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What are your favorite books about trees, or books that have a beautiful tree on the cover of the book?

Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown



Darth Vader and Son

Wookiee Pies, Clone Scones, and Other Galactic Goodies


How to Speak Wookiee: A Manual for Intergalactic Communication

I called Erica and asked her to send a copy to the author right away. Sharing books with the perfect reader is a barometer for the potential audience for the book. I also made sure my teacher reader in Indiana had access to it. He teaches 11th grade AP language arts and has a wicked sense of humor and I knew he would love the book.

Fast forward. One day on Twitter the three of us found ourselves in a hilarious conversation on Twitter with the author, Jesse Andrews. It is so much fun to experience excitement about a new author, a fantastic reading experience, with other readers and the author, too!

Here is some of that Twitter banter, including some general tweets shared about the book.

Laurel Snyder:
@LaurelSnyder I’m reading a YA right now where the [main character] has these “imagined” scenes that read as screenplays #mglitchat

@LaurelSnyder Deeply satisfied, I retire to the HILARIOUS BOOK I’m reading. Nighty night!

@muellerspace Eavesdropping on you and the book you’re reading. Unless you seriously can’t tell us.

@LaurelSnyder Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Naughty eff-bomb laden YA about a geeky boy and a girl with cancer.

@LaurelSnyder Too soon to tell if it’s going to “go deeper” but I can say it’s brilliantly funny and kids will LOVE.

@LaurelSnyder Oh, & also— this awesome YA book is about a JEWISH kid. That’s right! First Mirka, then Inquisitor’s Apprentice and OJ, now this.

@LaurelSnyder And there are these screenplay thoughts/excerpts in the book. Oh, it’s GOOD. I predict big things.

@LaurelSnyder This book is a riot AND it’s about a girl with cancer. How does one do that?

@LaurelSnyder “It’s somehow worse to draw attention to the fact that there are two boobs. ‘You have nice boobs.’ Bad. ‘You have two nice boobs.’ Worse.”

@LaurelSnyder Oh, hell. This book is awesome. An awesome funny BOY-MC YA book. I cannot stop laughing. It’s Adrian Mole on speed, with lots of cussing.

@LaurelSnyder Okay… I’m officially starting a @swerdnaessej [Jesse Andrews’ Twitter name] fan club. Just finished his book & I cried from laughing, & then, umm… the other way too.

Me:
@trkravtin @LaurelSnyder @swerdnaessej I’m joining the fan club. Maybe we can get @PaulWHankins, too.

Paul W. Hankins:
@PaulWHankins @trkravtin @LaurelSnyder @swerdnaessej I missed the thread, but if you’re talking about Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, I am in…

@PaulWHankins @LaurelSnyder @swerdnaessej Abrams, & Amulet continue to provide readers with super titles in the humor genre.

@PaulWHankins @trkravtin @LaurelSnyder @swerdnaessej Okay. I just spewed Vernor’s all over my laptop. Earl’s first lines in the whole book? Too rich.

@trkravtin @PaulWHankins Are you laughing? @laurelsnyder @swerdnaessej

Jesse Andrews:
@swerdnaessej @trkravtin @PaulWHankins @LaurelSnyder I am a little worried you guys are all fake aliases my mom created to improve my self-esteem.

@PaulWHankins @LaurelSnyder @swerdnaessej @trkravtin I like it. Let’s play with him a little while. Let me look at his profile picture again.

@PaulWHankins @trkravtin @swerdnaessej @laurelsnyder Yep. As I suspected. Looks like Seinfield and De Niro had a love child. This makes for funny (wink).

@LaurelSnyder @swerdnaessej’s Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: Hilarious romp about cancer, immobilizing self-awareness, family, class and donkey d*cks.


@PaulWHankins @trkravtin @LaurelSnyder @swerdnaessej The most telling, most brutally honest look at the microcosm called high school.

@swerdnaessej @trkravtin @paulwhankins @laurelsnyder Oh man, you guys. I am legitimately verklempt right now.

