Edgar Nominees For Best Juvenile and Best YA

It's Edgar nominee time! Here is the full list of nominees; I've pasted the YA and MG ones below.

As in previous years, I'm planning to read all before the awards announcement May 2, and will let you know my predictions. It's fun, so join in if you like....

BEST JUVENILE

Fake Mustache: Or, How Jodie O’Rodeo and Her Wonder Horse (and Some Nerdy Kid) Saved the U.S. Presidential Election from a Mad Genius Criminal Mastermind by Tom Angleberger (Abrams – Amulet Books)
13 Hangmen by Art Corriveau (Abrams – Amulet Books)
The Quick Fix by Jack D. Ferraiolo (Abrams – Amulet Books)
Spy School by Stuart Gibbs (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage (Penguin Young Readers Group – Dial Books for Young Readers)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Emily’s Dress and Other Missing Things by Kathryn Burak (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group – Roaring Brook Press)
The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George (Penguin Young Readers Group – Viking)
Crusher by Niall Leonard (Random House Children’s Books – Delacorte BFYR)
Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield (Penguin Young Readers Group – Dutton Children’s Books)
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Disney Publishing Worldwide - Hyperion)

Making travel plans for 2013--where are you going?

January means organizing and planning for me, which also means making travel plans. I have a few things still in the works, but spring is mostly sorted.

In case you're interested, here's where you can find me until April.

Now I'm deciding for the rest of the year... So I was hoping you'd inspire me, tell me if you're traveling (for writing or not), and what your plans are for 2013.

Are you staying around your own neighborhood, or are you venturing out?

Are You Influenced By Other Writers?

I heard this song a few weeks ago, by Gary Clark Jr. It's pretty good, but I instantly recognized several of his influences: Lenny Kravitz, Jimmy Hendrix, to name but a few. It's so obvious, I'm sure Mr. Clark is aware.

Which made me think of writers, and my own writing. Am I influenced, like this guy, by others whose craft I admire?

Dunno...

How about you, fellow writers? Have others ever told you that your writing is like someone else's?


 

Kickin' Off The New Year With Good News

It's 2013!

I know, this is sort of old news, but I've been a bit slow joining the new year. Blame it on the leftover snacks in the fridge.

But then I got some good news: Seattle Mystery Bookshop's Amber listed Double Vision as one of the best middle-grade mysteries of 2012. And I got fanmail (how cool is that?) from an awesome 7th grader who chose to do his English project on the book. So I'm honored, and inspired to get to work.

Now all I need is some New Year's resolutions....

How 'bout you? Any plans for lucky 2013?

Happy Holidays from the YA Sleuth!

I'm always a sucker for classics, particularly around the holidays. So here's a Nat King Cole one.

Happy holidays, and I'll see you in 2013!


 

Share Your Great Teacher Story

Friday's events in Connecticut left me (and I imagine anyone) pretty shaken. However, since there's enough heartbreak on the news right now, I won't add to that here.

But that tragedy did remind me how great teachers and educators can be, and how many teachers have impacted me as a kid, and as I have my own kiddos now, into adulthood. Like my first grade teacher Mieke, who was smart, fair, kind, and just plain cool. My Latin teacher, who could always see the humor in my terrible Latin translations (I would come up with whole new stories that were totally not in the text). The great teacher at my kids' Colorado school, always ready to give a hug or a high-five.

Or the media specialist (that's a fancy word for librarian) I spoke to at a local convention earlier this month. The kids at her school come from poor families, where there's no book in the house for her K-4 classes to read. But that doesn't stop this awesome lady from encouraging her kids to read: she tells them to read cereal boxes, shampoo bottles, whatever they can get their hands on. She told me one kid brought in the label off a pillow because it had a word from his spelling list on it. Humbling stuff.

It takes a special person to be a teacher. 

How about you? who was your favorite teacher?

For The Parents And Kids In Connecticut

We're all heartbroken for you. 

Don't think words are enough today...