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WHITE CAT Winners:

judybrittle
annkerr65
lancemib
miraitrunksgirl2
Jessikahx
corapera
celialarsen
yilingni
mestas.amanda
helenkeeler




SHADE Winners:

rnoel1
jaanemaan786
Katelyn.Burgess
traymona
xxloveless
NickPengRune
aroudenbush
lostinbelieving
lydia.olajide
itryme




SHADOWED SUMMER Winners:

judo500
bentzen.linda1943
aprilmom00
perfectlittleangel
michelleconner23456









DORK DIARIES 2 Winners:

rexreadingrobot
baileythebookworm
LPoser1
iceberg_freak_old_person
cbdileo
PelicanJL
josiebakerbooks
stacedog01
natashalinder
ntaylor228




Congrats, everyone! Click here to enter this month's giveaways!

Let's see...where to start with this one...

Well, first of all, there is the fact that Holly Black's name looks so cool on the cover of a book called WHITE CAT.  But focusing on that too long is doing the inside of the book a disservice.  Because it's fantastic - one that teachers will want to hand kids looking for a compelling, fast-paced read.

Set in a world where a touch can be powerful and deadly, WHITE CAT is a magical thriller, loaded with curses, organized crime families, and con artists with dangerous talents. I loved this book, especially the ending (It's perfect - that's all I'm saying), and I'm excited to share it with my middle school kids. WHITE CAT is the first in a series called CURSE WORKERS, and it's one of those titles that both boys and girls are going to love.  I am already kind of tapping my fingers on my desk, wishing the next one would show up. Highly recommended.

(Reviewed from an ARC & available from Margaret McElderry today!)

I've been deep in the depths of revision for the past few weeks -- polishing up a picture book and a middle grade mystery.  They are both done (*pause for cheering & confetti here*) and on submission now, and I have big plans for a post-revision reading binge. But before I do that, I want to talk about a handful of books I've read lately that you might like, too.  Ready?



Amy Ignatow's THE POPULARITY PAPERS: RESEARCH FOR THE SOCIAL IMPROVEMENT AND GENERAL BETTERMENT OF LYDIA GOLDBLATT AND JULIE GRAHAM CHANG is the book to hand to your girls who are fans of the Wimpy Kid series.  It's that same diary/graphic novel blend that keeps even reluctant readers turning pages and laughing like crazy.  Interestingly enough, the main characters in this are in fifth grade, but it's going over really well with some of my 7th grade girls, even though they're a bit older.  (Due out from Amulet April 1st)



I can't keep Lisa Schroeder's CHASING BROOKLYN on my classroom library shelf - it's one of those books that gets handed from kid to kid in the cafeteria and never makes it all the way back to my classroom, and that's just fine.  I understand why the kids love it, too.  Set at the same high school as Lisa's I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME, her latest YA novel-in-verse is about love and loss, remembering and moving forward. It left me in tears, but they were good ones - the kind you cry when you've just read an amazing book that's full of sorrow and beauty and hope all at once. It's a a beautiful, beautiful book. (Available now from Simon & Schuster)



Fans of Jerry Spinelli's MILKWEED and Lois Lowry's NUMBER THE STARS will love ONCE by Morris Gleitzman.  One of my 7th grade students absolutely devours historical fiction set during the Holocaust, and she was waiting for this ARC, standing at my desk, tapping her foot as I turned the last page.

The main character, Felix, begins the story as a unique (and heartbreaking) unreliable narrator. He's a Jewish boy, hidden in a Catholic orphanage, and utterly unaware of the danger he's facing. When he sets out to find his parents, he sees evidence of the Nazis destruction but misinterprets much of it, placing himself squarely in harm's way. Ultimately, though, he's faced with too much reality to go on believing the stories he's told himself, and from there, the book chronicles his loss of innocence and his coming of age in the worst of times. It's beautifully written and though like many books set during the Holocaust, it's tough to read at times, it's certainly not without hope.  Highly recommended, it comes out from Henry Holt March 30th.



Two days after turning the last page of NOTHING by Janne Teller, I'm still struggling over what to write about it. I can't really say that I liked it, since I read most of it with a pained expression on my face. But is it brilliantly well-written? And smart? And incredibly thought-provoking? Yes, yes, and yes.

The premise is simple and kind of horrifying: A 7th grader climbs up into a tree and says he's not coming down because there's really no meaning in life anyway. His classmates, u

We watched Happy Feet the other day as a family. I found myself balling at the end. Balling! I was having that IT moment. When something touches your core--the reason why you are here. I call it an EMOTIONAL SIGNPOST. The end of Happy Feet is a bit heavy-handed, but I recognized the message as one I am completely aligned with. The message was environmental and about protecting the animals' habitats so we don't lose them, and I thought, YES! That's what I write and draw about! That's my common thread in my work--all of it. A world without the trees and the flowers and the grasshoppers and the horses and the dogs would be UNBEARABLE. It wouldn't be a world. I guess that's why I hate the MATRIX movies--they depict a world that will exist with none of that, except in our imaginations.