Jessica also leads the YA Book Group, so she and Kelsey discussed possibilities for upcoming selections.  As we finished our purchases, she handed Kelsey a stack of ARCs to read and comment on for the store (I’m hoping she’ll also share her thoughts on this blog).  I have rarely seen my daughter so thrilled, for her, and me, and so many other readers, few things are better than a stack of books waiting to be read.

We’re returning to Laguna in a few weeks on a mother-daughter trip with four other YA readers and where does my daughter want to go first?  Latitude 33, she’s saving her allowance!

Latitude 33 offers much more than YA books, it is the perfect stop for literary fiction, children’s books, non-fiction and travel.  I overheard a sales person assisting a customer in choosing the appropriate books for his trip; it isn’t often that the personnel in a general bookstore are so adept at fitting the right travel book with a customer.  They have a great discount bookshelf, not just remainders of books that most people have never heard of, but books that were in a Indie Next list, a nice treat for customers.

It’s compact store, but the choices feel hand-picked, the perfect place to find a book you never knew you wanted to read.

Latitude 33 Bookshop

311 Ocean Ave.

Laguna Beach, CA 92651

T:  949.494.5403

F:  949.497.4574

James Patterson’s ReadKiddoRead.com – James Patterson’s son didn’t enjoy reading, so James spent summers looking for books that his son would enjoy.  Then, being who he is, he started writing books his son would enjoy.  Now he’s sharing all that he’s learned on a website ReadKiddoRead.com.  This is a terrific website, it has lists of great books that kids will love by age.  There are even lesson plans for teachers.  Okay, how many parents out there take solace from the fact that James Patterson’s son didn’t like to read?  While my kids love to read, there are other things that I love that they can’t stand; I look and them and wonder how they could be my child.

readergirlz - I LOVE THIS SITE!  Claire is going to die when I send it to her.  readergirlz is an online community for teen girls that pairs up a YA novel with a community service project each month.  This month the book is Red Glass by Laura Resau.  The book is about illegal immigration and the activity is awareness of Dream Act and possible participation May Day marches.  readergirlz interviews the author (and asks about her favorite bookstore, the most important question) and this month is holding an online chat with Laura Resau. 

Fathers Bridging the Miles, a program of Read to Me International – The goal of Read to Me International is to have every child read to at least ten minutes a day.  Fathers Bridging the Miles is an opportunity for incarcerated men to send their children a book and a tape of them reading it.  The hope, which is frequently achieved, is that fathers will continue to read to their children when they return home and that the process will help the father and child grow closer.

Maricopa County Library District - After customer surveys relayed a desire for the library to be “browser friendly,” the staff redesigned it to look and feel like a bookstore, even dropping the Dewey decimal system.  The neighborhood loves the new feel and “Dewey-less” organization.

Robert Wilder – Robert Wilder said “[l]ike many other teachers and writers, I try to find myriad ways to get good books into other people’s hands. Whether it’s a kindergartner struggling over his first sentence, a high school student trying to find her voice in the wilderness of adolescence, or an intellectually starved friend at a dinner party, books are my gesture toward a better life for anyone willing to turn some pages.”  I couldn’t agree more, best way to improve your life, your mood, your conversation skills – pick up a book!

There are very impressive activities in the world of reading.  But really, next year, I want a bookstore to win.

Best Indie Buzz Book (Fiction):  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Claire loved this book and I’m looking forward reading it this summer.  It certainly creates a buzz, I’ve heard several people talking about it and more than one bookseller recommending it.

Best Conversation Starter (Nonfiction): The Wordy Shipmates,by Sarah Vowell.  I always enjoy Sarah Vowell’s work on This American Life and NPR; this book is on my must read list.

Best Author Discovery:  The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski.  No surprise here, given its Oprah and Stephen King backing.  My husband enjoyed the book.  But, in my crowd, there was far more discussion over another nominee, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, so be sure to add it to your reading list.

Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book (Fiction):  The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman.  I had this book yesterday at lunch with Claire and she raved about it, along with pretty much all of Gaiman’s books.  Claire mentioned that The Graveyard Book was inspired by The Jungle Book, the homage is even in the title.  My 12 year-old is reading her way through this entire category of nominees and her favorite, thus far, is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  Her copy is being passed around by all of her friends. 

