Bookburger

Daria Snadowsky...between the buns

First, a confession: the first two times we posted about Daria Snadowsky and her debut novel, we SPELLED HER NAME WRONG. We wrote "Sand" instead of the infinitely more correct "Snad." Such are the perils of being a first-time author. However, after reading Anatomy of a Boyfriend, a can't-put-downable story with a candid and (to us) really true view of teen love and sex, we know will never again misspell this author's name. It will be branded in our minds, right next to that indelible cover image of the naked Ken doll...Anyhow, we asked Daria to take our pop quiz, and here's what she had to say.

Who is your favorite writer that most people have never heard of?

One of my favorites is Dr. Dorothy Tennov, author of the groundbreaking Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love. It’s not a self-help book, but anyone who’s ever been in love to the point where it felt unhealthy and self-destructive would find this read comforting. Simone de Beauvoir said of this book, “Excellent. Of universal interest. It deals with the subject in an entirely new way.” This book was a huge inspiration behind Anatomy of a Boyfriend, which is why I dedicated it in part to Tennov (the other dedicatee is Judy Blume).

Another author I admire is Dan Elish, who spoke to my fifth-grade class at the Birch Wathen School back in ’89 about his middle-grade novel, The Worldwide Dessert Contest. He’s since written many others books, including the “lad lit” gem Nine Wives.

What kid or teen books rocked your world growing up?

When I was really little, I adored the Berenstain Bears. I appreciated how realistically they portrayed all the little difficulties experienced by every family, such as messy rooms, over-the-top birthday parties, or watching too much TV. I suspect those books are as reassuring to parents as they are to kids.

When I was 10, I read and was transformed by Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. I had never before or since identified with a character as strongly as I did with Margaret. Then when I was a teen, Blume’s Forever took on biblical proportions for me. I was shocked and delighted by how honest and frank the prose was. These books were my other main inspiration and are why I dedicated Anatomy of a Boyfriend to Blume.

Another favorite of mine during my teen years was Will the Nurse Make Me Take My Underwear Off? by Joel L. Schwartz, Aidan Macfarlane, and Ann McPherson. In diary form, this book follows 14-year-old pile of hormones Eric Mason through a host of physical and emotional trials. Brilliantly informative and hilarious.

Describe your ideal place to write.

I know it’s cliché, but I love bringing my laptop to coffee shops. Writing is often lonely, and the background buzz of other customers, not to mention the aroma of steaming lattes, makes me feel more in touch with the world than if I were home by myself.

Your life is a TV series. Name the theme song, one event that would be on the “best of” episode, and one that would be on the blooper reel.

My song would be Joe Cocker’s rendition of The Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends” because it’s the theme to one of my favorite TV shows, The Wonder Years. I related to the storylines and characters so closely that the episodes play like home videos to me.

My “best of” episode would be the evening of May 27, 2006. I had just gotten home from a mind-numbing bar exam study session when I plopped down at my desk and checked my e-mail. Nothing could have prepared me for the name I saw in my inbox—Judy Blume! Yes, the Judy Blume! A couple months earlier I had mailed her a mostly edited manuscript of Anatomy of a Boyfriend because I dedicated it to her, but I wasn’t expecting to hear back because she’s so busy. Well, not only did she read the book, she said she had trouble putting it down because she enjoyed it so much! It was simply the best e-mail I ever received and ever will receive.

My blooper reel would probably include Valentine’s Day of my sophomore year of college. My then-bf and I drove his car to the top floor of Emory’s Peavine parking deck so we could be alone, since our respective roommates were both home. We weren’t in the backseat for more than 20 seconds before a campus security officer, who was patrolling around in a golf cart, found us and told us to get lost. I’m not sure why my bf and I thought “getting lost” would be accomplished by merely driving the car down one level down and resuming our activities—I guess by that time all our blood had been diverted from our brains? Anyway, a minute later, we were both genuinely startled when the same officer reappeared and ordered my bf out of the car. The poor guy had to stand outside in the freezing cold in just his socks, shorts, and undershirt while the officer gave him a piece of his mind. Then the officer stuck his head through the car window and delivered the same tirade to me about how stupid we were to risk our safety by parking in an empty deck at night (and he was right, of course). I just remember being beyond mortified and ashamed, and I think this incident made the local police blotter that week. On the upside, it inspired one of my favorite chapters in Anatomy of a Boyfriend.

