Posts tagged with teen-literature
Dream Life, by Lauren Mechling
Dream Life is Lauren Mechling's follow-up to 2008's Dream Girl, and it's even more enjoyably far-fetched than its predecessor. Both novels feature improbably-named 10th grader Claire Voyante, whos...
Fallen, by Lauren Kate
As a merry band of book critics who spend a lot of time pondering young adult literature, we found it impossible to read Lauren Kate's novel Fallen without thinking about Stephenie Meyer's...
Critics at work
Now that December's here, we're beginning to see all the "Best of 2009" lists roll in. Normally I end up sneering at these (hi, Salon!), but there are a couple from sources I trust. I was pretty s...
Jumping the gun
Warner Bros. has acquired the movie rights to Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's young adult novel Beautiful Creatures (the first book in a projected five-book-long series), despite the fact that it...
At long last...
Megan Whalen Turner has finally announced another book. It's been three and a half years since the superb The King of Attolia came out (and I thought the series was over, frankly), so this news is...
Killer unicorns
Megan has been nagging me to read Diana Peterfreund's Secret Society Girl books for about a year now, and I keep forgetting 'em when it comes time to read something that's not for the site. But th...
Literary tone-deafness
I usually like Salon, but sometimes their stuff irritates the hell out of me. Take this recent article on Lise Haines’ new novel Girl in the Arena, which kicks off with the following lines:"Girl i...
Good clean fun?
So, the film adaptation for the first book in Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak series is coming out, and I'm not sure what to think:On one hand, the trailer is strangely hokey*, but on the other, tho...
Girls on skates
If you've got anywhere between nine and thirteen dollars burning a hole in your pocket this evening (depending on how outrageously expensive your local movie theater is), you might check out Whip ...
Here's hoping they invest in better CGI than the New Moon producers
We've had a review copy of Maggie Stiefvater's novel Shiver floating around Wordcandy HQ for a few months now*, so I was interested to see that it's been picked up by the producers of the Lord of ...
If at first you don't succeed...
Since Jennifer's Body tanked at the box office, Diablo Cody has apparently decided to inflict her (highly questionable) talent for creating teen-girl dialogue on a very different style of story: s...
But when will they give us a manga version of Gossip Girl?
Yen Press has announced plans to publish a manga adaptation of the first book in Lisi Harrison’s massively popular series The Clique. Yen's adaptation will be released next July and is being illus...
Youth in Revolt trailer's up...
...and while I'm not a huge Michael Cera fan (he's precious) and I haven't read the C.D. Payne book the movie is based on, the trailer's teen-romance take on Fight Club shtick did make me snicker ...
Castration Celebration, by Jake Wizner
The cover of Jake Wizner’s new book looks like the promotional posters for Disney’s High School Musical. It features about 10,000 hokey musical numbers*, just like Hig...
Alyzon Whitestarr, by Isobelle Carmody
The title of Isobelle Carmody's book Alyzon Whitestarr sounds like an eighties hair band, the cover model looks like Gossip Girl's Little J in a bad Goth wig, and the ...
The Sweet Life of Stella Madison, by Lara M. Zeises
Stella Madison, the 17-year-old heroine of Lara M. Zeises's The Sweet Life of Stella Madison, has her hands full: her boyfriend has just professed his love, her long-s...
Teenagers (heart) disaster lit?
The Wall Street Journal recently posted an essay about the brisk market for grim YA literature, wondering when the nation's teenagers became "connoisseurs of disaster". The author, Katie Roiphe, s...
If the Witness Lied, by Caroline B. Cooney
Caroline B. Cooney’s If the Witness Lied is a top-notch young adult thriller: suspenseful and atmospheric, with a solid line-up of appealingly flawed characters. If the Witness Lied is the story of...
Spanking Shakespeare, by Jake Wizner
Jake Wizner’s debut novel Spanking Shakespeare is the literary equivalent of a Woody Allen movie directed by Judd Apatow: five times as self-centered, sex-obsessed, and painfully neurotic as it is...
City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare
Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones, the first book in her Mortal Instruments trilogy, has a lot going for it: the twists and turns of the plot make sense, the dialogue is lively, and—unlike so many...
TV vs. Books: score one for TV!
I'm sorry, but the television version of Gossip Girl is so very, very much better than the books:If only I spoke Polish....P.S. There's another one, but it's about Dan and that teacher, so who cares?
Larry Doyle book to hit the big screen
The trailer's up for the movie adaptation of I Love You, Beth Cooper, and it looks, well, totally painful:I couldn't really get past the opening scene, where the main character (a high school seni...
YALSA's list of great graphic novels
The Young Adult Library Services Association has assembled a list of over fifty great graphic novels for teens, and they've included several Wordcandy-approved titles, including one of our recent ...
Cyberspace shindig
Bestselling YA author Sarah Mlynowski is kicking off the publicity for her latest book in the Magic in Manhattan series (the just-released Parties and Potions) with a virtual book party. The event...
No books for teenage boys?
Roger Sutton, editor in chief of The Horn Book, recently wrote an essay for the Times about two buzzworthy young adult titles—John Green's Paper Towns and Kevin Brooks’s Black Rabbit Summer. I'm o...
Even more Tantalize news
There's going to be a graphic novel adaptation of the same material, tentatively titled Tantalize: Kieren's Story. I can't find much information about it, but Ms. Smith did mention it in a July in...
At long last...
...the sequel to Cynthia Leitich Smith's excellent (and totally gross) YA novel Tantalize is coming out! Eternal is due out on February 10th, and Ms. Smith is currently featuring an excerpt and a ...
Take advantage of six promo tours at once
Books of Wonder, New York City's oldest and largest independent children's bookstore, is hosting an reading/book signing/Q-and-A session event with six big-name YA authors tonight: Tamora Pierce, ...