From the collection of Gendercide Posters on Polyvore
by Lorie Ann Grover
At the close of October, China announced an end to their One Child Policy. According to the New York Times, Chris Buckley, October 29, 2015:
BEIJING — Driven by fears that an aging population could jeopardize China’s economic ascent, the Communist Party leadership ended its decades-old “one child” policy on Thursday, announcing that all married couples would be allowed to have two children.
The decision was a dramatic step away from a core Communist Party position that Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader who imposed the policy in the late 1970s, once said was needed to ensure that “the fruits of economic growth are not devoured by population growth.”
For China’s leaders, the controls were a triumphant demonstration of the party’s capacity to reshape even the most intimate dimensions of citizens’ lives. But they bred intense resentment over the brutal intrusions involved, including forced abortions and crippling fines, especially in the countryside.
The efforts to limit family size also led to a skewed sex ratio of males to females, because traditional rural families favor boys over girls, sometimes even resorting to infanticide to ensure they have a son.
The One Child Policy is what motivated my writing of Firstborn. I was appalled that the practice of gendercide was still occurring in many countries around the world. The book was welcomed with a starred review from Kirkus and is now available in paperback.
Another book recently came across my desk: The Only Child, by Guojing. An illustrator from the Shanxi Province of China, she brings to the page her own memories of isolation in a wordless, graphic picture book. With starred reviews from Kirkus and PW, the book is resonating the loneliness that grew from China's earlier legislation. The black and white artwork is beautiful and captivating. 
According to the Author's Note:
"The story in this book is fantasy, but it reflects the very real feelings of isolation and loneliness I experienced growing up in the 1980s under the one-child policy in China."
In celebration, we applaud the reform in China. If you'd like to make an impact, readergirlz, there are organizations dedicated to helping women carry their daughters to full term. One Christian organization is All Girls Allowed. Of course, there are many ways to #ReadReflectandReachout if you hold a different persuasion. The It's a Girl movie will do much to help you understand the worldwide situation.
As I sign copies of Firstborn, "Let them live!"
Firstborn
By Lorie Ann Grover
Blink YA Books, 2015
The Only Child
By Guojing
Schwartz & Wade Books, 2015
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By: Lorie Ann Grover,
on 11/14/2015
Blog: readergirlz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Lorie Ann Grover, NY Times, Firstborn, Blink YA Books, Guojing, One Child Policy, Schwartz & Wade Books, The Only Child, Add a tag
By: Lorie Ann Grover,
on 6/9/2015
Blog: readergirlz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Blink YA Books, Lorie Ann Grover, pretty little liars, Hit, gayle forman, If I Stay, Add a tag
By: Janet Lee Carey,
on 10/7/2014
Blog: readergirlz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: #hitwithgratitude, A Blind Spot for Boys, Booklist Top Ten Romances for Youth, ALA, School Library Journal, YALSA, Little Brown, Kirkus Reviews, Hit, Blink YA Books, Add a tag
JLC -- HIT is a riveting read! Tell us what inspired you to write it.
LG -- Well, it was originally six voices!
JLC -- Wow, six?
LG -- :~)
JLC -- Who were they?
LG -- Sarah, Haddings, Cydni, Luke, Janet, and Mark. Different editors along the publishing journey suggested reducing it to four, then finally two. Without introducing some sort of fantastic element, like Sarah wandering the hospital in spirit form, I needed at least two voices to tell the story as she is so long in surgery.
JLC – You write so deeply and truly about family and family relationships in HIT. Can you give us a peek into your process for this?
What we now realize is that our message is going to stretch beyond this tour across four states. We will continue to hit the road, encouraging readers to #hitwithgratitude now and in the years to come. For example, how about a 30 Day Challenge to #hitwithgratitude daily through the month of November? Why not tweet, fb, and Instagram shout-outs for those you are grateful for? Who are the people who have crossed your life that you’d like to #hitwithgratitude?
JLC -- I love this idea!
By: Lorie Ann Grover,
on 9/29/2014
Blog: readergirlz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Lorie Ann Grover, readergirlz, Little Brown, rgz, Justina Chen, One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp, Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage, Blink YA Books, #hitwithgratitude, Hit and Run the Gratitude Tour, Add a tag
The concept of #hitwithgratitude began with the release of my young adult novel HIT coinciding with the release of Justina Chen's YA novel release, A BLIND SPOT FOR BOYS. As close friends, critique partners, and co-founders of readergirlz, it was a short leap to the thought of going on tour together. Rather than rgz coming to us, we'd go to you all!