@PaulWHankins @trkravtin @swerdnaessej @laurelsnyder Earl is all the great sidekicks. If we do Hero’s Journey with this, we have to include his question.

@trkravtin @PaulWHankins I thought Earl was great, too. @swerdnaessej @laurelsnyder

@LaurelSnyder I thought Earl was VERY carefully balanced. Tricky stuff, that. But so smart, and so purposeful. @trkravtin @PaulWHankins @swerdnaessej

@PaulWHankins @LaurelSnyder @trkravtin @swerdnaessej I love how Earl is able to float among characters, infiltrate Greg Gaines.

@PaulWHankins @trkravtin @laurelsnyder@swerdnaessej “I know you’re Jewish but I just want to say something from the Bible.” Too funny.

@PaulWHankins @trkravtin @LaurelSnyder @swerdnaessej “She wanted us all to be ‘surprise Jews.” Meaning, with sneaky Anglo-Saxon names.” Classic.

@PaulWHankins @trkravtin @LaurelSnyder @swerdnaessej The main characters response to the news about Rachel. So authentic. This book’s a winner in 2012.

@LaurelSnyder Yes, this. So actual. So honest. And the growth is the same way, incremental, believable. @PaulWHankins @trkravtin @swerdnaessej

@swerdnaessej @LaurelSnyder @PaulWHankins @trkravtin Hurrah for you guys! And again, it’s fine if you’re all my mom/grandma, just please cop to it

@PaulWHankins 5 of 5 stars to Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews bit.ly/t7RHjp

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl 9781419701764 ABRAMS Books/Amulet Jesse Andrews $16.95 Cloth.

Laurel Synder is the author of many books for children. Her most recent novel is Bigger than a Bread Box, and her most recent picture book, Good night, laila tov, is brand spanking new and perfect for Earth Day!

Paul W. Hankins teaches 11th Grade English and AP English Language and Composition in southern Indiana. He is the creator/moderator of RAW INK Online, a digital learning community that connects his students with the Young Adult authors they are reading. Hankins created the hashtag campaign, #SpeakLoudly and co-hosts the new SpeakLoudly.org site with David Macinnis Gill. Hankins lives in southern Indiana with his wife, son, and daughter. A writer, Hankins’ work can be found in an anthology, Where Handstands Surprise Us and Motif 2: Chance.

Read my Goodreads review here.

Read Jesse’s post on the Abrams Blog here.

UPDATE: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a top six pick for the 2012 Spring New Voices for Teens by the American Booksellers for Children Association.

Kirkus *STARRED REVIEW*: “Debut novelist Andrews succeeds brilliantly in painting a portrait of a kid whose responses to emotional duress are entirely believable…”

A frequently hysterical confessional from a teen narrator who won’t be able to convince readers he’s as unlikable as he wants them to believe.

“I have no idea how to write this stupid book,” narrator Greg begins. Without answering the obvious question—just why is he writing “this stupid book”?—Greg lets readers in on plenty else. His filmmaking ambitions. His unlikely friendship with the unfortunately short, chain-smoking, foulmouthed, African-American Earl of the title. And his unlikelier friendship with Rachel, the titular “dying girl.” Punctuating his aggressively self-hating account with film scripts and digressions, he chronicles his senior year, in which his mother guilt-trips him into hanging out with Rachel, who has acute myelogenous leukemia. Almost professionally socially awkward, Greg navigates his unwanted relationship with Rachel by showing her the films he’s made with Earl, an oeuvre begun in fifth grade with their remake of Aguirre, Wrath of God. Greg’s uber-snarky narration is self-conscious in the extreme, resulting in lines like, “This entire paragraph is a moron.” Debut novelist Andrews succeeds brilliantly in painting a portrait of a kid whose responses to emotional duress are entirely believable and sympathetic, however fiercely he professes his essential crappiness as a human being.

Though this novel begs inevitable thematic comparisons to John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars (2011), it stands on its own in inventiveness, humor and heart.

