The "neglected positive tote-bag" is the best-selling item at my Zazzle store.  Other stuff is here. 

Also, I can put more stuff up on there, if there's merchandise you long for that's not there. People requested Robespierre, last time I asked -- but the truth is, I don't think anyone's actually bought his goaty mug or his button. Still, they were amusing to make and I have no regrets. 

Anyway, comments are open if you have a suggestion for the store!

Happy holidays.

E

Prepare ye for a long, booktastic post with exciting holiday shopping news.

SIGNED, PERSONALIZED BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS, HANNUKAH, and everything else you might be celebrating. I've got 'em for you right here, right now.

This holiday season, if you order between now and Dec 14th, you can get:

personalized, signed books by ME (that means your name, your dog's name, whatever you want, plus my signature)
including FREE gift-wrap (if you tell them you want it)
and a free E. Lockhart bookmark,
You get all that, PLUS you will know you are supporting an awesome indie bookstore, Word Brooklyn.

Word Brooklyn is the real deal. They are serious about being a neighborhood community center as well as bookstore, and the people who run it really know their stock. I ran my school's elementary school book fair with them and they were incredible. I am pleased and proud to be sending them business this holiday season. This dealie is exclusive to them. 

It's no different from ordering from any online store -- you just put stuff in your shopping cart, then pay. Everything ships on the 15th, 'cause I'm signing it all the day before. They can guarantee Christmas delivery, even!  If you're a Google shopper, you can sign in with your Google account. 

What books can you get?  

All four Ruby Oliver books in paperback, done up as a set of three (first three) -- followed by the last one, Real Live Boyfriends, shipping after its Dec 28 release to join its friends. (Right now RLB is only out in hardcover). The $40 price tag for the set INCLUDES SHIPPING at the media mail rate.  This is a nice set-up for those of you who agonize that your Ruby set doesn't match because the RLB cover is different from the first three in hardback. All the paperbacks match -- even though the Word site is showing some old covers, it's the new ones that are shipping. 

And individual titles:

The Boyfriend List, paperback
The Boy Book, paperback
The Treasure Map of Boys, paperback 
Real Live Boyfriends, hardcover (you can order the paperback, but it won't come out til Dec 28)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, paperback
Fly on the Wall, paperback  (Hey, you! Yes, you.  I bet you haven't read this one. This is what it's about.)

(By the way, you can buy eBooks from them, too -- but I can't sign and personalize those. Sorry!)
(Also, you can buy books by OTHER WRITERS. They won't be signed and all that, but you could knock off a lot of those holiday gifties in one Word Brooklyn shopping adventure. They have staff picks and holiday gift guides to help you out.)

So, spread the news, and stock up. 

--------------------------------------------

Enough from the Dept. of Self-Aggrandizement. Though wait!  If you want copies of Toys Come Home signed by me and Paul O. Zelinsky, call up Flying Pig, Anderson's or Copperfield's, or Books of Wonder. Those won't be personalized, of course, but PZ does have a really foxy signature! 

__________________________

Okay, now REALLY enough from the Dept. of Self-Aggrandizement.

Most years, I manage to post a list of holiday book-type gifts for you, actual teenagers. Stuff you might get your friends, or stuff your parents should know about to get you. Great reads, fun. You know, if you like my books, you'll also like... that sort of thing. Here is last-year's list.   And some years I've told you what gifts to give your boyfriend, which advice is still fairly relevant.

Anyway, here's my list of good book presents this year, teens only. (I am assuming you are looking beyond the obvious best-sellers like Hunger Games in search of something that will be equally awesome.)
These are my top three picks for an excellent gift, all new this year: 

Divergent, by Veronica Roth. Action-packed, a page-turner, my favorite of the futuristic dystopian thrillers.

Beauty Queens, by Libba Bray. A bunch of beauty queens are shipwrecked. Not for the faint of intelligence, but definitely rollicking fun. 

The Name of the Star, by Maureen Johnson. A YA Jack the Ripper thriller, with ghosts. A scary page-turner with wit. 

Also, HERE'S WHAT I BOUGHT MY MIDDLE-GRADE READER (don't tell!):

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Leisel and Po
A Crooked Kind of Perfect
Alanna (Song of the Lioness Quartet, #1)
Graceling
Savvy
Julia Gillian
The True Meaning of Smekday
Phillippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life
The Flint Heart

...and more, if the truth be told. (Don't judge my extravagance. I've been in a different indie bookstore nearly every day this month, what with the tour and all!  I couldn't help myself.) 

What gift to get your boyfriend? If he wouldn't enjoy this, but you're the type of human who's here reading my blog --  he's probably not the right guy for you.  :) 

Real Live Boyfriends is up for Best YA Fiction over at Good Reads. Look at the awesome competitors. Go vote! 

2011 Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Best Young Adult Fiction Vote now for your favorite books!

Sara Zarr is my pal and one of the best YA authors around. I especially love Story of a Girl, which was a National Book Award finalist, but Sweethearts is awesome too and I am very psyched to read How to Save A Life, which is about teen pregnancy, family, jealousy, joy -- LIFE. It's told in two narrators, and Zarr (or THE ZARR, as I like to call her) is amazing at getting the specific rhythms of people's speech. 

I interviewed her, below, with shortie questions and shortie answers that reveal a lot, I think!  But if you want a more in-depth interview, check out this one at Forever Young Adult. 

Okay, Zarr. Shortie answers, one sentence!!

1. You live in Utah. Give me a bit of local slang. (I am a fan of local slang)

"What the crap?" (When confounded. Favorite use: when a previously undiscovered species of fish was discovered in a nearby lake, the fish and game guy who was interviewed for the local news said, "I saw it, and I was like, what the crap?!")

2. Favorite snack while writing?

 In my dreams: M&Ms. In reality: Raw almonds.

 3. Favorite swear word?

 Crap. (I HAVE been in Utah eleven years...)

 4. Tell me a book that gave you  nightmares, or a recommendation for All Hallows Read.

I read THE AMITYVILLE HORROR when I was in junior high, I think. Terrible idea.

5. Give me a sentence from How to Save a Life.

 "It's fairly easy to stalk someone when you've dated him for almost two years."

6. A great teen book you read recently.

TIGHTER by Adele Griffin.

 7. A word of wisdom about family, or the families we make for ourselves, which is the topic of your book. 

 We're all in this together and mostly doing the best we can. So have some compassion, including for yourself.

 8. You were just on the Smart Chicks book tour with Melissa Marr and Jennifer Lynn Barnes, among others. Describe them each in a word.

I would like to describe them both in two words:
1) Hair 2) Brains

9. What made you laugh this week?

My husband said, "There's not one Paul McCartney song you can throw at me that I can't sing in Carol Channing's voice." And, he was right.

10. Can you give me the movie pitch version of How to Save a Life? Camp it up, if you like, or do it straight.

Juno meets Steel Magnolias, with no dying at the end. And also not in the South. So actually not that much like Steel Magnolias except there are a bunch of awesome women, and one of them has some pretty big hair.

Also you can win a video chat with Sara Zarr for your book club in this sweepstakes!