Mockingjay I'm all over you today...sorry fitness friends, I've got a book to finish!

Silly me, after starting Mockingjay  at 10pm on Thursday night and rushing through the first 100 pages, I had to get to sleep so I could get up and out the door by 7:30 am to catch the ferry(and I had to be up early enough to walk the dog).  No problem I told myself, I can finish the book on the ferry.  But, I forgot it on the bureau as I was rushing out the door.  #%$#*By the time I got home, walked the dog, unloaded the car, and had a cup of mint tea, I was just to tired to keep my eyes open.  Mockingjay would just have to wait.  So instead of going for a run like I should be doing this morning, guess what I'm going to be doing instead!  Sorry fitness friends, I've got a book to finish!

It doesn't pay to disinvite authors and Mockingjay is finally out!

Two big news days.  Yesterday Teen Lit Festival in Humble, Texas was cancelled; I gather, due to so many authors pulling out after Ellen Hopkins was disinvited.  I'm sorry to see this happening.  I'd really rather that the decision makers rethought the withdrawal of their invitation to Ms. Hopkins.  In a perfect world I guess...sigh.  So you Humble teens.  You'll just have to get to the library and read.

In other news, today is the release day for Suzanne Collins MockingJay.  I can't believe that my agent Suzie Townsend was lucky enough to get into a bookstore where Ms. Collins was speaking along side of her editor, the equally great David Levithan.  Not only does Suzie have the book, she's already READ it!  I'm not far behind you Suzie.

My idea of a perfect summer day

Yesterday was my idea of a perfect summer day.  Sunny but not too hot.  A lovely breeze.  After a gorgeous bike ride on Lockside trail, a stop a Maddock's farm for ice cream, and a burger downtown, we wandered into Munro's Books along Government St.  I love this bookstore, although I find it dangerous to step through it's impressive (formerly a swanky bank) glass and wood doors.  I think last night's visit set me back a couple of hundred...Yikes.  So many books to read though.  Linda Bailey's new title, Stanley's Little Sister, The Gryphon Project by Carrie Mac (which I've been meaning to read since it won the Sheila Eggoff Prize for YA Literature at the BC Book Prizes), and InkDeath, the last in Cornelia Funke's trilogy which I've yet to read.  So exciting, I'll have to get through these really fast because the fall list will be in soon, and the "too be read piles" will just get higher and higher!

The importance of freedom to read

 Generally, I try to keep this book blog separate from my teen reads book blog, but in this case, I've decided to make an exception.  I strongly feel that kids should be given the opportunity to make reading choices.  While I respect individual family s' decisions regarding reading content, I don't believe that a few people have the right to make reading decisions for the wider community.  Yesterday I posted a little about censorship as it relates to one of my colleagues, young adult author Ellen Hopkins on my teen lit blog.   Ms. Hopkins was disinvited to a teen lit festival in Humble, Texas after a complain about the content of some of her novels.  Ms. Hopkins does write about some very tough topics, and I can see that not everyone is comfortable reading her books or listening to her speak, but those that do want to read her books or listen to her speak, should be able to.  If you want to follow this topic, check out my teen reads blog.  Both Publisher Weekly (in their blog), and School Library Journal, have been actively posting, as have many many writers, including several others who were invite to this festival and have since declined given the withdrawal of Ms. Hopkins invitation.

Mockingjay coming soon...

Suzanne Collins long awaited third book in the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay is coming next week, and I can't wait to get my hands on it.  Scholastic has apparently printed a gazillion copies, so I hope the fact that I neglected to reserve a copy at my local booksellers isn't going to backfire...I was hoping for an advanced reader copy, but none were printed.  Too bad so sad!  I guess it wasn't considered necessary with so many fans waiting to snatch them up. Yikes!  I may find myself begging, borrowing or stealing sometime soon!