"Lucky me. I found the right kind of love. With the wrong person."

The statistic that brought Ellen Hopkins to write Tricks is that the average age of a prostitute in the United States is twelve. TWELVE. When Ellen Hopkins visited B&N to read and sign her latest book, Tricks, during Banned Books Week, she told the audience that she wants teens to know that there are other ways. That they can make better choices.

Tricks is the story of five teens: Eden, Seth, Ginger, Whitney, and Cody, and the choices each of them makes when faced with difficult family situations. Hopkins based most of her characters in Tricks on teens she has met and pieces of their lives that they have shared with her. Written in verse, each of the teens tells they story of how he or she ended up as a prostitute in Las Vegas.

It took me almost two weeks to read Tricks because it was so hard to continue. I have three children of my own and I work in a middle school, so I have lots to worry about. Reading these stories made me scared, then sad, but ultimately the end also gave me hope. Hopkins researched Tricks through the stories of teen prostitutes, as well as the people who work to help change their lives.

It was amazing to hear Ellen Hopkins read a bit about each of the teens. She answered audience questions, many from teens, and then graciously signed her books. Following the signing, it was fun to meet Tirzah from The Compulsive Reader and Sara from The Hiding Spot and chat with Ed Spicer from Spicy Reads. I'm looking forward to more community events that allow readers to connect with authors and one another.

"My biggest fear was that I'd wake up every day alone, that I'd never find someone to love."

Johanna has always been the kind of girl who others count on. She's a good student and a great friend. She even volunteers her time at a nursing home. Underneath the surface, however, Johanna has problems like anyone else. Her parents have both passed away, forcing her sister Tessa and brother-in-law Martin to move home to take care of her. Her relationship with Tessa is complicated by the fact that she believes that her sister does not approve of her being a lesbian. Johanna has always taken care of her best friend Novak, but their friendship is troublesome due to Novak's on-again, off-again boyfriend and rocky relationship with her parents. She depends on Johanna to be there, but is not really a reliable friend herself.

What Johanna really wants is Reeve Hartt. Reeve is also a lesbian and seems comfortable in her own skin. She doesn't know Johanna is alive until Johanna starts tutoring Reeve's twin brother Robbie. While working with Robbie, Johanna begins to spend time with Reeve and a tenuous relationship develops. What Johanna could not have realized is that Reeve and Robbie lead a messy home life, one which ultimately leads to tragedy.

This is one of those books where I constantly yelled at the main character. I wanted her to understand the destructive nature of her relationship and to realize her own value. In the end, both Johanna and Reeve have to figure out what is best for each of them individually, which will resonate with teens who face decisions about their own relationships.

Rage: A Love Story by Julie Anne Peters was released September 8, 2009.

"I had the strangest sensation there was more to the story."

Have you ever wished for something to happen and then when it did, you had that creepy feeling, the one where part of you thinks that you willed it to happen? Now imagine that your wish is that the popular kids at school who are constantly picking on you would die. And then, Lucy, who is #1 on your list, goes missing. This is the set up for Todd Strasser's newest book, Wish You Were Dead.
Our protagonist is Madison, a well-off girl who is part of the popular crowd but also is involved with other kids. She is not one to make fun of other students. But she is one of the 2 drivers who dropped Lucy off at her house the night she disappeared. Madison tries to unravel the mystery of what happened to Lucy (and then other students in their clique).
Madison is getting clues from lots of people but will she be able to put them together in time to save her friends?

This book is due to be published on September 22, 2009.

"Something had been born here and it lived here still"

I love a good ghost story and the creep factor that goes along with it. When I was in Chicago for ALA, I snagged an ARC of The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom and looked forward to starting it.

