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Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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1:18 AM - readergirlz: Night Bites for Teen Read Week in October
Current mood:  excited
Category: Writing and Poetry
For more information contact:
Sara Easterly, Publicist for readergirlz
Sara Easterly & Friends
sara@saraeasterly.com
206-632-8588
READERGIRLZ PRESENTS "NIGHT BITES" ONLINE AUTHOR CHATS
More than a dozen authors to converge on rgz forum to chat with ravenous teen readers
Sept. 18, 2008 (Seattle, Wash.) -- In celebration of Young Adult Library Services Association's (YALSA's) Teen Reed Week™, readergirlz (rgz) is excited to present Night Bites, a series of online live chats with an epic lineup of published authors. The chats will take place at the rgz forum, Oct. 13-17, 2008.
Playing off of YALSA's theme of "Books with Bite," Night Bites will feature five themed chats designed to appeal to an array of literary tastes. Sure to suck in even the most reluctant teen readers, the complete Night Bites schedule is as follows:
- Monday, Oct. 13: Multicultural Bites with authors Coe Booth (TYRELL), An Na (THE FOLD), and rgz diva Mitali Perkins (SECRET KEEPER)
- Tuesday, Oct. 14: Verse Bites with rgz diva Lorie Ann Grover (ON POINTE), Stephanie Hemphill (YOUR OWN SYLVIA), and Lisa Ann Sandell (SONG OF THE SPARROW)
- Wednesday, Oct. 15: Contemporary Bites with Ally Carter (CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO SPY), rgz diva Justina Chen Headley (NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL), and Maureen Johnson (SUITE SCARLETT)
- Thursday, Oct. 16: Fantasy Bites with Holly Black and Ted Naifeh (THE GOOD NEIGHBORS), rgz diva Dia Calhoun (AVIELLE OF RHIA), and Tamora Pierce (MELTING STONES)
- Friday, Oct. 17: Gothic Bites with Holly Cupala (A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT), Christopher Golden (SOULLESS), Annette Curtis Klause (BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE), and Mari Mancusi (BOYS THAT BITE).
It all happens at the rgz forum (http://groups.myspace.com/readergirlz) beginning at 6 p.m. Pacific Time (9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time), Oct. 13-17.
Watch the Night Bites video at rgz tv www.youtube.com/readergirlz
About readergirlz
readergirlz is the foremost online book community for teen girls, led by five critically acclaimed YA authors - Dia Calhoun (Avielle of Rhia), Lorie Ann Grover (On Pointe), Justina Chen Headley (Girl Overboard), and Mitali Perkins (First Daughter: White House Rules). readergirlz is the recipient of a 2007 James Patterson PageTurner Award.
To promote teen literacy and leadership in girls, readergirlz features a different YA novel and corresponding community service project every month. For more information about readergirlz, please visit www.readergirlz.com and www.myspace.com/readergirlz, or contact divas@readergirlz.com.
About YALSA
For more than 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, films and audiobooks for teens. For more information about YALSA or for lists of recommended reading, viewing and listening, go to www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists.
© readergirlz 2008
Click here to watch the Night Bites trailer on YouTube.
Many kudos and thanks to Holly Cupala for designing the poster and creating the trailer. The song used in the trailer is a cover version of Ring of Fire performed by Universal Hall Pass.
Until October, sleep tight . . . Don't let the book bugs bite!
Please feel free to repost the Night Bites press release, poster, and trailer at your blog or website.
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Currently
watching
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The Great Gatsby (A&E)
Release date: 2001-01-30
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4 Comments - 6 Kudos
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Tuesday, July 08, 2008
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1:46 PM - Poison Ink by Christopher Golden
Current mood: excited
Category: Writing and Poetry
Poison Ink by Christopher Golden - Now available
Everything had been poisoned, and the poison was spreading...
Sammi, TQ, Caryn, Letty, and Katsuko are floaters. None of them fits in with any particular group at Covington High School -- except each other. One night, to cement their bond, the girls decide to get matching, unique tattoos. But when Sammi backs out at the last minute, everything changes.
Faster than you can say "airbrush," Sammi is an outcast, and soon, her friends are behaving like total strangers. When they attack Sammi for trying to break up a brawl, Sammi spies something horrible on her friends' backs: the original tattoo has grown tendrils, snaking and curling over the girls' entire bodies. What has that creepy tattoo artist done to her friends? And what - if anything - can Sammi do to get them back?