To join two houses, Blink Young Adult Books and Little Brown Books for Young Readers, would be novel. Yet, with a love of literacy, two books releasing so close together, the support of two houses, and being besties ourselves, it was an easy decision to hit the road side-by-side.
How about the hashtag #hitwithgratitude? Where did that come from? Justina and I a few years before had taken a test, springing from Shawn Achor's book THE HAPPINESS ADVANTAGE. We discovered out of more than 20 personal strengths, we both ranked Gratitude in our top five abilities. It was interesting, and we filed it away. We also ran across Ann Voskamp's book, ONE THOUSAND GIFTS: A DARE TO LIVE FULLY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, and we discussed the beauty of numbering our blessings. Personally, I was being hit with wave after wave of chronic illness diagnoses from lupus to rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, while Justina was being hit by an unexpected divorce, being abandoned in China, and finding her long way home.
In 2014, as Justina read HIT and I read A BLIND SPOT FOR BOYS, we were struck by how both novels carried the theme of enduring trial with a thankful heart. A theme we've shared with readergirlz across the country since our beginning in 2007. We chatted about choosing to be BETTER NOT BITTER and choosing PRAISE NOT PITY. There was room to be thankful in the midst of trial: not because of it (that would be irrational), not in spite of it (that would be grim determination), but thanks in the midst of it, knowing there is a greater purpose and lessons to be learned.
With #hitwithgratitude, we set out initially on tour with our books to encourage readers of all ages to hit back with gratitude even when hit by heartache, loss, and physical testing. As time passes, we'll likely travel together around the globe more, carrying the same injunction. Along the way, we'll meet with readergirlz, media, librarians, teachers, students, and book clubs of all ages. We'll exchange stories, listening wholeheartedly, and encourage everyone to share a pic, a text, a video, or a post with the hashtag: #hitwithgratitude. Sharing, our personal gratitude we can hit, encourage one another, with our thanks...over and over...and over.
Join us, rgz. Let's run and #hitwithgratitude!
Hit-and-Run: the Gratitude Tour
Portland: October 2
Yakima: October 3, 4
Launch Party, Sumner, WA: October 7
Tempe: October 16-18
South TX: November 12-16
YALSA Symposium: November 15
(If you'd like to contact us regarding a visit, virtual or personal, jot an email to lorieanngroveratclearwiredotnet. We'd love to see you, rgz, and share a bit of our gratitude for each one of you!) Add a Comment
By: Lorie Ann Grover,
on 6/12/2014
Blog: readergirlz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Lorie Ann Grover, Jonathan Friesen, Jerk California, Mayday, Aquifer, Blink Tour, Blink YA Books, Add a tag
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By: Lorie Ann Grover,
on 11/14/2015
Blog: readergirlz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Lorie Ann Grover, NY Times, Firstborn, Blink YA Books, Guojing, One Child Policy, Schwartz & Wade Books, The Only Child, Add a tag
By: Lorie Ann Grover,
on 6/9/2015
Blog: readergirlz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Blink YA Books, Lorie Ann Grover, pretty little liars, Hit, gayle forman, If I Stay, Add a tag
Pretty Little Liars and Hit, Plot Echoes by lorieanngrover on Polyvore
Sometimes creative ideas cross and birth at the same time. Stories are all ultimately echoes of each other. I've lost sales in the past, because another writer, at the same publishing house, with the same editor, had the same idea at the same moment. Yes, each story is told differently. Yes, each will present in a different light, theme, motive, and truth. But sometimes, wires cross, and the spark hits two people at the exact same moment.
"Hit by Lorie Ann Grover is a powerful book about tragedy and recovery which shows you both sides of the story, for better or worse." Hypable
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As I traveled the country for the #hitwithgratitude project with author Justina Chen, I met so many teens who told me my novel Hit was similar to the TV series Pretty Little Liars. The first couple of mentions I thought were a bit unusual, but as it kept happening, I needed to investigate.
A month or so back, I sat down in front of Netflix and entered the world of Rosewood. What I discovered was an echoed plot strand, exactly as my readers described. The parallels between my Sarah and Haddings with Pretty Little Liars' Aria and Ezra were incredible. It was as if I watched the show and wrote my work. THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED!
