just another bronx girl

Well, I've made my selection in the School Library Journal's Battle of the Books! I had to choose between two excellent books, CHAINS by Laurie Halse Anderson and TENDER MORSELS by Margo Lanagan. As you can imagine, this wasn't an easy decision, but it's hard being a judge!!! :-)

Check out my pick here.

***

In other news, a few weeks ago I hurt my knee exercising. I thought it was just a minor pain (caused by the fact that I don't ever exercise!), and it didn't really hurt that much at the time. Well, last week that changed! OWWEE!!! It got mucho swollen and painful, and when ice, elevation, and lots o' Alleve didn't help, I went to the doctor and found out I had actually torn my meniscus (whatever that is!) and some other ligament.

I am not a happy camper!

So I'm now wearing a full leg brace and I have to walk with a cane! I feel like I've aged 50 years. Good thing I don't need my knee to write, but still... :-(

Hopefully I won't be hobbled for too many weeks. Summer is coming and I got thangs to do!
:-)

I'm very excited to be participating in the Battle of the (Kids') Books tournament over at School Library Journal! This is a head-to-head battle to choose the best book of 2008. And competition is fierce, let me tell you!!! Check out the bracket here. You can also follow all the action on Twitter.

And yes, before you ask -- wagering is permitted!!!
;-)

I'm judging the second round, so right now I'm (im)patiently awaiting the judges' decisions from Round One. I can't wait to find out which two books I'll be reading! This is gonna be fun!!!

*

Oh yeah, over at Melissa Walker's blog, Melissa is giving away a signed copy of TYRELL! Check out her site to find out how to win! [Hint: What you have to do is fun and you'll be doing something nice for a complete stranger!!!]

And just to sweeten the pot a little, I will give the winner a signed copy of KENDRA, too!

But you gotta be in it to win it!!! :-)

Too bad I'm a vegetarian...
:-(




... because otherwise I would fly all the way to Germany to get my hands on some Obama Fingers!

NOT!

Yes, a product like this inevitably comes with a certain degree of controversy. I mean, c'mon, it's fried chicken!

Racist? Perhaps.

Stupid? Yes.

A desperate attempt to cash in on our Prez? Definitely!

{sigh}

This is funny!

(video courtesy of collegehumor.com)


Don't you love the elaborate lengths guys go to just to yank a friend?
:-)

I'm speechless.

(Thanks to tmz.com for the picture of octo-mom!)

Seriously, this is the Google logo today:



It's in honor of Jackson Pollack's birthday. Wha'd'ya think? I'm a big fan of Pollack, so I kinda like it. But you can barely make out the Google logo!

I'm super excited today to find out that KENDRA was chosen by ALA for both their Best Books for Young Adults list and their Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers list! And wow, what good company I'm in! It's great to see so many friends on these lists.

Congratulations everyone!!!
:-)

Well, I guess we should have expected this. But it seems the TY toy company, famous for its Beanie Babies, has now come out with two new dolls: "Marvelous Malia" and "Sweet Sasha."



The company says they used the names Malia and Sasha because they are beautiful names, and that they have nothing at all to do with the President's children. Well, of course not! I mean, why would anyone assume something like that?

[Insert cringe here]

This is just the beginning. So many people and companies are going to look to exploit the Obama kids to make a dollar. I'm not really sure if anything can be done to stop it, but I hope it won't get too out of control.

My vote: Diane Sawyer got totally sloshed on inauguration night and was still feeling no pain on Good Morning America the next day!

See for yourself!


Well, at least she's a happy drunk!
:-)

I just got back from watching the inauguration at a community screening luncheon here in the Bronx. It was a nice gathering of folks from the neighborhood, along with the community leaders. The whole thing was such a beautiful experience and I'm glad I shared it with the older people who did all the hard work during the civil rights days to help get our country into a position where it was even possible to elect an African American president. A lot of tears were shed today. I tried to hold out, but I couldn't. It was all too much. And again I wish my father were still alive to share this day with us.

This is absolutely the best Amazon.com review ever!

You will laugh your butt off!

I know I did!

(Thanks to the April Winchell blog for the link!)

:-)

It's my first post of the new year. Okay, so I'm a little late. So what!

I've been reading all my livejournal friends' resolutions, and that's what I like about the beginning of a fresh, shiny new year. There's always so much hope -- not to use Obama's word or anything!

I haven't really figured out all my resolutions or goals for 2009 yet. But I do know that one of my resolutions is to write here more often. I think I like the idea of blogging a lot more than actually doing it. But a friend recently told me that I should really get into it, that if I started writing more regularly, I'd actually enjoy having this creative outlet. And the thing is, I really admire people who blog, especially authors (e.g. sarazarr and writergrl) who manage to find the time to write in their blogs and write really good books. When I'm writing a book, it's like I'm submerged in that world and I hardly ever make time to read or write anything else.