This deliciously creepy psychological thriller is the perfect summer read.
Kirkus Reviews
"Action-packed horror with a sidebar of romance, sure to entice those with a taste for blood and the supernatural. Delightfully stomach-churning, [with] a satisfying, violent and sad ending."
My Thoughts
I had the chance to read Poison Ink early, and I drank up every drop!
Poison Ink is a killer thriller, certain to please fans of the suspense genre. This novel offers twists and turns at every corner, piercing as deep as the spoke-like tattoo which changes the lives of five girls forever.
When Sammi balks at getting the tattoo, she doesn't expect her friends to react as strongly as they do, and their actions and words leave her hurt and confused. Though her friends cast her aside, Sammi never turns her back on them. She knows something is terribly wrong, and she's determined to figure out how to stop it before they destroy themselves.
Each of the main characters are different in both appearance and attitude, making it easy to picture them and distinguish between them. Their differences are what drew them together in the first place: they didn't fit into any of the established cliques at school, so they drifted together, a group of floaters, then became close friends. How they react to the tragedies in this book prove that that bond is unbreakable, even though they themselves will never be the same.
Once again, Christopher Golden has created a pageturner that will keep readers up at night. (It might also inspire them to seek tattoo removal!) Poison Ink is filled with horrors both familiar (fighting with your best friends, getting crushed by your crush) and imaginative. With an action-packed climax, Poison Ink proves to be indelible, and will remain etched in the minds of readers.
I can't wait to get this book into the hands of teens and adults alike and introduce a new generation to Golden's works.
How It Begins
Excerpt © Christopher Golden. Reprinted with permission.
On the last Friday night of summer, Sammi Holland and the girls went downtown in search of ice cream. They planned to meet at Krueger's Flatbread for pizza beforehand, a necessary preamble to the main event: an utter debauchery of swirl-ins and sprinkles and fudge sauce at England's MicroCreamery. Afterward, the five of them would wander Washington Street, peeking in the windows of the candle shop, the art galleries, and the bohemian café on the corner, ending up at Cruel and Unusual Books. No way were they getting out of there without hitting the bookshop. Sammi could be very persuasive.
Downtown Covington didn't draw a lot of teenagers. Most of their classmates from Covington High School would be at the mall tonight. But Sammi and the girls just weren't the sort who hung out at the mall.
Unless they were going to the movies, Sammi and her friends steered clear of the Merrimack River Walk. The long, outdoor strip mall had been built less than ten years before, complete with movie megaplex, massive bookstore, and tons of chain clothing stores. On Friday and Saturday nights, hordes of high school kids from Haverhill, Methuen, Jameson, and other nearby towns roved the sidewalks along the River Walk in gaggles, half of them talking on their cell phones or texting their friends who hadn't come along. Like the "main drag" in old movies and TV shows, the River Walk was all about seeing and being seen - half mating ritual and half dance of supremacy.
Want to read more? Click here!
Get Inked
Feel free to use this icon at your blog or social networking site, like LiveJournal or MySpace. Simply right-click on the image, save it to your computer, then upload it to your site.
Weaving a Tangled Web
I hope you'll drop by Christopher Golden's website as well as Poison Ink headquarters - and I hope you like what you see! I designed the Poison Ink site based on the gorgeous cover illustration by Chad Michael Ward.
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Currently
listening
:
The Last 5 Years (2002 Off-Broadway Cast)
By
Jason Robert Brown
Release date: 2002-04-16
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2 Comments - 4 Kudos
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Monday, May 26, 2008
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6:08 PM - Mind the Gap: A Novel of the Hidden Cities by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon
Current mood: excited
Category: Writing and Poetry
MIND THE GAP, the first book in The Hidden Cities series by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, is now available in stores. If you like urban fantasy - especially if you enjoyed NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman - you must pick up MIND THE GAP.
Every big city has a soul, and every soul has a dark, secret side.
You never know when you'll find yourself falling through one of the cracks in the world...
Two of today's brightest stars of dark fantasy combine their award-winning, critically acclaimed talents in this spellbinding new tale of magic, terror, and adventure that begins when a young woman slips through the space between our everyday world and the one hiding just beneath it.
Enter THE HIDDEN CITIES contest and make your mark on the map!
Learn more about the books:
http://www.thehiddencities.com
http://www.christophergolden.com/cities.html
http://slayground.livejournal.com/366699.html
For the latest about this and other new book releases, as well as classics, personal favorites, author interviews, book-related articles, booklists, and the love of literacy, please visit Bildungsroman.