So this is my blog post to set the story straight. I began the novel in 2005, after the real Sarah was struck in a crosswalk in 2004. Originally a verse novel told in six viewpoints, the novel grew and changed for ten years. In 2009, I fictionalized and added Haddings. In 2014 Hit hit the stores. And now I can sit down and see the scenes play out on screen in Pretty Little Liars. Even to the brother's participation at the climax. I won't say more to avoid spoilers. :) But, are you kidding me?
Sometimes creative ideas cross and birth at the same time. Stories are all ultimately echoes of each other. I've lost sales in the past, because another writer, at the same publishing house, with the same editor, had the same idea at the same moment. Yes, each story is told differently. Yes, each will present in a different light, theme, motive, and truth. But sometimes, wires cross, and the spark hits two people at the exact same moment. I thought If I Stay by Gayle Forman was Hit's echo. Pretty Little Liars rings even more loudly. One take-away is that there is a a story to tell. Look at us doing so, similarly and differently. Each can be appreciated; each will reach different people; each was developed independently. That alone is fascinating! Isn't it?
Enjoy!
"Hit by Lorie Ann Grover is a powerful book about tragedy and recovery which shows you both sides of the story, for better or worse." Hypable
By: Janet Lee Carey,
on 10/7/2014
Blog: readergirlz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: #hitwithgratitude, A Blind Spot for Boys, Booklist Top Ten Romances for Youth, ALA, School Library Journal, YALSA, Little Brown, Kirkus Reviews, Hit, Blink YA Books, Add a tag
Lorie Ann Grover swings by readergirlz to chat with Janet Lee Carey about her new book HIT on its launch day! Welcome Lorie Ann.
JLC -- HIT is a riveting read! Tell us what inspired you to write it.
LG -- Thank you, Janet! HIT was inspired by a true story. Ten years ago, my daughter's best friend was hit in a crosswalk on the way to school. With her life threatened, her urgent brain surgery sent her family and friends spinning through a dark wait. Inspired by her experience, my novel tells the story of one girl struck down by the very grad student she is crushing on. Plans, goals, and dreams are shattered, as everything comes screeching to a halt.
JLC – You chose to write the book in two viewpoints: Sarah, the girl who’s struck by a car, and Mr. Haddings, the young man who was behind the wheel. I was amazed by your choice which worked beautifully! Can you tell us when you decided to write the book this way and share some of the challenges faced?
LG -- Well, it was originally six voices!
JLC -- Wow, six?
LG -- :~)
JLC -- Who were they?
LG -- Sarah, Haddings, Cydni, Luke, Janet, and Mark. Different editors along the publishing journey suggested reducing it to four, then finally two. Without introducing some sort of fantastic element, like Sarah wandering the hospital in spirit form, I needed at least two voices to tell the story as she is so long in surgery.
JLC – You write so deeply and truly about family and family relationships in HIT. Can you give us a peek into your process for this?
LG -- I think the real event was so charged and poignant, gestures, words, and phrases became haunting notes in my mind. It was simple to stream those straight into the novel. I also include the struggles I’m having or have had in the past: how to mother and let go, how to love the right person, how to separate your identity from another, etc. By digging deeply and bringing battles to light, there’s a chance the work will ring with a reader.
JLC—They say every story is about character change. Sarah’s accident forces not only the central characters but every character in the book to change. How did you determine the way each of these unique personalities would change through the events of the story?
LG -- Thank you for noticing, Janet! I started from a place where everyone was caught up in the everyday. They were selfishly focused. The accident arrests each of them, giving them a chance to stop and assess where they are and what is important. So often, this is one of the gifts within a hardship. I naturally landed on their starting points, riffing off my friends and my own traits. I amplified every facet to better the tale. Seriously, my friends are blessed with so much grace, I had to work hard to weaken them. :~)
JLC— What would you like readers to take away from this book?
LG --’d really like readers to consider the concept that within every hardship there are sweet red seeds. Like Dottie tells Sarah, under the leathery pomegranate skin, there is beauty. We just have to look for it. The truth lines up beautifully with Hit-and-Run: the Gratitude Tour. We're doing. Both Justina Chen and I tend to write about this.