Burger-flippers want to know: have you ever had a job that required you to wear a geeky uniform? Details, please!

So far all my jobs required just business casual attire, but I did once, for a job, have to guard a fellow employee who was wearing a geeky costume. The summer after high school I interned for a local radio station, and one day we threw a promotional event geared for children. We hired someone to dress up as the station mascot—a bright yellow dragon—and to mosey around the grounds and entertain the kids. As intern, it was my illustrious duty to stand directly behind the dragon at all times and to keep the starry-eyed younglings who were hounding him from grabbing the dragon’s tail. I leave that job skill off my résumé.

We'd like to name a burger in your honor. What kind of fixins should
it have?

My ultimate burger is simply the half-pound patty of heaven they serve at Port of Call, one of my favorite New Orleans dives. And instead of the cooks adding a slice of cheese while the burger’s still on the stovetop, they grate cheddar onto the meat just seconds before they serve it, so it’s actually melting and bubbling while you take your first few bites. It’s so juicy and savory as is, that lettuce, tomato, or any sort of condiment would only detract from the already ambrosial flavor. Just add a toasty bun, a side of baked potato, and a Shirley Temple to drink, and you’ve achieved gastric satiety, my friends.

Shows we love when we're not reading

heck, it's freezing cold outside and we're just in total veg mode. So here are four TV shows we're zoning out in front of...

1. The Office--it's gotten really, really good and funny. The flickering facial expressions--especially between Jim and Pam--so excellent.

2. Friday Night Lights--NOT a jock show. Sweet, realistic, great characters.

3. 30 Rock--Tina Fey is a goddess and should be worshiped by smart chicks everywhere. Love that girl.

4. American Idol--or Midol, as we like to call it. This is absolutely, positively our last season, we swear.

Top reason why Jenna Bush...

...should not be shopping around a YA novel:  she oughta be serving in Iraq instead.

30-SEC LIT CRIT: Rash by Pete Hautman

[review by lovely Leila Roy, parachuting in from Bookshelves of Doom]

It's the mid-2070s, and the United States has changed.  It's not the USA anymore, for one thing.  It's the USSA -- United Safer States of America.  People are encouraged to wear helmets when they walk, beer is illegal, and football was banned for being too dangerous.  The Child Safety Act of 2033 made protective gear mandatory in the school sports.  And we're not just talking mouth guards in field hockey.  Here's what students of the time wear to run the 100-meter dash:

... AtherSafe shoes with lateral ankle support and four layers of memory gel in the thick soles, knee pads, elbow pads, and a FDHHSS*-certified sports helmet.  We raced on an Adzorbium track with its five centimeters of compacted gel-foam topped by a thick sheet of artificial latex.  It's like running on a sponge.

Jail has been abolished.  When people break the law, they are sent to work camps.  Almost a quarter of the adult population is serving time -- not surprising, as breaking the law is not very difficult:

"Littering is only a class-four misdemeanor--you don't get sent up for that."

"Mr. Stoltz did."

"That was for assault.  Melody Hynes got hurt."

"But all he did, really, was litter.  He dropped an apricot when he was unloading groceries from his suv."

"Yeah, then Melody slipped on it and got a concussion."

"She should have been wearing her helmet.  My point is, Bo, all the man did was drop an apricot and they sent him away for a whole year.  A year of hard labor on a prison farm.  For dropping an apricot!"

"But if he hadn't dropped it, Melody wouldn't have gotten bonked," I said.  Sometimes my grandfather could be kind of dense.

The men in Bo Marsten's family tend to be quick-tempered (his father is serving time for road rage and his older brother for getting into a fight) and Bo is no exception.  Though the Levulor he takes usually prevents violent outbreaks -- it slows his anger reflex (and, in an unfortunate side effect, every other reflex) by a tenth of a second -- but he occasionally "forgets" to take it.

Given his family history, it's not real surprise when sixteen-year-old Bo is sentenced to serve three years for a plethora of violations.  (Verbal assault, physical assault -- well, he tried to punch someone -- and causing the outbreak of an itchy rash at his school.**)  He is send to Canada (which was annexed to the USSA in 2055) to work in a gourmet pizza factory.

This arm of McDonald's Rehabilitation and Manufacturing Corporation is a terrifying place, full of sharp corners, non-padded clothing, and people who have no qualms about verbally assaulting (not to mention physically assaulting) others.  The factory is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a tall fence, beyond which are ravenous, man-eating polar bears.  The warden runs an illegal football team. 

If the team wins the Tundra Bowl, they will all be treated to early release.  If they lose, they'll be Polar Bear Chow.

AWESOME.  It's a sports story, a futuristic dystopia story, a juvie camp story and a story that mocks consumer culture.  It explores Big Ideas, about government and free will and safety vs. freedom, but without ever feeling like a Frying Pan***, and without ever feeling heavy.  It's rare for a book to be both thoughtful and thrilling.

Highly recommended.  I'm planning on trying it out on older fans of Holes, as well as teens into Uglies and So Yesterday, Feed and Jennifer Government.  Also fans of thoughtful sports stories -- I think there are a lot of Chris Crutcher fans who will enjoy it.

*Federal Department of Homeland Health, Safety and Security.  Also, that description totally made me want to re-read Harrison Bergeron.

**Good thing that Those In Charge don't know about the possibly-sentient AI entity that he (oops) accidentally created.  He could get twenty years for that, easy.

***Frying Pan Message Books:  Books that are so message-driven to such an extent that you feel you are being battered with a Message-Laden Frying Pan.  Duh.

but will they have heads?

news from Newsweek, via Galleycat (because, really, we haven't even SEEN a Newsweek since we moved out of our parents' house): Laura, Mary, Carrie, and Grace will be portrayed by models in new photo covers of the Little House on the Prairie books. Our question: will they be allowed to keep their little pioneer noses, eyes, and foreheads?

do you like Pants?

then you'll love our big Traveling Pants giveaway. We've got a brand-new hardcover copy of Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares in our hot little hands, ready to go zooming into yours. We'll be choosing a winner from our b-list--so if you're not signed up, you're doomed! Easy fix: just fill in those tiny boxes on the right, under the "we deliver" sign...and do it by Jan 31, pants-lovers!

Covergirl Special Report: Headless Wonders

 

An URGENT PLEA to Harper Collins: I love your list of upcoming releases from Harper Teen--big faves of the burgerfolk, like Maureen Johnson and Meg Cabot, are on there--but please, please, you MUST restrain the MAD CROPPER who's treating your cover models so brutally! The Cropper (perhaps kin to the Lopper from that old Seinfeld episode) must be stopped!  Revoke his Photoshop license NOW, before he crops again!

Seriously, I totally agree with the smart reader quoted in a previous B-burger post who complained about the trend toward perfect and perfectly anonymous headless bods, which have been proliferating on covers across the YA world since the huge success of the Gossip Girls series....

Faces are FAB. Eyes are EXCELLENT. So lissenup, publishing people. Decapitation is so 2006. Heads are the new black. Let's make  '07 the year we stop the crop.

yrs,
Covergirl

PS...I saw these covers in some pr material--and these titles are all coming up in spring or summer--so maybe these designs are just placeholders? if so, you, Mad Cropper, still have time to repent and mend your ways before these books hit the shelves...

30-SEC LIT CRIT: Brent Hartinger's split personalites

[review by lovely Leila Roy, parachuting in from Bookshelves of Doom]

Split Screen:  Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies and Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies by Brent Hartinger

I have such affection for this group of characters.  Especially for Gunnar -- maybe because he reminds me a little of Xander Harris.  I love it that in this book, he becomes a Relationship Guru.