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Currently
listening
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Analog Heart
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6:07 PM - A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski
Category: Writing and Poetry
A KISS BEFORE THE APOCALYPSE by Thomas E. Sniegoski
"The most inventive novel you'll buy this year." - Christopher Golden
Boston P.I. Remy Chandler has many talents. He can will himself invisible, he can speak and understand any foreign language (including the language of animals), and if he listens carefully, he can hear thoughts.
Unusual, to say the least - for an ordinary man. But Remy is no ordinary man - he's an angel. Generations ago, he chose to renounce heaven and live on Earth. He's found a place among us ordinary humans; friendship, a job he's good at - and love.
Now he is being drawn into a case with strong ties to his angelic past. The Angel of Death has gone missing - and Remy's former colleagues have come to him for help. But what at first seems to be about tracing a missing person turns out to involve much more - a conspiracy that has as its goal the destruction of the human race.
And only Remy Chandler, formerly known as the angel Remiel, can stop it.
Are you ready to kiss and tell? Sniegoski and I invite you to drop by the brand-spankin' new website for A Kiss Before the Apocalypse - just leave your swords at the door, please.
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Currently
listening
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While You Can
By
Lucy Woodward
Release date: 2003-04-01
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Sunday, May 25, 2008
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9:04 PM - MySpace Blog
Category: Writing and Poetry
Hi there!
This blog has been created to redirect folks to my main book blog as well as my many other websites.
For book reviews, author interviews, booklists, and more, please consult the Bildungsroman website and blog.
I also post my book reviews at Amazon. Please feel free to read and vote for my reviews there. Thank you!
For a complete list of author interviews I have conducted, consult either archive.
To view the many websites I designed and maintain, please visit Your Girl and Rock the Rock Creations. If you would like me to create your website, please email me.
Thanks for dropping by!
Little Willow
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Currently
listening
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Duncan Sheik
By
Duncan Sheik
Release date: 1996-06-04
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0 Comments - 2 Kudos
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Thursday, March 27, 2008
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2:14 PM - Readergirlz: Operation TBD
Current mood: excited
YALSA and readergirlz are partners in Operation Teen Book Drop (TBD). To celebrate April 17th, 2008, Support Teen Literature Day, we've organized a massive, coordinated release of 10,000 publisher-donated YA books into the top pediatric hospitals across the country!
We invite you to celebrate Support Teen Lit Day with us. Donate one of your own books to your community, then join our amazing online book bash, The TBD Post-Op Party, the night of April 17th.
Please visit the Operation Teen Book Drop page and learn how to get involved.
For more on this and other literacy and activism projects, plus recommendations of remarkable books for teens and adults, please visit www.readergirlz.com
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Currently
listening
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Love Is Red
By
David Poe
Release date: 2005-06-21
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8 Comments - 6 Kudos
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Tuesday, December 25, 2007
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8:42 PM - Readergirlz: Best Books for Your BFF
Current mood:  okay
Category: Writing and Poetry
Wondering what books to get your best friends this holiday season? Snatch up the bookmarks made by the readergirlz and find out what we recommend! (Psst... It's okay to get some books for yourself too!)
Which booklist suits YOUR best friend?
The bookmarks, designed by readergirlz divas Dia Calhoun and Lorie Ann Grover, are available in PDF and JPG format.
Download the bookmarks with the titles selected by the postergirlz advisory council: PDF or JPG
Download the bookmarks with diva picks: PDF or JPG
Download all of the booklists as a Word document (DOC)
Consider these bookmarks our gift to you & your BFF and our very personal community service project all rolled in one. Read, reflect, and reach out.
For more information about readergirlz, please visit www.readergirlz.com and www.myspace.com/readergirlz, or contact divas@readergirlz.com
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Currently
listening
:
Careful What You Wish For
By
Jonatha Brooke
Release date: 2007-04-03
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2 Comments - 4 Kudos
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Thursday, July 19, 2007
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1:20 AM - Owlboy Website
Current mood:  creative
Category: Writing and Poetry
Fear not, citizens! Beware, evildoers! BILLY HOOTEN, OWLBOY is now protecting the internet!
http://www.sniegoski.com/owlboy/
Who is Billy Hooten? He's is a weird kid, that's for sure. He gets picked on at school and hugged at home, but his mother is extremely absentminded and his father fairly oblivious. Billy would rather read comic books than hang out with other kids his age.