Best New Picture Book Honor Books:  Bats at the Library, by Brian Lies.  As I said in the nominees post, my kids are too old for these books so I’m not familiar with them anymore.  I’m sure Bats at the Library is lovely, the website looks great, but I rooted for The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen, I enjoy dropping by her blog, Jumping The Candlestick.

Most Engaging Author:  Sherman Alexie author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.  I’ll be looking for him in the Los Angeles area, in fact I’ll check the listings for the LA Times Book Festival next weekend, he must be quite an experience to beat out both of Michael Chabon and David Sedaris.  Although look at his picture, he appears to be lots of fun!

But best of all, there is a special treat for the adults on Sundays when a massuase works on you for free.  The store is located by the Coffee Cup Cafe and benefits from people stopping by after breakfast, the perfect duo!

At the cash register, I found the greatest invention for kids going through a fear phase, Monsters Go Away Spray.  It’s a small spray can that easily fits into a child’s hand.  Monsters in the closet?  Under the bed?  In a dark corner?  Then spray these organic oils to make them disappear.  I wish I had this when I was a child and feared spiders crawling in my bed.

Once Upon a Story sponsors an impressive recycling program.  They distribute boxes for cell phone collection, then pick up the boxes, recycle the cell phones and any fees they receive are used to buy children’s and YA books for a local homeless center.  What a great way to give back to the community.

I told my daughter that I would buy her the books nominated for the Indie Choice Awards and we started with two, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger.  She fell in love with both books, but it’s The Hunger Games that is being passed among her friends and they’re all counting down the days until the second book, Catching Fire, comes out September 1st.  We also found 3 Willows, the new series by the writer of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants author, Ann Brashares.  My daughter left the store carrying two books and reading another, a very happy girl indeed.

There is only one book that is perfect for this day of donning jeans, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares.  In case you haven’t heard the story, just before they leave for summer, four high school juniors find a pair of jeans in a thrift store that fits all of them even though they are different sizes (personally, I’m looking for a pair of pants that would fit me in the size I wore as a high school junior, now that would be magic).  They decide that they each will wear the pants for awhile, then ship them to the next girl for her turn.  The book follows the girls’ summer with four distinct voices, characters and experiences.  As the jeans travel around, they acquire patches and mementos and take on the character of a clothing scrapbook.  What I appreciate about the story is the emphasis on the importance of girlfriends and supporting your friends.  In this age of “mean girls,” it’s nice to have a book that shows how girlfriends mess up and still hang in there for each other.  Friendships take effort whether it be finding the time to have fun or being supportive or holding each other accountable or forgiving one another for blowing it.  This series of books (there are four in total) gives examples of the mistakes girlfriends make, but ultimately shows the triumph of their relationship.

The story has spawned other sharing adventures.  I learned of four girls who were so inspired by the book that they decided to get a pair of “magical jeans” themselves–a pair they could trade around all summer long while they went their separate ways to camp, summer houses, on trips, etc.  One mom took them shopping.  They wanted to buy the jeans used, like in the book, so they went first to a couple of thrift stores, but unfortunately thrift stores don’t have a wide selection of magical jeans–especially in girls sizes 10-12–so they wound up at the Gap where, after a very long time spent picking out pants and trying them on, they decided that a pair of denim shorts would best accommodate their different shapes and sizes, so those become their traveling pants.  And travel the shorts did–all over the country all summer long.  The girls worked out a very complicated schedule of mailing/passing the shorts back and forth (which one of the mothers thankfully simplified), ensuring that each girl would have the shorts during her biggest adventure of the summer. The mom whose daughter had them first ran out and bought lots of fabric paint and permanent markers, so the girls could decorate the shorts in some way that would remind them always of their summer adventures.  They also sewed on patches they found on their journeys, and wrote long entries in a journal that they passed along with the shorts.  When one girl found five dollars lying in the road while wearing the shorts, they all agreed the shorts truly WERE magical.  It was a pretty special things for friends to do.

In our family, Kelsey wanted to read this book in 4th grade.  We were standing in a bookstore and she brought it to me.  Making one of those off the cuff parental decisions, I told her she couldn’t read it until she was in 6th grade.  I pretty much made that up other than I saw some of the girl’s in Kyle’s class reading it when they were in sixth grade.  The minute school was out at the end of 5th grade and Kelsey was “officially” a 6th grader, she wanted to buy the book.  Amazing how she could remember that one conversation over a year earlier and she can’t remember to feed the dog unless reminded.  Personally, I think she may have been too young.  I think this series is far more mature than the Twilight saga.  But I’ve learned my lesson, now when she asks for a book that is too mature for her, I tell her she can read it in college.  When she is old enough in high school, I’ll get the book for her and look like a good guy.

