Dusti Bowling writes layered stories for middle graders
Dusti Bowling's latest, Across the Desert, is about 12-year-old Jolene who sets out into the Arizona desert to save the downed...
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- Feb 17, 2022
- 2 min
I fell in love with Phil Stamper's "Golden Boys"
I don't know where to start with Golden Boys! There's simply too much to say — from that delightful cover to the four main characters who...
- Feb 11, 2022
- 2 min
I freaking loved "These Witches Don't Burn" by Isabel Sterling
These Witches Don't Burn (affiliate link) is not just the first in a duology by Isabel Sterling — it's a queer contemporary witch story...
- Feb 8, 2022
- 3 min
The muse is a fickle being: on creativity when inspiration isn't there
I've got a list of books to write at least 17 strong. They're all collected in a nice notion page with cute little sub-pages for each...
- Feb 4, 2022
- 2 min
"Tokyo Ever After" by Emiko Jean is a Masterful Modern Fairy Tale
Tokyo Ever After, a YA contemporary by Emiko Jean, takes all the best parts of The Princess Diaries, shifts them to Japan, throws in a...
- Feb 1, 2022
- 3 min
Watching "Dumplin'" reminded me to love myself first
I read Dumplin' in 2016 and the book was so beautiful, so revolutionary to me at the time, that I wrote about my feelings on the book for...
- Jan 28, 2022
- 3 min
Book Talk: "When You Get the Chance" by Emma Lord | Jan. 2022
I've been obsessed with Emma Lord' writing since she bounded onto the YA scene in 2020 with her debut Tweet Cute. I loved her second...
- Jan 21, 2022
- 3 min
The precarious magic of life & writing
Last week I started my MFA program, and after six workshops on magic systems and real-life magic, it occurred to me that there's a magic...
- Jan 8, 2022
- 2 min
Book Talk: "When We Were Them" by Laura Taylor Namey | Jan. 2022
Laura Taylor Namey, y'all. I have read two of her books so far and each of them was emotional and gorgeous in its own way. Today I need,...
- Dec 31, 2021
- 4 min
Reading & Writing Goals for 2022!
In 2021, I read close to 70 books, wrote two new novel-length stories, queried twice, applied (and got into) grad school for my MFA in...
- Dec 17, 2021
- 3 min
I'm getting my MFA: some hopes and dreams
If you didn't know, now you know: I'm starting an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults in January! I'll be joining a...
- Dec 3, 2021
- 2 min
Book Talk: "If This Gets Out" by Sophie Gonzales & Cale Dietrich | December 2021
Picture this: you're one of the stars of America's most popular boy band, and you've got a massive crush on one of your bandmates. The...
- Nov 26, 2021
- 3 min
I'm grateful for books in 2021
What a year 2021 has been. I don't know where to start? There have been intensely great things about this year — I traveled to California...
- Nov 13, 2021
- 3 min
Book Talk: "Our Violent Ends" by Chloe Gong | November 2021
The perfect companion to Our Violent Ends is, in my humble opinion, the recently released Red (Taylor's Version). This is because both...
- Nov 5, 2021
- 3 min
Sonia Hartl's new book is the YA vampire revenge story of my dreams: an interview
Sonia Hartl has been writing seriously for publication since 2005, when she penned her first novel. Like many writers, her journey to...
- Oct 22, 2021
- 3 min
Book Talk: "So Many Beginnings" by Bethany C. Morrow | October 2021
I am unabashedly in love with the Little Women universe created by Louisa May Alcott. I'm in love with the movie adaptations, although I...
- Oct 15, 2021
- 3 min
Book Talk: "A Clash of Steel" by C.B. Lee | October 2021
Have you ever had the experience of reading a book and even long after you finish it, the story lives RENT-FREE in your head? Just...you...
- Oct 9, 2021
- 2 min
Margaret Owen Speaks About "Little Thieves" And The Value of Drawing for a Writer
Little Thieves is about a conwoman who trades lives with a princess and is eventually cursed to turn into jewels if she doesn't break the...
- Sep 24, 2021
- 4 min
Shanna Miles on Writing Black Love and Her YA Romance "For All Time"
Shanna Miles has been a reader as long as she can remember, describing stories as her "happy place" through childhood and into adulthood....
- Sep 17, 2021
- 2 min
Book Talk: On "Bad Girls Never Say Die" by Jennifer Mathieu | September 2021
It's pitched as a gender-bent The Outsiders, which would probably mean a lot more to me if I'd read The Outsiders before picking up...
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