Greg Gaines, 17, would be the first to tell you that his constant “dickhead behavior” makes him the least likely person to befriend a classmate dying of leukemia. But he’s pushed into it by his mother and, well, the result is this “horrifyingly inane,” “unstoppable barf-fest” of a book. Greg prefers to keep a low-profile at school, instead collaborating with his almost-gangsta pal Earl on terrible remakes of classic films: Apocalypse Later with Super Soakers, The Manchurian Cat-idate with cats. But his knack for cracking jokes keeps the dying girl, Rachel, smiling, and pretty soon the whole school thinks he’s some kind of hero. He’s even pushed into making a final opus: Rachel the Film, a.k.a “the worst film ever made.” One need only look at the chapter titles (“Let’s Just Get This Embarrassing Chapter Out of the Way”) to know that this is one funny book, highlighted by screenplay excerpts and Earl’s pissy wisdom. What’s crazy is how moving it becomes in spite of itself. The characters are neither smart or precocious. Greg is not suitably moved by Rachel’s struggle. His film sucks. He thinks “bereavement” means “being attacked by beavers.” But it’s this honest lack of profundity, and the struggle to overcome it, that makes Andrews’ debut actually kinda profound.

JAZZ ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits is a triumphant celebration of poetry forms and jazz legends. Author Wynton Marsalis and illustrator Paul Rogers put together a package that resembles a vinyl record in size and shape. Inside, for each letter of the alphabet there is a jazz musician biography poem, in a poetry form perfectly suited to reflect the style of the musician or the music each made.
Jazz ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits with Print 9780763634346 Candlewick Press $24.99 cloth

• Winner of a Bologna Ragazzi Award
• New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age
• VOYA - Nonfiction Honor List
• NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Notable Children’s Book
• Bologna Ragazzi Award for Words and Music
• IRA Children’s Book Award - YA Nonfiction
• Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People
• Norman Sugarman Award for Excellence in Children’s Biography, Honor Book
• Chicago Public Library Best Books for Children and Teens
• ALA Best Books for Young Adults - Nominee
• Kirkus Reviews - Editors’ Choice
• Four starred reviews (BOOKLIST, KIRKUS REVIEWS, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL)

Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald by Roxane Orgill, illustrated by Sean Qualls, 9780763617332 Candlewick Press $17.99 cloth. A swinging bio of young Ella Fitzgerald, who pushed through the toughest of times to become one of America’s most beloved jazz singers. Not poetry in this case, but it’s hard to leave out such a good title for Jazz Appreciation Month. “Orgill’s fine biography of the singer crackles with tension and verve…An unforgettable portrait of an artist whose faith in herself carried her when little else did.” — Publisher’s Weekly starred review.

Hot Jazz Special by author/illustrator Jonny Hannah. Red-hot rhymes and bold poster-style art capture the rhythms and feel of jazz for newcomers and fans alike. “It’s worth jumping into the jam to learn about Jelly Roll Mortton, Django Reinhardt, Walter Page, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Gene Kroupa, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, and Duke Ellington.” — The Horn Book

Hot Jazz Special 9780763623081  Candlewick Press $16.99 Cloth

The theme of #TitleTalk on Twitter last Sunday night was poetry in anticipation of Poetry Month in April. Teachers nationwide chatted about challenges and successes of teaching poetry in the classroom. Here are some poetry books for children of all ages that might inspire new ways to enjoy poetry in the classroom or at home.


A Foot in the Mouth
A Kick in the Head
A Poke in the I

“Readers will have the good fortune to experience poetry as art, game, joke, list, song, story, statement, question, memory. A primer like no other.” — School Library Journal (starred review) (Ages 8 -12) Candlewick Press, Editor: Paul B. Janeczko, Illustrator: Chris Raschka

Poetry tips for teachers from Paul B. Janeczko.


Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry, Anthologist: Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters, Illustrator: Polly Dunbar Candlewick Press

“With lots of hugs and kisses, as well as messy nonsense and uproarious action, this big spacious anthology of more than 60 poems is a wonderful first book to read with babies and toddlers over and over again.” — Booklist (starred review)

Poetry Speaks Who I Am by Elise Paschen, Sourcebooks

“This volume of verse is aimed at teenagers and is, not surprisingly, full of strong emotion… It’s a standout collection, packaged with a CD of the poems read aloud, many by the poets themselves.”