God, I love a good romance. A book’s just not satisfying to me unless there’s some kind of passionate coming-together in it of a man and a woman. My love of romance started with The Witch of Blackbird Pond and the manly, frequently annoyed sailor Nat, and continued on through Rhett and Scarlett, every Austen book (although only Emma and Pride and Prejudice REALLY satisfy) and Bronte of course-oh and don’t forget The Scarlet Pimpernel where Sir Percy is so freakin’ in love with his wife that he KISSES THE STAIRS where she walked-after being mean to her because he can’t let her know he loves her . . . Oh, GOD, it’s fantastic.

Excuse me a moment.

Cold water in the face. Okay. I’m better now.

The point is, I love that stuff. I eat it up. The smoldering, ultra-masculine hero, the woman he loves in spite of himself (very important-he has to love her SO MUCH that even though he knows better, he can’t tear himself away), the various complications and roadblocks, the intricate dance toward each other and then away again . . . and of course, most important of all, the final blissful realization that they can, do, and will love each other forever.

Sigh.

Best of all, the romances in these books mirror those in real life! I mean, they’re practically a mirror of the way people all around us meet, fall in love, and get married.

Note: I’m being sarcastic.

But you knew that.

I’ve been about as lucky in love as a girl can get. I’ve been married for almost twenty years to a man who’s kind, handsome, manly, smart, funny, loving to me and the kids . . . I could go on but he reads these posts and I don’t want him to start thinking that I’ll love him even if he doesn’t fix the water filter because that won’t work out well for any of us.

The point is, nothing about our courtship, marriage, or life together has been anything like the passionate, smoldering, “I hate you because I love you” (or is it “I love you because I hate you”?) romances you find in most novels.

We didn’t fight when we first met. We had a pleasant conversation. Later, he didn’t try to keep himself away from me, nor did he pursue me avidly. We got together a few times, mostly with other people around, and then we realized we liked each other a lot, and got together all the time, mostly without other people around.

There weren’t any real obstacles-I mean, I did have a boyfriend when we first met, but I broke up with him. Our families were all in favor of the relationship. There were no huge misunderstandings-a few arguments, a lot of wishing on my side that he worked shorter hours, different internal time clocks-but nothing that tore us painfully apart (so we could one day reunite passionately of course).

There was no smoldering on his part and no archness on mine. We made each other laugh and liked each other’s friends.

I could go on, but you get the point. He was no Mr. Darcy and I, sir, was no Elizabeth Bennet.

Life isn’t like it is in books and that’s truer about romance than anything else. I’m not sure why the romantic paradigm is so incredibly appealing to me and to most of the women and girls I know. Maybe it’s because it’s been around so long that we’re steeped in it before we’re even aware of it. Maybe it’s because women were economically so helpless in previous centuries that their ability to attract a man was the only power they had, so that became the pivot for stories women were likely to read. Maybe it’s something biological: we want monogamy for the sake of our offspring so we’re naturally responsive to anything that suggests lifelong devotion and passion can survive despite numerous obstacles and difficulites.

I don’t know. But as I watch my 11-year-old daughter tear through novel after novel, I find myself wondering how I can adequately explain to her that the romances she’s so enthralled by are fantasy, pure and simple, and that if she looks for a guy who angers and enthralls her, she’ll probably end up with an egotistical jerk, that she needs to find someone like her father who’s kind and intelligent in equal measure, and that a man who’s willing to take out the compost so you don’t have to is showing more genuine love and compassion than one who smolders with jealousy when you flirt with another man. Which you shouldn’t do in the first place. There are rules.

I don’t get a lot of women’s fashion and style magazines-much as I love them-because I don’t want my daughter to measure herself against a standard of beauty that’s unrealistic, manufactured, and has the potential to destroy her self-esteem. Should I also be guarding her against a standard of romance that’s unrealistic, manufactured and has the potential to destroy her ability to recognize real love when it stutters, stumbles, and fumbles its way toward her one day?

I can’t deny her the pleasure of reading the books I loved or of the ones she’s avidly pursuing on her own. (Or rather, I don’t want to: why deny her a pleasure that doesn’t involve illegal substances or huge amounts of sugar?) All I can do is keep reminding her that real men aren’t vampires with wild passions for teenage girls: they’re just the male equivalent of us-flawed, hopeful, searching, and easily wounded.

