Links of Note

I've found I love doing these posts -- they're a little all over in terms of content, but I tend to like reading across topics, so I hope other people find these as interesting to read through as I do.

• Let's start light. Here are some child-friendly computer books. Be warned that label is a bit of a misnomer but there is plenty of good computer humor to go around.

• Do you keep track of what books have been optioned for film? The LA Times ran a story with a bunch of new YA titles recently optioned. I bet you'll recognize many of the titles (and maybe groan at a few). 

• Related to that, there's a nice interview in SLJ with literary manager Eddie Gamarra about the process of turning children's books into movies. 

• New blog alert! Sarah Flowers and her son Mark have put together a blog based on the concept of their generation gap -- how do they read YA books and share them with one another? What are their similar and different perspectives on YA librarianship? This looks like a blog to watch. If their names sound familiar, it's because they're both heavily involved in YALSA.

• From Flavorwire, a look at the first edition covers of 25 classic novels. I love how simple and clean most of them are and it's interesting to see which images are still the iconic ones associated with certain titles (like Gatsby). 

• The resident YA expert at The Atlantic writes about the way online critics have been given a hard time when it comes to reviews, including a rehash of the Emily Giffin debacle. I will say this: I've noticed a huge change in tone for review/response in the last year and behavior among bloggers and authors. That's part of why I've had a hard time reviewing this year. It's always a weird risk, as silly as it sounds. I should be used to it having done this for 3.5 years, but it seems tensions are higher than ever now and sometimes the risk isn't worth it for me. 

• What kind of reader are you? The Atlantic has a guide to define your type. I read through all of the types listed on that page and I didn't fit any of the descriptions. But lucky for me, there is another page of reader types here. I would call myself a mix of Hopelessly Devoted, The Critic, and The Sharer. Maybe also a bit of an "it's complicated" reader, though I'm not a Pisces, thank you very much. I am a balanced, variety-seeking Libra.

• Is this the year of the infographic? Here are a ton of library-related infographics that have made an appearance this year.  Bonus: tools for making your own infographic -- this will be particularly helpful for a little project I'm working on (tease!)

• How many Norton Anthologies clutter your book shelves? Between my husband and I -- both of us were English majors in college -- we have more than one shelf of these door stoppers. Did you know the Norton turned 50 this year? Check out the story behind the anthologies.  If you're wondering, my favorite Norton is my Postmodern American Fiction edition (it's portable, not too heavy, and contains amazing postmodern work. . . my favorite kind of lit).   

• The Horn Book has a fascinating story about font choices and picture books worth reading. If you get a print version of the magazine, I also suggest spending some time reading "Whitney and Me" in the September/October edition. It's a great story about work-for-hire writing and about how the author's perspective of writing that way changed when charged with writing a biography of Whitney Houston. It's not on the website yet, unfortunately. 

• Another story from The Atlantic, and this one is on "cross-unders," or books published YA that have adult appeal. These are all fall releases. Can I just say I hate the term "cross-under?" I don't know what it is but it makes me feel uncomfortable. Why can't it just be cross-overs? Why under? 

• Want a good laugh? Here's a list of a bunch of funny books by reading preferences. Source is a little suspect to me, but the lists look pretty solid. 

• I love this blog post over at The Readventurer so much -- a metric ton of YA novels at 220 pages or fewer. I love shorter YA novels, so I plan on checking out a ton of the ones on the list that I've overlooked. 

• Razorbill UK just made a deal with self-published author Tammara Webber to publish a number of her books traditionally.  Of interest to me in this story are a few things: it's another self-published author (and one doing really well if you pay attention to rankings) choosing to go with a traditional publisher and what caught Razorbill UK's attention was her "new adult" novel. I have feelings about that label -- it's adult and there's no shame about it -- but I found the publisher's discussion of how this is a new trend worth looking into interesting. That's basically the opposite of the reaction in the US, isn't it? 

• You should go ask Courtney Summers a bunch of really tough questions over at the YA Book Club Group on Goodreads. Also, I don't normally link to other contests around the web, but she's giving away 4 books coming out this fall that I've read and approve of: Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Through to You by Emily Hainsworth, Yesterday by CK Kelly Martin, and Send Me A Sign by Tiffany Schmidt. Go enter here -- and yes, you will see reviews of all of these books on STACKED soon.  

• Still on the fence about Kid Lit Con? Betsy Bird has posted the entire schedule on her blog, and you should read it and be convinced to go. You saw Maureen Johnson is the keynote speaker, right? Because I'm pretty excited about that. 

• Ever dreamed of having your book design dreams become a reality? Simon and Schuster are looking for the next look for Ray Bradbury's classic Fahrenheit 451 to commemorate it's 60th anniversary. Details here! 

And that's a wrap! But before I sign off on this post, I'm curious: are there things that are of interest worth sharing in bi-weekly link roundups? Would you be interested in links to contests on other blogs or venues for books we dig? Non-book news that catches our eyes? I don't know about anyone else, but I read a ton of different blogs and collect a lot of different, interesting pieces and wonder about what other people would be interested in seeing. Drop a line in the comments -- or privately via email -- with any suggestions or thoughts you have. Ninety-nine percent of what I blog is what I want to blog about; this is the one percent where I'd be happy to tailor it a bit to what readers might be interested in!