This is not a good thing. It makes my life very unbalanced.

Which leads me to another resolution. To somehow find balance. To be able to write and take care of myself at the same time. To have time for work and time for guilt-free fun. To get my pages written each day and then turn the computer off!

Aaaahhhh. Now that would make 2009 a great success!
:-)

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Over at The Longstockings, I have posted my book gift picks for the holiday season. I mean, of course you should buy KENDRA first, but if you're still looking for ideas after that, then check out my picks!!! :-)

In other news, I've been interviewed by ChickLitGurrl! You can read it here!

Tonight I will be reading at the New York Public Library - Jefferson Market Branch along with a bunch of really amazing authors, including the brand-new NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER!!!

Here's the lineup of readers:

Caroline Hickey, author of ISABELLE'S BOYFRIEND

Daniel Ehrenhaft, author of DIRTY LAUNDRY

David Van Etten, author of ALL THAT GLITTERS

Judy Blundell, author of WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED and winner of The National Book Award!

And moi, author of KENDRA

The host for the event is none other than David Levithan himself!


The Jefferson Market Branch is located at 425 Sixth Avenue (at 10th Street) in NYC, and the reading starts at 6PM. We'll read and answer questions and be highly entertaining! Guaranteed!

So please come on out!

But before you do, definitely stop by the fabulous Author2Author blog today to enter to win a free copy of KENDRA!!!
:-)

Okay, this is a little twisted, but c'mon, it's funny!



:-)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

If you haven't seen this commercial and you want a smile on your face, check this out:



Ha! I love how the father is sooo into the routine. He's definitely feeling it!!!
:-)

It's YALSA Teen Read Week!!! And to celebrate, the readergirlz are hosting a week-long series of online chats with authors and readers -- and I'm lucky enough to be kicking things off tonight with fellow authors An Na and Mitali Perkins!

Here's the lineup of authors for the week:

Monday (10/13) An Na, Mitali Perkins, Coe Booth

Tuesday (10/14) Lorie Ann Grover, Stephanie Hemphill, Lisa Ann Sandell

Wednesday (10/15) Ally Carter, Justine Headley, Maureen Johnson

Thursday (10/16) Holly Black, Dia Calhoun, Ted Naifeh, Tamora Pierce

Friday (10/17) Holly Cupola, Christopher Golden, Annette Curtis Klause, Mari Mancusi

Wanna join the conversation? Well, log into the readergirlz forum tonight at 9pm (EST)/6pm (PST) and start typing! This is going to be a lot of fun!
:-)

My fellow prisoners???

Really?

I'm not sure. Is this just a mistake made by a tired politician?

Or possibly a Freudian slip?

Hmmm...

***
Oh yeah, if you're in the NYC area tomorrow (Thursday), come out and see me read from KENDRA at KGB bar at 7pm. Also reading will be none other than Maureen Johnson, Siobhan Vivian, and Judy Blundell! I mean, how cool is that lineup?

I posted all the details here on The Longstockings' blog.

Hope to see you there. (I'm just getting over the flu and my voice is practically gone, so I'll need all the moral support I can get!)

:-)

Well, I'm back in the good ol' USA and trying to get back in the groove after spending a whole year in Switzerland. Wow. I can't believe my year went by sooo fast!

Since I've been back, I've been just kind of dragging around. No energy. Trying to adjust to the time difference and dealing with allergies.

I haven't been much fun.

But I think I'm getting better now! Hopefully!

My new book KENDRA, which was supposed to come out on October 1st, is ALREADY OUT!!! I can't believe it! But there it is at Barnes and Noble!



And it's also already shipping from Amazon!

So, while I'm so excited about it being out, I wasn't exactly ready for it. I was planning to have my website updated before KENDRA came out, but that didn't happen.

Also, I can't decide what kind of update I want. Web designer extraordinaire Theo Black (theoblack) is waiting for me to tell him what I want, but I really can't decide. I need ideas!

So I ask you: which authors' websites do you really like and why? Please help!

Please!!!

Yesterday was a truly emotional one, for me and for millions of Americans. I stayed up until 4am (Swiss time) to watch live streaming video of Barack Obama's speech from the Democratic National Convention and I have to say I was completely blown away. It was so much more than I expected, which, given all the hype, was quite a lot! I love that this man has a vision for our country and that he's passionate and confident and, yes, hopeful, that he can be the one to lead us in the right direction.

As an American and, more specifically, as an African-American, I couldn't have felt more proud of him. I had tears of joy in my eyes as I watched him, and tears of sadness because I wish my father were still alive to see the day when a Black man was officially nominated for President of The United States. My father grew up in West Virginia and had to attend segregated "Negro" schools. Seeing Barack Obama up there in front of all those people would have meant so much to him. I just wish it had happened a few years sooner.