Stage a Poetry Slam by Marc Kelly Smith and Joe Kraynak, Sourcebooks







Poetry Speaks Expanded by Elise Paschen and Rebekah Mosby, Sourcebooks

“By the time you’re done, your biggest problem may be that you wish there was more.” – Wall Street Journal

“The definitive anthology of poets reading their own work.” — Publishers Weekly


Poem in Your Pocket for Young Poets, Selected by Bruno Navasky, in association with the Academy of American Poets, Amulet Books

The perforated pages in Poem in Your Pocket for Young Poets enable readers to select a poem they love, tear it out neatly from the book, and carry it with them all day to read, be inspired by, and share with family and friends.


Poem in Your Pocket: 200 Poems to Read and Carry Edited by Elaine Bleakney and published in conjunction with the Academy of American Poets, with an introduction by Kay Ryan, Poet Laureate, Abrams Image

Download free poems for your pocket from Poets.org

I’m participating in my first Boggiesta! Ole! I’m branching out tenatively in the blogging world to meet new bloggers and learn ways to improve my outreach into the blogging world.

Here’s my to-do list:

• Follow fellow #Bloggiesta’s on Twitter
• Blog hop
• Learn new blog techniques
• Attend at least one #Bloggiesta tweetchat

Be patient with me, while I work all of this into my schedule. I look forward to meeting new people and strengthening existing connections! I’ll add to this list as I go along.

Welcome to my blog!

UPDATE:

I think the biggest impact Bloggiesta had on me was an invigorating burst of blog posts! I didn’t meet all my expectations listed above, but I did devote the time to posting April is Poetry Month and a post to all those Hunger Games fans out there to read the Chaos Walking series if they haven’t yet.

I’ve met some fellow Bloggieta tweeps, found out that there is much enthusiasm for books and reading online, and I look forward to sharing and chatting in new ways with new friends. Bloggiesta has helped me break out of my regular habit of tweeting, helped me make new friends on Goodreads.com, and supplied a new impetus and energy for reading and reviewing books. It reminded me that I’m in a unique position to share information about the books I sell with readers, teachers, and booksellers.

I’m going to continue to work through my to-do list, even though Bloggiesta is officially over, and comment on interesting blogs I discover. If you are new to my blog, I’d love to hear from you.

Bloggiesta! Forever! ~

Teresa

New titles from three university presses this spring feature books specific to the panhandle of Florida and the Gulf coast. Here are four books that have a broad audience.

Trout: A True Story of Murder, Teens, and the Death Penalty

9780813039817; $24.95; Jeff Kunerth; April 2012; University Press of Florida

A haunting tale of teenage murderers, mistaken identity, and a brutal justice system

On a cool Pensacola night in January 1991, just a few minutes before midnight, three teenagers pulled up to the Trout Auto Parts store. Patrick Bonifay, his body coursing with adrenaline, entered the store clad in a ski mask carrying a loaded gun, intent on carrying out a poorly laid plan. Little did he know that it was his life—as well as the lives of his companions—that was about to be forever changed.

Bonifay, Clifford Barth, and Eddie Fordham were hired to kill Daniel Wells by Robin Archer, who blamed Wells for losing his job nine months prior. The plan was orchestrated by the then-twenty-seven-year-old Archer, who allegedly promised his seventeen-year-old nephew, Patrick, a suitcase full of money after the job was done. But Wells had called in sick that night, and an innocent man was covering his shift.

In this shocking and thought-provoking volume, Jeff Kunerth recounts the events of that fateful night, the swift investigation of the murder, the trials and sentencing of the teens, and their subsequent lives within the Florida court and penal systems. Kunerth uses the story of the Trout Auto Parts murder and the lives of these boys to explore varying aspects of troubled adolescence, impulsive actions lasting but moments, and the national trend of trying juveniles as adults in court. They were boys every teenager can identify with and circumstances every parent fears. Their story provides a disturbing, sad, and compelling inside look at the dynamics of individuals—not yet adults, but no longer children—who commit senseless, impulsive crimes. Trout is that rare book that continues to haunt you long after you’ve finished reading it.