JLC-- The tour will bring out HIT and Justina Chen's A BLIND SPOT FOR BOYS.
JLC -- Tell us more bout the tour!
Hit-and-Run: The Gratitude Tour:
When trials hit, how do we run in triumph? When we have a blind spot for blessings, how do we embrace gratitude? Award-winning authors and readergirlz co-founders, Lorie Ann Grover and Justina Chen, share the trials and triumphs within their own lives and their books’ characters, inspiring teens and adults to #hitwithgratitude.JLC -- I love this idea!
LG -- There are so many ways we can encourage each forward, right? Let’s do it.
I officially #hitwithgratitude: readergirlz and Janet Lee Carey!JLC -- :~)
Hit By Lorie Ann Grover
Blink, 10/07/2014
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Blink, 10/07/2014
By: Lorie Ann Grover,
on 9/29/2014
Blog: readergirlz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Lorie Ann Grover, readergirlz, Little Brown, rgz, Justina Chen, One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp, Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage, Blink YA Books, #hitwithgratitude, Hit and Run the Gratitude Tour, Add a tag
To join two houses, Blink Young Adult Books and Little Brown Books for Young Readers, would be novel. Yet, with a love of literacy, two books releasing so close together, the support of two houses, and being besties ourselves, it was an easy decision to hit the road side-by-side.
How about the hashtag #hitwithgratitude? Where did that come from? Justina and I a few years before had taken a test, springing from Shawn Achor's book THE HAPPINESS ADVANTAGE. We discovered out of more than 20 personal strengths, we both ranked Gratitude in our top five abilities. It was interesting, and we filed it away. We also ran across Ann Voskamp's book, ONE THOUSAND GIFTS: A DARE TO LIVE FULLY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, and we discussed the beauty of numbering our blessings. Personally, I was being hit with wave after wave of chronic illness diagnoses from lupus to rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, while Justina was being hit by an unexpected divorce, being abandoned in China, and finding her long way home.
In 2014, as Justina read HIT and I read A BLIND SPOT FOR BOYS, we were struck by how both novels carried the theme of enduring trial with a thankful heart. A theme we've shared with readergirlz across the country since our beginning in 2007. We chatted about choosing to be BETTER NOT BITTER and choosing PRAISE NOT PITY. There was room to be thankful in the midst of trial: not because of it (that would be irrational), not in spite of it (that would be grim determination), but thanks in the midst of it, knowing there is a greater purpose and lessons to be learned.
With #hitwithgratitude, we set out initially on tour with our books to encourage readers of all ages to hit back with gratitude even when hit by heartache, loss, and physical testing. As time passes, we'll likely travel together around the globe more, carrying the same injunction. Along the way, we'll meet with readergirlz, media, librarians, teachers, students, and book clubs of all ages. We'll exchange stories, listening wholeheartedly, and encourage everyone to share a pic, a text, a video, or a post with the hashtag: #hitwithgratitude. Sharing, our personal gratitude we can hit, encourage one another, with our thanks...over and over...and over.
Join us, rgz. Let's run and #hitwithgratitude!
Hit-and-Run: the Gratitude Tour
Portland: October 2
Yakima: October 3, 4
Launch Party, Sumner, WA: October 7
Tempe: October 16-18
South TX: November 12-16
YALSA Symposium: November 15
(If you'd like to contact us regarding a visit, virtual or personal, jot an email to lorieanngroveratclearwiredotnet. We'd love to see you, rgz, and share a bit of our gratitude for each one of you!) Add a Comment
By: Lorie Ann Grover,
on 6/12/2014
Blog: readergirlz (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Lorie Ann Grover, Jonathan Friesen, Jerk California, Mayday, Aquifer, Blink Tour, Blink YA Books, Add a tag
Hey rgz!
I recently toured with Jonathan Friesen and wanted to introduce you to his writing if you haven't found it yet. His body of work is impressive with Jerk California a recipient of the Schneider Award. I just started it!
Here he is talking about his mysterious, dystopian novel, Aquifer, released from Blink.
Mayday recently released, featuring a female protagonist. Isn't the cover totally evocative? 
So there you go, rgz. Check out Jonathan's work. You won't be disappointed! Oh, and if you are going to ALA Annual, we'll be signing at the Blink Booth. We'd love to see you so stop by!
Jerk California
Aquifer
Mayday
by Jonathan Friesen