Conrad Harrison is lost in many ways before the book even begins. But as he moves his wife, Joanna and their dogs from LA to Black Earth, his life starts to unravel in ways he could not predict or prevent. The former owners of this "birthing house," the Laskis, are strange and their unknown number of children are just not right. Laski brings Conrad a photo of the women of the house from years ago . . . and Conrad recognizes one of them. She startingly resembles his wife. After Joanna leaves for a work trip and Conrad gets sucked deeper and deeper into the house and those that still inhabit it, he loses track of what is real and what is dream. But is it really a dream at all?

You can watch the video trailer for the book, where the author explains what has inspired him to write it. He and his wife actually moved into a birthing house and after he had a nightmare, he decided to write the novel. Can we say creepy? If I had nightmares like this book, I might hesitate to go to sleep!

The Birthing House was just released on August 4, 2009.

Ypulse Author Spotlight: Julie Kraut

Julie Kraut, author of Slept Away, is the focus of today's Ypulse Author Spotlight. Julie discusses her book and how camp has changed (and how it is oh-so-the-same) since she was a camper. It's a great interview--check it out!

"Everyone's afraid of something."

I caught Gitty Daneshvari at the Little, Brown booth between sessions at ALA 2009 and she signed a copy of School of Fear for me. She was very friendly!

Imagine your worst fear. Madeleine, Theodore, Lulu, and Garrison's fears go deeper: they each have a phobia. Maddie is afraid of bugs. She lives covered in nets and bug spray. She insists that rooms be fumigated before she will enter. Theo is afraid of dying. So afraid, in fact, that he has created an elaborate system for his family to check in and prove that they're not dead. Lulu is claustrophobic. She won't even use an elevator. Garrison is afraid of deep water. He is an athlete, but will not swim. Their fears are so deep that they have affected the way the children live their lives. In order to help relieve them of their phobias, the children are sent to the School of Fear for the summer. This uber-secretive institution is run by the eccentric Mrs. Wellington from an exceptionally secluded location. What exactly happens at the school is anyone's guess. However, it is understood that the children will be sequestered for the summer and will be helped to overcome their fears.

Upon arrival, it becomes clear to the children that School of Fear is not an ordinary institution. It is held in Mrs. Wellington's home which is decorated in a 50's motif (original, not retro) and includes the "Fearnasium," a place for the children to work out their fears. Mrs. Wellington, a former beauty queen, imagines the children as contestants and puts them through a hilarious and ridiculous form of pageant training. The children wonder, however, just how this will help cure them of their phobias. Mrs. Wellington has an elaborate plan to help the children. Can she carry it out? As they story unfolds, along with the groundskeeper and cook Schmidty, the lawyer Munchauser, and Mrs. Wellington's bulldog Macaroni, the children realize that they will never forget their summer at the School of Fear.

When I first received this book from Little, Brown as a "Galley of the Week," I was taken by the cover. I'll be the first to admit that I am attracted to book covers. There has been a lot of buzz about this lately (Justine Larbalestier's post, John Green's post, a challenge found via A Chair, a Fire Place, and a Tea Cozy at Color Online) and I admit that I have a habit of snapping pictures of book covers (wherever I see them) so I can go to my trusty computer and find out what the book is "really about." The cover, as well as the art throughout the book, really does depict the feel of the book itself, which I like.

I also loved the language. There are several places throughout the book where I wanted to write notes because I wanted to remember how things were described or stated. My friend Kristin felt the same way, writing about it in an e-mail to me, " . . . there would be a line that was so pitch-perfect! There was one about how Mrs W. was never so alert and so insane as when she talked about pageantry that was priceless."

Finally, I learned about Casu Frazigu (a.k.a. maggot cheese) which I had never heard of before. Thank you, enlightening children's books, you may help me win a trivia game one day!


School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari will be published September 1, 2009.

Geektastic Cover!

I loved Geektastic and was thrilled to meet Holly Black when she was signing at ALA last weekend. My friend Kristin just sent me this great link to an article about the cover from Publishers Weekly. All of the authors who wrote a story in the book have an icon on the cover. The art in this book is wonderful also--I encourage you to check it out!