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Cammie knows how to kick some butt in the Gallagher Girls books, and we should all be prepared to defend ourselves. That's why one of our July spotlights is on the Fight the Fear Campaign.In July 2009, two women were attacked in their own home. Tragically, one of them, Teresa Butz, was killed; her partner courageously survived the attack. Shortly thereafter, the Fight the Fear Campaign was born.
Called "a quest for confidence through strength," this community-oriented violence prevention initiative provides free self-defense training and violence prevention education to women. The group is based in Seattle and hosts workshops which are open to all women. (Our own Liz Gallagher has attended; see her story here.)
Fight the Fear will be holding a workshop specifically for girls ages 11-17 on August 8th from 11 AM to 1 PM. To register, email info@fightthefearcampaign.org
If you attend this or other related events, please let us know! Email readergirlzdivas@gmail.com.
Awesome readergirlz diva Liz Gallagher introduced me to today's Story Secrets author Andrew Auseon of FREAK MAGNET fame! Plus I got to meet his lovely editor when I was at ALA, and she clued me in on the secret pronunciation of his name (oss-EE-on).
Freak Magnet is the story of two young people who are working to overcome personal tragedies but feel stuck on their paths to recovery. Charlie, a brilliant, albeit socially awkward, astronomy student has built his life around caring for his terminally ill mother. Gloria, an aspiring poet who always attracts the wrong kind of guy, can’t seem to move past the death of her older brother, a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. However, a chance meeting between Charlie and Gloria leaves the teens wondering if they’ve become too isolated, that perhaps it’s time to look for help in the unlikeliest of places: each other.
Alyson Noel's latest Immortals book, Dark Flame, is finally here! She's back to tell the Cover Story (read Cover Stories for Evermore and Blue Moon.)
![Lifted[1].jpg](http://www.melissacwalker.com/blog/Lifted%5B1%5D.jpg)
Wendy Toliver's new book, Lifted, is already getting rave reviews. Wings author Aprilynne Pike says, "Lifted is the story of an imperfect heroine seeking her place not only in school, but in life. Its exploration of the amount of truth behind social and religious stereotypes escalates into a double-dog dare to believe them. A haunting morality tale that will leave you questioning just what it means to be 'good.'"
"I think when people read it, they'll be able to see that the girl in the photo does look a lot like how I describe Poppy, so that's good. And I love the colors and the bold font (which is carried throughout the book in the chapter headings, etc.) When I started sharing the cover image with a few author friends, someone called it to my attention that it's the same cover (well, the same image) as AnnDee Ellis's Everything is Fine (right). The weird thing is, Ann Dee and I both live in Utah and we see each other at local author gatherings. My agent and I brought this up with my editor and she mentioned our concern to the art and marketing departments but they really loved the cover Cara E. Petrus had designed for my book and didn't want to change it...
(that honor goes to Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy), but it was full of its own kind of challenges: who can Cammie trust? What can she do? How can she go about her junior year in a way that is both safe and smart without being a wallflower, standing on the sidelines of her own life?
The rgz Street Team is a group of teens who bring YA reviews to our blog, led by Postergirl Miss Erin. Find out more.
Our own Holly Cupala's debut novel, Tell Me a Secret, is out! Hooray! I've been thinking about this book since I first saw what I've come to call "The whisper cover." Very hot.
The bad-girl older sister, Xanda, kind of looked like Courtney Love, circa 1992 (left).
I always thought of the palette of my book as having that kind of aesthetic, kind of "good girl gone bad" in dreamy, washed-out tones (right)....
We are thrilled to welcome Ally Carter to readergirlz. Her fantastic Gallagher Girls novels, specifically the newly released fourth, Only the Good Spy Young, is our July pick! Check out our interview with Ally, book party ideas themed around her book, and our Reach Out project idea--as well as the awesome soundtrack Ally has chosen for the book--on readergirlz.com.
It's Book Party Day for one of the writers I admire most in the world, Mitali Perkins! Not only is this woman a deep and thoughtful writer, but she actively promotes discussion about culture and race in teen literature. All this, besides being a wonderful person to know!
Bamboo People takes place against the political and military backdrop of modern-day Burma. It’s narrated by a fifteen-year-old teen forced to fight in the Army and a sixteen-year-old teen on the run. They’re on opposing sides of the conflict between the Burmese government and the Karenni, one of the many ethnic minorities in Burma. Chiko, the Burmese boy, isn’t a fighter by nature. He’s a book-loving boy whose father, a doctor, is in prison for resisting the government. Tu Reh, on the other hand, wants to fight for freedom after watching Burmese soldiers destroy his Karenni family's home and bamboo fields. When they meet in the jungle, their lives are changed forever.
The amazing Courtney Summers just wrote a great post "on unlikeable female protagonists", and I had to share a bit of it here (though you really must go read the whole thing).
We have loved spending the month of June with John Green, discussing his fantastic novel Paper Towns! Things we've learned:
