Go here before Oct 2 and do a quick and easy thing to fight for intellectual freedom: vote for your favorite book from the ALA's list of the top 100 most banned books, and write a short sentence or too saying why it's your favorite. Fun! and Useful! they will post results.

A reminder: Sept 27 to October 11 I'm answering anything you want to ask over on the Book Divas message boards.

Which means, right now, you can come on over, write boyfriend lists, post your dating destiny quizzes, learn how I got a literary agent, and find out anything you want to know about The Boy Book, Dramarama, and what I'm writing now.

Actually, it's kinda lonely over there at the moment. (Can you tell? do I sound lonely?)
but I think we could have a really fun and good time if some of you blog-readers pop over.

--E

So. THere's this thing called TEEN AUTHOR DRINKS NIGHT. It involves authors who write for teens drinking, NOT teens who are authors drinking.

We imbibe some liquids in a responsible fashion, and talk shop. It's super fun. And so many of us have Fall books, David Levithan (his fall book is Wide Awake) thought we should have a night where we read our stuff to the public.

There were so many of us, we're having TWO! As you can see, it is a way way cool crew of people and I'm pleased to be part of it on November 1, reading from The Boy Book.
But you should totally come to both! If people come we can have more!

October 4, 2006
Teen Author Reading Night
WHO: John Green (LOoking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines)
Coe Booth (Tyrell)
Leslie Margolis (Fix)
Scott Westerfeld (Peeps, Midnighters)
Carolyn MacCullough (Stealing Henry)
David Levithan (Wide Awake, Boy Meets Boy, etc.)
and Daniel Ehrenhaft (Drawing a Blank, After Life)
WHERE: New York Public Library, Jefferson Market branch (that's on 6th around 12th, the thing that looks like a church)
WHEN: 6 pm

November 1, 2006
Teen Author Reading Night, David Levithan hosts
WHO:
E. Lockhart (The Boyfriend List, The Boy Book)
Jordan Sonnenblick (Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie, etc.)
Natasha Friend (Lush, Perfect)
Micol Ostow (30 Guys in 30 Days, Emily Goldberg Learns to Salsa)
Blake Nelson (Prom Anonymous, Girl etc.)
and Natalie Standiford (The Dating Diaries, Elle Woods)
WHERE: New York Public Library, Jefferson Market branch (that's on 6th around 12th, the thing that looks like a church)
WHEN: 6 pm

Read the beginning here.
Hey, read this, over at Reading Rants! It's about The Jealousy Book.
Which might not be in stores so much any more so online is your best bet from these two indies that stock it: Flying Pig -- or Books Inc.! Yay indies.

If you like Ruby Oliver, you have got to get that book. It is the best short story I ever wrote.

Thanks, everyone, for the nice notes on my publication day!
and for taking that funny quiz, which I now know is called a MASH.

I will post my own results soon, but I realize I took it much too seriously and need to re-do it with funny celebrity boyfriends. I want to be like Mary Pearson and marry Paul Newman! (Yes, I know he is too old. A younger Paul Newman would be just perfect, though. Look at him, there with Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.)

In more serious news, please go read about the ridiculous stuff going on in Texas, where the junior high school students are not allowed to check books out at all for two weeks! Following complaints over two books that contained some profanity and sexual content (one being a memoir by Gary Paulson, a noted children's author), the school decided to review its collection -- fair enough. A junior-high library should not have materials inappropriate for junior high readers. But in my opinon, shutting down the library is far from an appropriate response. People were calling swear words "pornography" and getting hysterical and generally
and this is my point
making the children in the community feel that the adults (parents and librarians) in their lives are people they can not speak to about anything sexual or "adult" as they grow up and begin to want to understand these things.
They are closing a door.
Happy Banned Books week.

A reminder: Sept 27 to October 11 I'm answering anything you want to ask over on the Book Divas message boards. Please come on over and join the discussion!

Oh, and The BOY BOOK is now in stores. Now! Go find it so you can learn the Care and Ownership of Boobs and also what happens between Roo and Noel!

Also, I want you to know that THE BOYFRIEND LIST is out in paperback. Right now. It costs $8.95.

FIND YOUR DATING DESTINY. I am serious! It's a quiz, made by the folks at Random House (my publisher) to celebrate the release today of new novel,
The Boy Book: A Study of Habits and Behaviors, Plus Techniques for Taming Them.

The quiz does this groovy groovy flashy thing when you play it.

The Boy Book is the sequel to The Boyfriend List, and that one is just out in paperback. This new, cheaper edition of the first Ruby Oliver book has a fun author Q&A at the back, plus provocative questions for your book club or reading group.

In The Boy Book, Ruby Oliver confronts the secret about Noel,
mysterious notes from Jackson,
the interpretation of boy-speak,
the villainy of Cricket,
the horrors of the school retreat,
and the exploitation of hooters everywhere.
There are fruit roll-ups.
There is upper-regioning.
There are so many boys to choose from!
And there are penguins.
Preview it here.

Here's some nice critical stuff, if you're in the mood for that kind of thing.

"Lockhart achieves the perfect balance of self-deprecating humor and self-pity in Ruby, and thus imbues her with such realism she seems to fly off the page." -- VOYA

"Each chapter begins with an excerpt from 'The Boy Book' which is hilarious...The book not only covers topics teens obsess over, but it helps illustrate the connection Ruby had with her friends, especially Kim, and what a loss she has suffered. Ruby's overanalytical, fast-paced and authentic narration will win over new devotees, while her loyal fans will no doubt hope for more." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

Sometimes people ask if something exciting or fun happens on a publication day. Are there flowers? Parties?
Um. No. Not usually.
I am spending the day writing, dealing with the strange man who is repairing the roof deck, going to a PEN meeting to fight the good fight for intellectual freedom (and to drink some wine), and trying to figure out why the computer keeps giving me the spinning ball of death. But I am glad Ruby Oliver's further adventures are out in the world.

.
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
---Comment overheard under the hair dryer at the Dazzling Do’s

The very very amusing Ms. Karin Gillespie is the uber-goddess of the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit, this thing where we do virtual tours of one another's blogs. (I think I am next!). Anyway, her new book is a continuation of her Bottom Dollar Girl series: the women are back with a sugar-spun vengeance in Dollar Daze: The Bottom Dollar Girls in Love, in which the feisty ladies of Cayboo Creek are suddenly blindsided by schoolgirl flights of fancy when unexpected romance enters their lives.

Karin's also is co-author of the upcoming Sweet Potato Queen’s First Big-Ass Novel (don't you love that title? It comes out January 2007) has a story called TRASH TALK in This is Chick Lit.

Karin's not so into superheres, but last time she visited my blog she made a very funny "Reader's Digest" boyfriend list -- and this time, she thought of the most unusual superpower I have had yet!

--E

The Fly on the Wall Survey
questions by me, answers by Karin Gillespie

1) If you could be a fly on the wall somewhere, anywhere – where?
I would love to hang out in the Pitt-Jolie household. Their relationship seems so weird to me. What do they talk about? Does Angelina throw Brad down onto the bed? And how do they manage all those kids?

2) If you could have one superpower, what?
I’d like the ability to see people as they were when they were babies. It’s east to dismiss the behaviors of babies and it’s hard to get mad and stay mad at them.

3) What is your superhero name? Why?
How about Empathy Gal? Able to forgive and sympathize in a single moment.

4) Who is your favorite superhero?
I’d like Batman because he didn’t have super powers and because he’s dark and mysterious.

5) Favorite non-super hero?
The Dalai Lama

6) Recommend us a superhero movie.
Holy Moly, Robin. I haven’t seen any superhero movies.

7) If you could turn in to any animal, what? Why?
Probably a chimpanzee. I like to stick with the same order and family. And who knows? Maybe I’ll be up for evolvement.

8) Do you (or have you ever) read comic books? What? When?
As a kid I looked the Archie comic. (The rivalry between Veronica and Betty was particularly compelling and I was on team Betty.) Also loved Richie Rich because everything he had was made of gold.

Banned books week, babies!
What can you do to speak out in favor of intellectual freedom?

Here are some itty bitty things to do:
Check out the AS IF website.
Add As If! on myspace.
Contribute to the dialog on banned books at the Teen Lit group on myspace.
Swipe the button, above (made by the ALA) and post it on your blog.

Some slightly bigger things you can do:
Bring up Banned Books Week with your English teacher and ask if your class can have a discussion about the subject.

Talk to your local YA librarian or the librarian at your school and see if there's a possibility of inviting Chris Crutcher to speak in your area. He's an inspiring lecturer, and very funny, and speaks passionately and convincingly on the subject.

Read one of these teen novels from the American Library Association's list of most-often banned books:

Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
Deenie, by Judy Blume
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
Forever, by Judy Blume
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman, by Paul Zindel
Lord of the Flies, by Wiliam Golding
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher

Or even just start by checking one of those books out of your library and read it. Forever is romantic; the Chocolate War is thrilling; The Bluest Eye is thought-provoking; Lord of the Flies is terrifying.

Then share the with a friend. And spend three minutes talking to each other about why you think it might have been banned.
That's free. And you'll have read a dang good book.
You'll also have made a tiny difference in the world -- opening up your mind, and your friend's.
Those tiny differences add up.

Happy reading!

--E

I love YA Authors Cafe -- and the new season is starting up! Tuesday, September 26 at 8:30 p.m. EST, 5:30 Pacific. The topic of the chat is Secrets of YA Lit: Grabbing Teen Readers and our panel of young adult authors will be Robin MacCready, author of BURIED, Mary Beth Miller, author of ON THE HEAD OF A PIN, and Laurie Faria Stolarz, author of BLEED.

All YA AUTHORS CAFE chats are held Tuesday evenings at www.yaauthorscafe.com. (Click on the brownish box on the lower right that says "chat room.") Anyone can join; you don't have to be an author, just interested in joining the chat where the authors are.
I think there's usually a panel discussion and then the floor is open for questions.

P.S. The Boy Book is in stores that same day!