Fantasy is a wonderful way to escape and be entertained. But in real life, go for the guy whose face lights up when you walk into the room-even if you’re wearing old sweats and haven’t showered in a couple of days. I tell you, that’s worth more than all the manly smoldering and sardonic grins put together . . . .

Many Newberys are Wonderful, but not All

I am an Newbery Medal fan, mostly.  My daughter and I set a goal to read all of the Newbery Medal winners (see how I’m perfect for Reader’s Challenges) before she left elementary school and we made a decent go of it, until we were stopped dead cold by a few of the selections.  Now, I must admit, I’m a little suspicious of the award selections.  A Man Booker Prize winner I’ll pick up without hesitation, but a Newbery I’ll leaf through and read the description.  Some of the greatest children’s literature has won the award, but then there are the other years. 

Tackling Lifes Great Issues

Susan Patron, author of The Higher Power of Lucky and winner of the 2007 Newbery, wrote about some of the Newbery criticism in a recent Los Angeles Times article.  One issue is the seriousness of the topics of the books in recent winners– death, mental challenges such as autism, the absence of one or both parents.  But she points out that Newberys historically have always dealt with the hard aspects of life, when she was younger the issues were death, war, being torn from your family during an invasion and losing a beloved dog.  I believe one of the best ways to confront scary issues is through literature, life isn’t Disneyland and I want my kids to learn that step-by-step, not as one large shock when they leave home. 

While there is always a reason to discuss life, there is never a reason to do it in a boring manner.  Over years of picking books, clearly the Newbery Committee isn’t going to hit the mark every time, who remembers Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark, the winner of the Newbery the year Charlotte’s Web was an honoree?  But they have noted some jewels in the winner and the honoree category:  Old Yeller, Island of Blue Dolphins, My Side of the Mountain, The Door in the Wall, One Hundred Dresses, From the Mixed Up File of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Sounder, The Twenty-One Balloons, Mr. Poppin’s Penguins, Sounder, The Giver, Number the Stars.  As Ms. Patron points out, these books can change your life.

The 2009 Newbery Medal Winners

The American Library Association’s Newbery Committee evaluates all of the books published the preceding year for kids up to age 14 and picks the “author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in English in the United States.”  Each year, a new Newbery committee is formed of librarians from across the country.  My favorite librarian, Yapha Mason, served the year Louis Sachar won for Holes and loved the experience.  She described it as “the high point of my career as a librarian so far was serving on the 1999 Newbery committee. I loved reading through the hundreds of novels published that year and then debating their merits with other people who were just as passionate about great children’s literature as me. It gave me a lot of respect for the medal and its process.”  The lucky group of librarians who read this year’s books chose the following:

The Winner

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman - the tale of a boy who escaped assassination to be raised in a graveyard with ghosts from various centuries.  Although Neil Gaiman is well known for his graphic novels (see my experience), this is rather a novel with some illustrations by Dave McKean who has collaborated with Mr. Gaiman on several other books.  Listen to the NPR interview with Mr. Gaiman.  Read a review in the New York Times Book Review.

The Honorees

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt - an animal story with a pregnant cat, her resulting kittens, a hound dog and his advice to have the kittens underneath the porch of Gar-man, an embittered old man.  It’s described as a tale of love, loss, loneliness and hope that is likened to Shiloh and Old Yeller.

The Surrender Tree:  Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle – a book of free verse that tells the story of Cuba’s wars for independence from Spain.  The main character, Rosa, is a nurse who helps everyone–black, white, Cuban and Spanish.

Savvy by Ingrid Law - Each member of the Beaumont family has a “savvy,” a special magical power that arrives on his or her thirteenth birthday.  Two days before Mib’s thirteenth birthday, her father is ill and Mibs takes off on an adventurous bus ride to rescue him.

After Tupac & D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson - Three thirteen year old girls bond over adolescence and the lyrics of Tupac’s rap music.  D Foster joins two girls growing up in safe Queens and shows them another side of life along with the true meaning of Tupac’s music.  Just as swiftly as she joined them when Tupac was first shot, she leaves them just before he dies.

Thank you Robin for the image!

