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  • This Week on Girls Scouts’ The Studio: Author Natalie Yoder

    “I think that I got my love for writing from my dad. He has always kept me on the right path and made me realize that writing was a good …

  • Simon & Schuster Releases the ‘Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale’ Digital Short Story

    The story for the third short story follows “immortal warlock Magnus Bane [who] attends preliminary peace talks between the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders in Victorian London, he is charmed by …

  • Elizabeth Ross On Writing Historical Fiction YA

    “To write a historical novel, the writer’s task is to make history breathe, to make it feel tangible—it’s a feat of world building. In researching Belle Epoque, I brought history …

  • “White Publishing”

    There’s a unique fear that I experience as an editor--which I imagine other editors experience as well--after reading a manuscript by and about a minority group I know too little about.

    For example, I’m a Persian male who was born in Iran, and raised all over Europe, and then Oklahoma. So if you send me FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, man, I am in it. I lived that experience. Maybe not exactly as Boobie Miles lived it. But I played ball in Oklahoma. I get the lingo. My first manuscript was the story of that experience.

    In the same way, if you write a novel set in Rome, if you want to sample some Farsi for a character, or French, then I’m good. I’m still with you. I have firsthand knowledge of the languages, the cultural nuances, etc.
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  • Harry Potter Fans Reveal New Cover for ‘Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix’ by Award-Winning Illustrator Kazu Kibuishi

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New trade paperbacks and boxed set with covers by Kibuishi will be released on August 27, 2013. New York, NY (July 1, 2013) — Fans of Harry Potter …

  • Alan Snow’s ‘Here Be Monsters!’ Adapted as a Stop-Motion Animated Film

    Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi are teaming up as directors for this stop-motion animated movie project. The cast of voice actors include Elle Fanning, Simon Pegg, Ben Kingsley, Toni Collette, …

  • Chris Weitz Signs a Young Adult Book Trilogy Deal

    “The books centers on teenage survivors who inherit a destroyed and desolate earth, after a cataclysmic event kills off every person not between the ages of 12 and 21. Ill-equipped …

  • Diversity in the News: June 27th – July 3rd, 2013

                        Illustration by Tina Kugler to show the lack of diversity in children’s literature in 2012. ON OUR RADAR DC’s Politics …

  • This Week on Girls Scouts’ The Studio: Writer Erica S. Perl

    “No one can tell your stories like you can, so don’t ever let anyone tell you that you’re too young, or old, or fat, or thin, or tall, or short, …

  • Diversity in the News

    June 27th – July 3rd, 2013

    We hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July and to tide you over until the next Diversity in the News post (July 12), we're giving you one mid-week!

    Illustration by Tina Kugler to show the lack of diversity
    in children's literature in 2012.
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  • The National Book Foundation Launches the Up All Night Online Exhibit

    “Remember what it was like to be a kid, so immersed in a great book that you stayed up past your bedtime voraciously turning pages? Or perhaps you’re a young …

  • Diversity in the News

    June 20th – June 27th, 2013

    NEW BLOG ALERT
    • July 1—31: Disability in Kidlit —Organized by Kody Keplinger and Corinne Duyvis, the blog series  “will feature posts by readers, writers, bloggers, and other peeps from the YA and MG communities discussing disability and kidlit.” Call for bloggers now closed.

    ON OUR RADAR
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  • Saundra Mitchell Edits the ‘Defying the Dark’ YA Anthology

    Fifteen of these contributions came from established authors. Prior to publication, Mitchell sent out a call for submissions to never-before-published writers. More than one thousand two hundred pieces were sent …

  • June 2013 Census—Numbers We “Know”

    On June 13, 2013, the Census Bureau released an article that was eye-opening, but not necessarily shocking. For the past few years many of us have understood that the make-up of our nation is changing and shifting. Publishing professionals have followed the many news articles published in the last year that raise the subject of the evolving population of our country and observed that children's books don't reflect that evolution. As industry professionals, we read and  we are listening. These issues are the very reason that CBC Diversity was formed. The CBC Diversity initiative was organized before the first controversial article with the tone of "wake up and see all the white kids on covers--not OK" in 2012 was written. The publishing industry gets it. But seeing change takes time (it takes about a year + to make a book) and it requires widespread collaboration from everyone involved in children's books (librarians, teachers, booksellers, agents, parents, writers, illustrators, etc.) to solve the problem.

    That being said, sitting around Diversity Dialogue sessions where industry professionals come together in a safe environment to discuss how to "solve the problem" can be frustrating at times. We all "know" that there are a whole lot of, say, Latinos who need good mirror books, but reaching that audience is easier said than done. We "know" the market is there, but is it really? Stupid question, right? Of course it's there, but just so everyone is on the same page, here are some interesting tidbits directly from the June 13, 2013 Census Bureau report to really think deeply about.
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  • What Does Today’s YA Offer to Readers?

    “It’s not just that young adult contains growingly diverse characters, though it does, or that it pushes the limits on sexuality, gender, and identity — though it does, in books …

  • Why Does There Continue to be a Lack of Diverse Kidlit?

    “When it comes to diversity, children’s books are sorely lacking; instead of presenting a representative range of faces, they’re overwhelmingly white. How bad is the disconnect? A report by the …

  • The Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy Establishes the Bell Picture Book Awards

    A nine-member CLEL selection committee will choose one title in each of five categories representing an early literacy practice: Read, Write, Sing, Talk, and Play. Winning titles will demonstrate content …

  • This Week on Girls Scouts’ The Studio: Writing Duo Stephanie Wallingford and Dawn Rynders

    “What is our writing process like? Typically we get together for a brainstorming session, which includes everything from constructing couplets (some that are complete jokes) to structuring an entire book …

  • Writing Sympathetic (Gay) Characters

    Originally posted on the Diversity in YA blog by Brent Hartinger.

    If you’re an author, how do make and keep your main character sympathetic?

    You could write a whole book on this very topic — in fact, many have. I confess, I find it a fascinating one, mostly because it was exactly this idea of “likable” protagonists that made me start writing fiction in the first place.

    Some writers reject the whole notion that main characters must be sympathetic (and to a degree, I would agree: jerks and anti-heroes absolutely have their place in the world, in certain kinds of stories).

    But when I started writing back in the 80s and early 90s, I found myself completely frustrated by the main characters in so many books I was reading, especially the gay books. I was looking for characters I could relate to, and too many of the ones I was reading were way too whiny and self-destructive for my taste.

    My partner and I used to joke that there was a name for the genre: *sshole fiction.
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  • Susann Cokal Writes Her Debut YA Novel

    The story follows a young seamstress and a royal nursemaid in the Scandinavian city of Skyggehavn. Candlewick Pres will release the book on October 8, 2013. more at Goodreads▸▸

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