Then one day, Billy Hooten hears a cry for help coming from the cemetery that borders his backyard. Against his better judgment, he runs toward it. And after that, everything changes for Billy . . .
I posted about the books at length at Bildungsroman because I feel the need to put this series in the hands of every kid who ever wished he or she had superpowers, who wants to be a superhero, who needs to find inner strength - and have a great adventure (with big laughs!) while doing so.
PR types can also pick up the Electronic Press Kit at the website.
Author Tom Sniegoski took a break from saving the world to do this interview.
Wing on over to the site today to learn more about these fabulous books!
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Currently
listening
:
Some Mad Hope
By
Matt Nathanson
Release date: 14 August, 2007
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0 Comments - 0 Kudos
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Thursday, March 01, 2007
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7:09 PM - Readergirlz
Current mood:  accomplished
Category: Writing and Poetry
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INSPIRING TODAY'S GIRLS TO BE TOMORROW'S HISTORY
YOUNG ADULT AUTHORS CREATE AN ONLINE BOOK SALON FOR GUTSY GIRLS
SEATTLE, March 1 – In honor of Women's History Month, four young adult authors are launching readergirlz, a new online book salon celebrating gutsy girls in life and literature.
Starting on March 1, readergirlz founders Dia Calhoun, Janet Lee Carey, Lorie Ann Grover, and Justina Chen Headley will unveil a monthly book selection, featuring young adult novels with gutsy female characters.
More than just a book club, readergirlz aims to encourage teen girls to read and reach out with community service projects related to each featured novel. As well, readergirlz will host MySpace discussions with each book's author, include author interviews, and provide book party ideas, including playlists, menus, and decorations. All content will be available through the readergirlz website (www.readergirlz.com), MySpace (www.myspace.com/readergirlz and groups.myspace.com/readergirlz), and LiveJournal (readergirlz.livejournal.com).
"We want girls to be the best women they can be,' explains Headley. The inspiration for readergirlz came from Headley's book tour last spring where she made a special effort to visit urban communities that couldn't otherwise bring in authors. She recruited three critically-acclaimed novelists—Calhoun, Carey, and Grover—to start readergirlz as a way to talk to teens about reading and writing.
"Readergirlz is a way I can connect wonderful books to girls I'd never be able to meet otherwise,' agrees Calhoun.
The founders hope readergirlz will change the way girls experience literature and see themselves. "I want to challenge girls to go for their dreams,' says Carey. "I learned how brave girls can be through books, and I want to share the power of literature with girls, wherever they are.'
Using MySpace and a website, the readergirlz founders, dubbed the divas, plan to provide a rich literary experience for teen girls online. "We already have over 750 friends on MySpace. From surveys to playlists to author interviews, we'll provide young adult readers with fun, meaningful content," explains Grover. "Why not harness the power of MySpace to get girls to think critically about what they want to be in the future?'
Each book selection will dovetail to a topic, identified by the readergirlz divas and prominent children's lit bloggers as topics teen girls should know about in this millennium.
The first topic is Tolerance, a theme explored in the kick-off book selection for readergirlz, Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies). As prominent blogger, Jennifer Robinson of http://jkrbooks.typepad.com, noted, teens "need to know that when they are mean or intolerant to other people, they're doing damage.'
In conjunction with the first novel, teen girls will be encouraged to visit http://www.tolerance.org to learn how to safely stop bullying and to apply for one of the organization's Mix It Up grants to break social and racial barriers within their schools.
For more information about readergirlz, please visit their website (www.readergirlz.com), MySpace (www.myspace.com/readergirlz and groups.myspace.com/readergirlz), and LiveJournal (readergirlz.livejournal.com).
Contact: Justina Chen Headley at justina@justinachenheadley.com
Related Posts: Read the Bildungsroman Q&A with the readergirlz divas, and find out how I'm involved in readergirlz!
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Currently
reading
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Nothing But the Truth (and a Few White Lies)
By
Justina Chen Headley
Release date: 05 April, 2006
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0 Comments - 2 Kudos
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Friday, July 13, 2007
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10:39 PM - Things to Remember
Current mood:  peaceful
Category: Life
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Currently
listening
:
White Limousine
By
Duncan Sheik
Release date: 24 January, 2006
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3 Comments - 6 Kudos
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