Time for the LA Times

Nancy has been appointed as a judge on the Young Adult Literature Panel for the 2012 and 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes.  She was a nominee a few years ago -- our flight to LA marked the first time we traveled together -- and it was a blast, so she's looking forward to being involved once again.

Besides, she loves the judging.  For the 2012 prize, awarded for titles published this year, she'll be working alongside librarians Angelina Benedetti of Seattle and Rollie Welch from Cleveland.  More precisely, she'll be working alongside me, here on the couch, as she devours one book after the other.

Impossible is Lincoln nominee

Impossible has been nominated for the 2013 Abraham Lincoln Award, sponsored by the Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA). It's awarded annually to the author of the book voted as most outstanding by high school students in Illinois, and is designed to familiarize students with the young adult genre and to encourage them to read for personal satisfaction.

Among the list of nominees are just four titles singled about by the Student Reader Panel, and Impossible is one of those favored four.

RPG, anyone?

We ran across this one recently, combining Impossible with Harry Potter.  Fan-fiction role-playing games are the sincerest form of flattery...

What do we hear for our favorite YA writer?

You can earn a personal appearance from Nancy to speak to your group, and she'll also bring you six signed copies of one of her books. All you have to do is make the winning bid on an internet auction in support of the Zamir Chorale here in Boston.

If you're not in the Boston area, you can still bid, and Nancy will meet with your group via phone or Skype.

What do we hear?

Nancy on the Novel at NESCBWI

The New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators will be holding its spring conference at the Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place in Springfield, Massachusetts this weekend from Friday, April 20, through Sunday, April 22.

On Sunday Nancy will be joining fellow authors Sarah Aronson and Carolyn Coman in offering The Novel Academy, designed to help New England writers work on e.g. characters and story.

The Novel Academy is full up, but it's not too late to join the conference...

Adaptations

The continued survival of our species suggests that adaptation is a good thing. But Nancy and others are here to tell you that's not always the case, in this Salon article on the good, the bad, and the potential of book-to-movie adaptations.

It's raining Nancy

Hey, guess what? Nancy is up in the cloud, and three of her books -- Extraordinary, Impossible, and The Rules of Survival -- have precipitated out in the form of ebooks. Now you can carry all three titles with you wherever you go. Get your copies from Amazon, BN.com, or your favorite indie bookstore -- wherever ebooks are sold.

It occurred to me today that it's only a matter of time before the general public catches on to the fact that ebooks are greener than hard copies, and the former become positively fashionable. (Wake me if this has already happened.) For now the paper purists still seem to hold the upper hand. The good news is that now you can decide, and you can enjoy Nancy's stuff in whichever form you prefer.