I recently found scores of reader’s challenges on the Internet, I’d never heard of them.  There is a reader’s challenge for everything:  short stories, WWII books, world citizen (history and politics), art history, graphic novels (Claire should join this one), RYOB (read your own books), essays, chick lit (everyone participating in this challenge should read Claire’s three fiction books), Notable books, chunkie books (books longer than 450 pages), young adult books, and many more.  Then it occurred to me, Claire and I could do the same thing.  I’m really excited about hosting our own challenge right here on Bookstore People.  So we’re announcing the Independent Bookstore Reader’s Challenge.  Claire’s a bit terrified about the prospect, but I’m confident she’ll love it. 

Challenge Guidelines

Here are the rules: go to independent bookstores that are new to you between January 1 and December 31, 2009 and have some sort of interaction.  The challenge comes with different levels you can sign up for:

• Scout – Visit 2 independent bookstores (easy!)
• Specialist – Visit 2 subject matter specialty bookstores (i.e., travel, children, cooking)
• Nationalist – Visit 2 independent bookstores and 1 additional bookstore in a state you do not live in
• Continental – Visit 2 independent bookstores and 1 additional bookstore in another N. American country (that would be the USA, Canada or Mexico)
• Globetrotter – Visit 2 independent bookstores and 1 additional bookstore on a different continent (if you’re going to Europe, check out Bookstore Guide)
• Type A Personality to the Max – Satisfy any two categories

We’ll have a page dedicated to the challenge where you can sign up and leave comments.  Plus, we’d love to have a review of the stores you’ve found and liked (we ignore stores with bad service or stock), we’ll post it with a description of you and a link back to your blog (if you have one), just e-mail it to me at kim@bookstorepeople.com.  In fact, we encourage cross posting bookstore reviews so post on your blog, Indiebound, Yelp, City Search, City Guide and any other place that would like it. 

We’ll Give out a Prize!

But wait, there’s even more, at the end of the year we’ll have a random drawing among everyone who satisfied their challenge for a gift certificate from BookSense.  What more could you want?  Sign up now and start exploring the wonderful world of independent bookstores.

C. Leigh Purtill is a YA writer whose novels have passed the Annie Test–my daughter would barely raise her head and acknowledge anyone’s existence while reading Leigh’s two wonderful books, Love, Meg and All About Vee.   Leigh also has a blog that you should check out.   She’s just a terrific, honest, and interesting writer.

Anyway, I figured who better to put together a list of great YA novels than a great YA novelist?  So here are Leigh’s top thirteen (for no particular reason–just the number we ended at) YA novel picks.  Some of them were written specifically for the YA readership; others were written for adults but really resonate with that age group.  All of them would be appreciated by the young adult in your life.

1.  GOOD ENOUGH by Paula Yoo – Korean-American overachiever, very funny and sweet.

2. IN YOUR ROOM by Jordanna Fraiberg – 2 teens fall in love through email when their families swap houses for the summer

3.  ALIVE AND WELL IN PRAGUE, NEW YORK by Daphne Grab – a teen whose father is suffering from Parkinson’s moves from Manhattan to a small town in upstate New York

4.  BOY PROOF by Cecil Castellucci – her earlier novel about a geeky teen girl who falls in love for the first time

5. SEEING EMILY by Joyce Lee Wong – a novel in verse about a Chinese-American teen girl in Virginia

(Leigh points out that the following books are edgier than the preceding ones, so caveat emptor.)

6. QUAD by CG Watson – a school shooting told Rashomon-style

7. LIVING DEAD GIRL by Elizabeth Scott – a teen who was kidnapped as a 10 year old is now 15 and is “scouting” for her replacement – a harrowing and heartbreaking story

8.  WICKED LOVELY by Melissa Marr – an urban fantasy about a girl who can see faeries (not your typical Tinkerbell-types…)

9.  SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson, if not a classic, then destined to be one. Anderson won an NBA for her current novel.

10.  WICKED by Gregory Maguire, this book is far superior to the Broadway musical and is thought-provoking and topical.

11.  THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME  by Mark Haddon.  The narrator, who has Asperger’s syndrome, tells a story that is both funny and poignant.  [Note from Claire: as a parent of a kid on the spectrum, I found this novel incredibly believable, compelling, and moving.  Buy it for the adults in your life, too.]

12. THE LOVELY BONES by Alice Sebold, a story told by the victim of a violent crime from the afterlife.

13.  A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY by John Irving, my very favorite of all of his books.