Russel, Min, Gunnar and Em sign up to work as extras in a horror movie.  Split Screen chronicles their two weeks as zombies.  But here's the twist.  It's a flip book.  You remember flip books, right?  Read one side of the story, flip the book over and read the other?  I always got a kick out of them.  So Yay, You!, Brent Hartinger, for bringing the flips* back to me.

Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies (Russel's story):

Though they live eight thousand miles away, Russel is still happily involved with Otto.

Kevin Land, Mr. Hottie McHotHot Jerkface Jock from Geography Club, makes it known that he wants Russel back -- and that he's finally willing to come out.

To make life even more complicated, Russel's parents have discovered he's gay, and they are NOT taking it well.

Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies (Min's story):

Both of her best friends in happy relationships and singleton** Min is feeling lonely and left out and a little jealous.  She's very happy for them, though, and she doesn't like the way that Kevin Land has been eyeing Russel.

Her love life begins to look much more promising when she joins the Brain Zombies fun and meets Leah, who might just be the perfect girl.

But then she discovers that Leah is very much NOT out of the closet -- and that all of her best friends are homophobic cheerleaders.  (THE HORROR!!  And I am not being sarcastic.)

First off, it was fantastic to finally hear Min's voice.  She's super-smart and super-funny (On streaking her hair purple: "I could justify this by saying that I'd done it to express my individuality, but no, I'd really just wanted to shock people.") and I loved her relationship with her mother.  I'm definitely hoping for another book that focuses on her.  (One that focused on Gunnar would be good, too.  Also Kevin.) 

I got a huge kick out of the differences in perspective.  Russel describes Kevin Land's smile as 'impish', while Min says 'smug'.  Re: Gunnar and the zombie movie, Russel says, "I hadn't seen him this excited since he found lamprey eels in the creek near our house", while Min's Excitable Gunnar Memory is "the night they left the gate unlocked at the sewage treatment plant".  Way fun.

I actually liked Min's story more -- I think that was mostly because that was where the surprises were, but also because Russel's segment, on occasion, felt a little message-y to me.  Regardless of that feeling, I did enjoy the conversation Russel had with the priest.  I would think that when writing a scene like that, it would be tempting to make the guy out to be a jackass, but BH didn't -- actually, I thought he came off better than Russel's parents did.  Honest about his own hypocrisy, at any rate.

I don't want to give anything else away -- just know that you should very definitely read the stories in Russel/Min order.  Good pick for fans of the rest of Brent Hartinger's books, as well as for fans of GLBT lit that doesn't feature a gay character being run over and of course, teens who enjoy breezy romantic comedy.

*And of course it would be Brent Hartinger to bring them back -- after Grand & Humble (which had definite flippy potential, though I like it just the way it is), we all should have expected it.

**Obviously, I re-watched Bridget Jones' Diary recently -- is there anything better than that Hugh Grant/Colin Firth fight scene? 

game boy

How many authors get to promote their first novel with a custom-built interactive game?  Daria Snadowsky's got to be one of the few. First, you may remember, she got this fun, racy cover for Anatomy of a Boyfriend...and now Random House has debuted a really nifty, kinda irresistible game to go with it. Even if you're not in the market for a boyfriend, we highly recommend you try Build Your Own Boyfriend just for the goofy sound effects and the chance to prove you're never to old to play with dolls.

Stay tuned--we've got an interview with Daria coming soon..

if you only read one vampire novel this year...

you better make it Fangland by John Marks. The Buffalo News just called it "the best vampire novel since Interview with a Vampire."   We at the burger ADORE it...scary, sexy, funny, intense...not for kids, but if you're older than say, 17.5, we predict you'll find it a fang-tastic read....

ps yes, he is related to a certain burgerflipper but still no lyin' this is an awesome book.