“In the tradition of Truman Capote ‘s In Cold Blood, Kunerth’s Trout is seductive, repulsive, and compelling. I read it in one sitting. How fascinating is Trout? I begged my wife to read the first ten pages, and she, too, was hooked.”—Gary R. Mormino, author of Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams: A Social History of Modern Florida

“Kunerth skillfully provides a narrative, dramatic understanding of adolescent immaturity, the tragic consequences when it goes awry, and the chilling disconnect between our social constructions of adolescent immaturity and the harsh consequences awaiting teens in our criminal justice system.”—Robert Kinscherff, Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology

Jeff Kunerth is an award-winning journalist with the Orlando Sentinel. He is also the coauthor of Florida’s Paved Bike Trails.

Come explore the geology of Florida’s Gulf Coast beaches, from a bird’s-eye view down to a crab’s-eye view. You’ll journey from Panhandle sugar-sand beaches to southwestern shell beaches, taking a fresh look at the ever-changing landscape. With Tonya Clayton as your guide, you’ll learn how to recognize the stories and read the clues of these dynamic shores, reshaped daily by winds, waves, and sometimes bulldozers or dump trucks.

This dynamic tour begins with a broad description of Florida’s Gulf Coast, roaming from popular Perdido Key in the northwest to remote Cape Sable in the south. You’ll first fly over large-scale coastal features such as the barrier islands, learning to spot signs of the many processes that shape the shores. In subsequent chapters you’ll visit dunes and beaches to check out sand ripples, tracings, and other markings that show the handiwork of beach breezes, ocean waves, animal life, and even raindrops and air bubbles. You’ll also encounter signs of human shaping, including massive boulder structures and sand megatransfers. With a conversational style and more than a hundred illustrations, How to Read a Florida Gulf Coast Beach makes coastal science accessible, carrying vacationers and Florida natives alike on a lively, informative tour of local beach features.

“An excellent guide to Florida’s Gulf Coast environment. As well as being a primer on coastal processes, the book conveys some important environmental messages. It will not only fill a niche in beach-goers’ reading, but will also spark a greater sense of concern about the future of these beaches.”—William J. Neal, Grand Valley State University

“Tonya Clayton has written a comprehensive, eminently readable interpretation of the beaches of Floridas Gulf of Mexico. She has a knack for using clever metaphors to explain key elements of beaches. Claytons knowledge and observations greatly enhance a visit to the shore. Open your eyes!”—Albert Hine, University of South Florida

“In her fun and engaging book, Tonya Clayton leads the uninitiated beach lover through an explanation of how the Florida Gulf Coast beaches work. With her original voice and clear explanations, Clayton brings visitors, homeowners, and voters to a nuanced understanding of the processes that shape this stretch of coastline.”—Joseph T. Kelley, University of Maine

“Tonya Clayton shows you how to read the natural and man-made shapes and textures of Florida’s Gulf beaches, dunes, and islands like a tracker reads animal signs in the wild. You’ll be eager to go straight to the nearest beach to immerse yourself in your new, richer understanding of your favorite beaches. This is the book I’ve been waiting for!”—David McRee, “the BeachHunter,” Florida beach expert and blogger

Tonya Clayton is a freelance science writer and editor.

MerryMakers presentation at Shapes & More in Thomasville, GA.

Dinner at Posey’s Steam Room and Oyster Bar in Panacea, FL.

Exciting that Downtown Books in Apalachicola, FL was featured on the back cover of the Gibbs Smith catalog by artist Gibbs Smith!



Bayou Book Company in Niceville, FL.


The Book Rack in Fort Walton Beach, FL.


Sundog Books in Seaside, FL.




Scenes from Seaside.



The Hidden Lantern Bookstore in Rosemary Beach, FL.