Robin McKinley New Book!

Why, why, why didn't I hear about this before? Robin McKinley is coming out with a new book! I prostrate myself before the altar of R. McK and I can't believe I'm just hearing about it right now. I guess when it comes to Robin, you take what you can get and just hope that the next one comes out before you have grandchildren.

Anyway, super-quick synopsis . . . Dragons exist. They're a protected species, the center of a firestorm (HA!) of controversy. On one hand, they're endangered and nobody's proved they ever ate a human. On the other hand, they're freakin' eighty feet long and breathe fire. One day, a hiker discovers a dying dragon and a dead poacher . . . and a surviving baby dragon. What he decides to do about it . . . well, that's Dragonhaven.

Can't wait! September 20!

Well, that's my calender filled up . . .

Readergirlz is having a big, big October. Every night they'll have a live chat with a YA author. Red-hot diggity! The authors range from Meg Cabot (October 1) to Stephanie Meyer (fittingly enough, on Halloween), and lots more in between. This includes featured-in-this-blog authors Lisa Yee, Sara Zarr, Brent Hartinger, Carolyn Mackler, and E. Lockhart.

Spread the word!

Thanks to lots and lots of other blogs for the heads-up.

This Calls for a Happy Dance

. . . no pun intended, I swear.

The BBC is making a movie of the classic Noel Streatfield book, Ballet Shoes! Yay! Don't you remember gulping those suckers down like popcorn when you were like, nine or ten? I remember one in particular, (not Ballet Shoes however) where the protagonist got extremely full of herself and went around acting like a proper bee-yotch. I was scandalized and delighted. Didn't they know the main character was supposed to be the good girl? Well, I certainly wasn't going to mention it!

Looking back, this may explain a lot of things about me.

More fun: Emma Watson, of Hermione Granger fame, is going to play the oldest girl. Here's her website, but take a moment to find the little (teeny, tiny) speaker hidden in all the curlicues on the left-hand side. After five minutes trying to navigate it with the sound turned on, I wanted to shoot myself in both ears.

Thanks to Bookshelves of Doom for the heads-up.

Stephen King on Harry Potter

I'm probably trailing waaaaaaaaay behind in posting this, but oh well. Horror-meister Stephen King has always been one of Harry's most vocal fans, and he bolsters that reputation in this reflection on the effect of Harry and J.K. Rowling on kid lit and pop lit in general over at Entertainment Weekly. Pretty keen!

More Bartlesville News

Anyone who's been reading Maureen Johnson's blog (and if you aren't, I say, why the heck not??) knows about her continuing battle with the school board of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, who took her book The Bermudez Triangle out of general circulation at the high school and placed it on the reserve shelf. Here's an article from the Bartlesville newspaper about the kerfuffle, and a little something from both sides.