30-SEC LIT CRIT: Silent Echoes by Carla Jablonski

[review by lovely Leila Roy, parachuting in from Bookshelves of Doom]

It seems that Spiritualism is IN.  Fine by me.

1880s. New York City.  Backed by her confidence-man father, Lucy Phillips is posing as a medium, hoping to make some money off of the rich and gullible.

Imagine her surprise when she actually hears a disembodied voice.  One that begs for her help.

Present day.  New York City.  Lindsay Miller cowers in her closet, hiding from her drunk mother and her new (also drunk and (hey, bonus!) violent) stepfather. 

Imagine her surprise when she hears someone answer her.

In Lucy's time, hearing voices leads her to fame and fortune, but keeps her from being accepted into high society.  In Lindsay's, it leads to assumed madness and the psych ward at the hospital.  Can the girls find a way to help each other?

Okay.  I was torn about this one.  I loved the fun little factoids about the nineteenth century -- there was even a bit about the Oneida cult -- and I thoroughly enjoyed the sections about Lucy. 

Except for the hospital scenes, though, the Lindsay sections didn't really do it for me.  They seemed stilted and forced.  Not always, but more often than not.  At times, the dialogue between Lindsay and Lucy did too, but that I could live with -- it made sense that their dialogue would be a little off, what with the differences in language and general weirdness of the situation.

Possible spoilers ahead.

The other thing that bothered me is TOTALLY my own problem.  But me being me, I'm going to mention it anyway.  Talking across time, no problem.  I can buy that.  But sending objects back and forth in time behind an icebox that hadn't been moved once in the years separating Lucy and Lindsay...  it was just too much.  My suspension of disbelief only goes so far.  Like I said, though.  That isn't the book's fault.  I blame my own lack of imagination.  But also.  When Lindsay ran away from the hospital, wouldn't someone have traced her ATM card or blocked it or something?  Or do I watch way too much Veronica Mars?

Anyhoo.  Give it a try on non-ultra-picky fans of the Libba Bray books. 

new on the burger: reviews by leila

Hey burger nibblers, starting tomorrow we're going to be featuring weekly reviews by the smart and sassarific Leila Roy, librarian and blogger at Bookshelves of Doom. Stay tuned, folkies, it's gonna be excellent!

no mo' alice munro?

we're just sitting here in a funk because we just read (thanks a LOT, booksquare) that Alice Munro has said she's gots to go. Yep, she claims to be retiring. If you love her like we do, we're sorry to ruin your day. If you don't know about this writer--well you better get yourself informed, dude! Run out and buy (or flip open a new browser window and order, you lazy pj queens) a copy of Lives of Girls and Women--an amazing coming-of-age tale that's like a your average YA novel times a bajillion. Then  get The Beggar Maid and read "Half a Grapefruit"...oh, and download an audio version of her latest (last?), The View from Castle Rock so you can hear her stories about her Scottish ancestors read in a funny fake brogue on your ipod while you're at the gym...

Anyhow, we're sad.

Cecil Castellucci...between the buns

Punk poet of girl geekdom Cecil Castellucci has carved out a world all her own in novels like Boy Proof and Queen of Cool—a world populated by memorably quirky nerds and the people who either befriend or torment them. We predict '07 is going to be a big Cecil year...In May, she's got a graphic novel coming out from the new chick-targeted comics imprint Minx (we posted on this a while back), and a YA novel, Beige--which is all about NOT being beige. We grilled Cecil, and here's the juicy result:

Who is your favorite writer that most people have never heard of?
I'm a big fan of Walter Tevis.  He wrote one of my fave books that I read as a teen called Mockingbird.  It's about a robot that wants to commit suicide.  So amazing.   He also wrote The Man Who Fell to Earth.

I also adore James Tiptree, Jr.  Who wrote as a man but was really a woman.   Highlights include her short story collection Warm Worlds and Otherwise.  A great biography of her life just came out. 

