me dizzy.  And check out many of the other authors listed from The Lucky 13s!

A lot of great reads on this list.  I've read so many of them so I am in awe.

Click here for the link.

To say the least, the news pretty much made my week.

It's The Little Things

I love it when I'm home on a perfectly good Friday night and Turner Classic Movies plays an old movie that I've never heard of and yet it turns out to be one of those little diamonds in the rough that captivates you from the first moments.

The movie? A LITTLE ROMANCE (1979) with a young Diane Lane and a little known French actor named Thelonious Bernard.  It takes place in Paris and includes Laurence Olivier, who plays an aging pickpocket and, to my knowledge, had never played a comedic role before. It was very strange seeing him in this role and yet Olivier did so brilliantly.   

Middle schoolers Lane and Bernard meet Julius who entrances them with his storytelling, particularly about how when a couple kisses under the Bridge of Sighs in Venice at sunset as the church bells sound, they seal their love forever.  Naturally, the two teen lovebirds run away to Venice and attempt to seal their fates.

It's very sweet and adorable and it's just one of those movies that makes you smile the whole way through.  Netflix it or look for it on TCM. You won't be disappointed.  My husband even liked it.

Reading Roundup

I've read a bunch of really good YA books lately and wanted to share.

First, Looking for Alaska by John Green.  Although the setting is not one of my faves (the prestigious boarding school), I do love an angsty coming of age story.  It's kind of a newer take on Dead Poet's Society as it crosses from coming of age into the mystery genre. The writing is brilliant and, well, I just love John Green's humor.

45 Pounds by K.A. Barson.  It's the story of a teen girl fighting body issues, an annoying mother, annoying friends, and the all-too familiar quest of losing weight.  Funny and poignant without being preachy.

Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley. Oh, my. What a wild ride thriller. A girl gets abducted at age 13 while at a Girl Scout camp and then waltzes through the front door of her home three years later thinking she's still 13. This book deals with some mature issues like rape and abuse and may not be suitable for young teens.  A real page-turner.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. This may be one of my fave 2013 reads. The story of two unlikely teens who meet and fall in love on a bus over comic books. I couldn't put it down and fell in love with both characters from the first pages. Highly recommend.

Anything you've read lately that you'd like to recommend?

You're Invited: Tweet Chat!

On Tuesday, April 16 at 9 pm EST, the Class of 2K13 is having a tweet chat and you're invited!

In fact, we've invited book bloggers, book sellers, librarians teachers and book lovers to come and discuss all things young adult and middle-grade.  In particular, we want to discuss what teens and tweens want to read.  What are they reading late at night and between College Algebra and Chemistry classes?  Are their tastes different or the same as librarians, teachers and book sellers?  What would they like to see in their libraries?

Inquiring minds! We wanna know.

So come join the discussion, help us spread the word, and let's dish. We'll be using hashtag #Classof2K13

If you've never joined a Tweet chat before, I highly recommend that you use TweetChat.  It's free and helps you filter out everything except the Twitter discussion that you're following.

Talk to you on Tuesday!  And don't forget to follow us on Twitter @TheClassof2K13

What Up, Google?

Hopefully someone can shed some light on this.

So GoogleReader is going away...and now Google Friends Connect is going away too?  Pourquoi?  Is that true?  So...people won't be able to follow each other anymore? At least on Blogger? 

I think this is a Google ploy to move everyone from Blogger to Google+.  And good luck with that.

What say you?