It seems to be Guest Post Season, or something. We’ve got Tony Cliff–author of the new and adventuresome and visually stunning graphic novel Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant–stopping by with some words of wisdom next Wednesday. And, while I have been sadly lax in posting to my own blogs, I have in fact been reasonably prolific in doing a couple of guest posts of my own: a Dear Teen Me letter (complete with embarrassing photos), as well as a WOW Wednesday post over on Adventures in YA Publishing in which I attempt to explain advice from my college figure drawing professor and why it’s been so important to my writing endeavors. (I think it mostly makes sense, but you be the judge…)
So that’s it for tooting my own horn. (I always feel weird about shameless self-promotion, but that’s where my blogging has been, so…) Anyway, on to tooting horns for other people. First up is Leila, over at Bookshelves of Doom, who put together an awesome master list of book recommendation engines. Go check it out. If you’re the sort of person who needs help deciding on your next read, maybe one of these will be for you.
Or maybe you prefer booklists if you’re looking for reading? NPR put together the Ultimate Backseat Bookshelf featuring 100 must-read titles for readers aged 9-14. The committee of deciders included fellow blogger and kidlitosphere luminary Travis Jonker of 100 Scope Notes, so rest assured it was no panel of effete 
non-kidlit individuals. (Also included were authors Linda Sue Park and Rita Williams-Garcia.) No wonder there are a lot of my personal faves on the list…The Phantom Tollbooth…Bunnicula…The Wolves of Willoughby Chase…James and the Giant Peach…and on and on. SIGH. Now I have some serious re-reading to do…
Lastly, the Cybils are still accepting applications for panelists, so if you’re an active kidlit/YA blogger and want to be involved in a REALLY FUN book award, go sign up!
Geez, way to be busy post-jet lag! Check you out with your adorkable high school pictures (all ridiculously flattering. Where is the justice in that?!). I love the DEAR TEEN ME thing a great deal, but I think I would have had to write teen me a book.
Hm…
I kind of wish I'd signed up for a later Dear Teen Me slot now–one of my close friends from high school just mailed me a batch of notes I'd written her around 9th/10th grade, which she'd recently unearthed from somewhere. It was like a glimpse into a totally different person in the sense that I didn't remember writing ANY of them.
But, now you have secret novel fodder…