And of course, two up and coming writers both of whom have novels coming out in 2007

Heather Tomlinson - The Swan Maiden (Holtzbrinck)

Jo Knowles  - Lessons from a Dead Girl (Candlewick)

What kid or teen books rocked your world growing up?
All of the All of a Kind Family books by Sydney Taylor

any of the Shoes books by Noel Streatfeld

The Tripod Trilogy by John Christopher

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Anything by Jane Austen or the Brontes.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Candide by Voltaire

Describe your ideal place to write.
How about in Paris at a cafe with a moleskine notebook and a fountain pen in the 1920s.  Oh, you mean now?  A cafe, with wireless and working plugs and a good view out of a window or a fabulous porch so I can day dream.   Also, I like writing in bed, with my iPod blasting a great music piping out a soundtrack to go along with the words flowing onto the page.

Your life is a TV series. Name the theme song, one event that would be on the "best of" episode, and one that would be on the blooper reel.
Theme Song:  What I'm Looking For by Brendan Benson

Best of Episode:  In which Cecil and her wacky gaggle of friends find an Atoll in the South Pacific and declare it to be their own country.  They call the country All Art All The Time (AAATT).  Hijinks and hilarity ensue when every one declares themselves King or Queen and no one gets any artistic work done.  Except Cecil, who declared herself the Fool and makes a great indie film documentary about the monarchy struggles in AAATT and wins an IFP award much to her friends total humiliation.  Eventually they get over it, have a laugh, and drink a lot of champagne at the awards parties. 

Episode Where We Jumped the Shark:  Cecil delivers her friend's baby in the back seat of a taxicab in the middle of a snowstorm in a very special holiday special of The Cecil Show.

Blooper Reel: Falling down, Slipping on a bananas, Tongue twisters, Bad dancing, Unfortunate static cling, Skirts accidentally tucked into hosiery, Broken high heels, Fashion Faux Pas and Failed Wooing of Gentlemen.

Burger-flippers want to know: have you ever had a job that required you to wear a geeky uniform? Details, please!
Well, there were some ugly aprons that I had to wear working  at Swenson's Ice Cream Parlor and Pier One Imports.  Blech.  But the geekiest uniform that I ever wore was my elf outfit while working as a Christmas elf at Macy's Santaland.  Now you'd think that an Elf outfit would be FANTASTIC! But they didn't have an outfit that was small enough for me so it was ill fitting and the hat was very big.   So it was kind of fantastically geeky and also totally badly geeky.

We'd like to name a burger in your honor. What kind of fixins should
it have?
It should have cheese, avocado, onions, some kind of special mayo-lemon fancy spread and cilantro.   And it should have french fries with gravy on the side.  (and Poutine if possible)  (Poutine is french fries, gravy and cheese curds) (It's a Quebec thing)

SPECIAL BONUS QUESTIONS JUST FOR CECIL:

How did you get together with the folks at Minx? Did they find you or did you find them?

Shelly Bond at Vertigo, who was launching Minx got in touch with me.   I was very happy to be found.  She had edited one of my fave Vertigo titles, The Deadenders.  I had long wanted to write comic books, but didn't know how to go about doing it.  Happily Minx was putting feelers out to see if maybe a YA author would be interested as a potential person to write a book for the Minx line.  Happily, I'm the gal that got the call.

Are there some graphic novels that really inspire you?
Some titles off the top of my head are...

Dirty Plotte by Julie Doucet

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. 

Maus by Art Spiegleman.

DMZ by Brian Wood

Gray Horses by Hope Larson

Fables by Bill Willingham

Y the Last Man by Brian K Vaughan

Sunset City by Rob Osborne

Do you have to be able to draw to do a graphic novel?
I do not draw at all. The Plain Janes is being drawn by an amazing artist, Jim Rugg, that I am so happy to be working with.  He did an excellent comic book called Street Angel, out on Slave Labor Graphics.   You don't have to know how to draw to write a graphic novel, much like you don't have to know how to draw to write a picture book.  It does help to have an appreciation for the visual.   

