figmentdotcom:

Your favorite YA series needs help! Cast your vote for all-time greatest YA series on teen.com here: teen.com

But… but… the Chronicles of Narnia, Percy Jackson, Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events, and the first two books at least of Harry Potter are not teen series! They’re middle grade books*! (And on the other side of the spectrum, neither is LotR, which was written for adults.)

That doesn’t mean that teens don’t and can’t read MG (or adult) novels and enjoy them. In fact I think they totally should! But the fact remains that they were not written with teens in mind, they are not marketed with teens in mind, and the characters in them are, by and large, not teens (or if they are, the kinds of stories told about them are not typical of teen literature).

I think Middle Grade deserves more respect and attention than it generally gets, and the success of authors like Snicket and Riordan helps a lot. But it doesn’t help when people muddle up the MG and YA* genres, because that does both the authors and the books a disservice. YA books then get blamed for being too “edgy” (or too romantic, or too introspective, or too long — take your pick) for younger readers, while MG books get blamed for not being edgy or romantic or introspective or long enough for older ones.

Yours truly,

An author who writes both Middle Grade and Teen Series (and loves both)

p.s. No disrespect is intended toward the organizers of this contest — after all, the main point is to encourage teens to read and write and have fun doing it, and Figment is a great resource for that. It’s just that mixing up MG & YA is a persistent problem when journalists write about books for children and teens, and I think a lot of confusion and upset could be avoided if people understood the difference between them a little better.

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* Middle Grade (or MG): the predominant North American term for novels aimed at competent readers aged 9 - 12.

** YA = Young Adult, meaning novels aimed at ages 12 and up.

OH MY WORD I HAD NOT EVEN SEEN THIS

THIS COVER

THIS IS GORGEOUS

I WANT TO BUY IT RIGHT AWAY

AND I’VE ALREADY READ THE BOOK (SOME OF IT TWICE)

SO EXCITED NOW

ohinsomnia:

Because I want to follow you all. People are so surprised to find out that even though I read a whole bunch of classics, non fiction, and fiction, I also read teen fiction. I’m not ashamed to admit that I love a bit of romance and paranormal action. I get so annoyed when people make fun of me for it, so I want to know that I’m not alone. :]

Well, OBVIOUSLY I read it, since I write it. But I’m also not ashamed to say that until I was in my mid-twenties I had read almost no YA fiction (because when I was growing up, it seemed to be nothing but contemporary “problem novels” which weren’t to my taste at the time, so I went straight from “juvenile” to “adult” books) but now in my mid-forties I read MG and YA almost exclusively. I think I’ve maybe read three or four adult novels in the past year, compared to thirty or more MG and YA novels.

I don’t mean that as a kind of inverted snobbery against adult literature. I’m sure there are a lot of fantastic, worthy and interesting books awaiting me in the various adult genre sections. I’ve just been spoiled by the glorious cross-pollination of genres that exists in MG and YA, and find it easier to find books that interest me in the “children’s and teen” section than to traipse all over the bookstore hunting through a bunch of other categories.

You are totally welcome to rec me the last fantastic adult book you read, though. Especially if it’s historical mystery, fantasy, SF, or non-explicit romance. (And if it’s historical-supernatural-mystery-romance like Susanna Kearsley, even better.)

I DON’T EVEN. I was told to expect a trailer, but this is more like a mini-movie, with full cast and everything!

One caveat: The book version of Faraday is really not old enough to be Alison’s dad, much less looking like it. I promise. :D

Ultraviolet Book Trailer (by leahbeah98)

Ultraviolet Cioppa Reed (by MrEtkinUTube)

The Ultraviolet sequel has a cover! Isn’t it splendiferous? Now I just have to finish writing the book…

Thanks to all the North American Tumblr folk who liked and reblogged my entry about the unabridged ULTRAVIOLET audiobook to enter the contest.

Here are the three winners, chosen from the entries on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and LiveJournal:

1. @NicsYABookHaven

2. Irrel

3. ferretvamp14

Happy listening to the winners, and Happy New Year!

Let’s try this again, because I am still learning a thing or two about how to run Tumblr contests. (Don’t worry, all of you who liked or reblogged it the first time are still entered.)

Once there was a girl who was special.
This is not her story.
Unless you count the part where I killed her…

To celebrate the North American audio release from Listening Library, I’m giving away 3 copies of the unabridged ULTRAVIOLET audiobook to US & CAN readers!

Like or reblog this post on Tumblr, or tweet about it with hashtag #UVGiveaway to enter!

Once there was a girl who was special.
This is not her story.
Unless you count the part where I killed her…

To celebrate the North American audio release from Listening Library, I’m giving away 3 copies of the unabridged ULTRAVIOLET audiobook to US & CAN readers!

Reblog here, or RT on Twitter with #UVGiveaway to enter!