Any other news you can share about Minx and The Plain Janes?
Right now it's all very new, there is not much to share except that it's a book about four girls named Jane and how art is a wonderful thing.  I'm very proud of the book, and I'm hoping to hang out and write about these girls for a long time to come.   It's out in May 2007 on Minx and I'm super excited!

more new books for the new year

and all free--IF you participate in our little fact-finding mission..
Here's how it works. You email us at mail at bookburger.com and tell us:

1. which of the following books you'd like us to send you

2. what you'd love to see covered on bookburger this year

If you're the first to request a particular book, it's yours!  Here are your choices (one only please, and please live in the U.S.):

1. Being a Girl by Kim Catrall--a guidebook to teen life by Sex & The City's Kim Catrall

2. How It's Done by Christine Kole MacLean--we loved this novel about a girl from a fundamentalist home trying to figure out who she wants to be

3. London Calling by Edward Bloor--a compelling ghost story that revisits the London Blitz of WW2

4. Firestorm by David Klass--Book 1 of the Caretaker Trilogy--don't ask us but it looks exciting!

5. The Beast of Noor--Janet Lee Carey's spooky tale that follows two teens into the realm of fairies

we have winners!

mega congratulations to Maryjo and Jan, two new b-list members who won Just in Case by Meg Rosoff and Lush by Natasha Friend. oh we so groove on handing out the free tidbits.  it's the best part of bookburgering.

hey thrifty book junkies!

Check this Slate article about Amazon--it's got great inside dirt, including the exact extension to call in order to speak to a bona fide human customer-service rep (wish we'd had that BEFORE they messed up our xmas order just before the holiday and left us empty-handed in the face of a certain little urchin forced to live without his baseball video game) plus the secret scoop how you can get refunded if they lower the purchase price on a book you've bought in the last month...nice muckracking, Tim Noah!

cybil awards

Yes, it's awards season, and a group of kidlit bloggers recently started their own award--the Cybils. On January 1st they announced the finalists for each award they're giving out, including best YA novel and best graphic novel. You'll see some familiar names on there, including burger interviewee Rachel Cohn....congratulations to all the finalists and remember, it's an honor just to be nominated!

an organizing principle

It's the time of year when we all get a little urge to re-organize. And boy does our book collection need it. A while back we were reading Books in Bed, a very cool blog, and we were thunderstruck with admiration when we saw blogger Denise's photos of her bookshelves. She recently rearranged them by color. This is silly, impractical, and totally inspired. Not only does such an arrangement make your shelves look fantastic, but it also provides a great left-brain workout...when you're looking for a specific book, you just tap into your visual memory and recall the dark red of your old used Catcher in the Rye paperback, or the sky blue of that Infinite Jest you never finished. And it turns your personal library into a rainbow-colored candy shop. Alphabetical order is so over.

january giveaway

We believe that, for you, 2007 is going to be a year filled with good things, great books, and free prizes.  To prove it, we're gonna give away brand-new hardcover copies of Natasha Friend's Lush and Meg Rosoff's Just In Case, the latest novels from two amazing YA writers. To win, simply join our b-list, by typing your vitals into the little box called "we deliver" over there on the right. Oh, and do it by January 5, and live in the U.S. please. A little side-benefit: you'll also receive our quite infrequent but extremely heartfelt email love notes.

what a doll

hey all, happy double-oh-seven and welcome back to the burger!! As our regulars know, we're always on the lookout for an eye-catching cover--and in between bouts of holiday carousing, we this saw this one online: 

A Publisher's Weekly article notes that while the novel,  Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky, has been well-received, the cover is stirring controversy in the YA book buying world. Some commenters on the PW article think the cover is inappropriate and amounts to "denegration [sic] of males." Others think it's just fine--one said "it’s a welcome change in this genre to see a male objectified on the cover, considering most covers show skinny, leggy girls, whose faces are often out of frame..." (she's refering to jackets like this). We simply admire the clever, attention-grabbing design....you may call us sexist if you must. The book's due out January 9, and we predict it'll sell like beefcakes.