Read Alert

If there’s one thing that YA authors don’t talk much about, it’s politics. Even when sex, drugs and rock n roll are okay, politics is still considered a no-no. Irresponsible, somehow.

This year it’s different. Here’s Scott Westerfeld:

Since we’ve started YA for Obama, a few folks have asked, “How dare we?” As in, how dare we muddy our special duties as tribunes of youth with something as icky as politics.

We answer: “But our books are all about sexuality, racism, the future, who’s got money and who hasn’t, and figuring out your place in the world. What could be more political than that?”

They say: “Yeah, but those are all pleasantly fuzzy moral issues, which teens should be thinking about. But YA for Obama is about real politics—like, it contains the names of actual politicians. And that’s just too . . . specific!”

YA for Obama is a social network for authors of Young Adult literature, and their readers. It provides information about the candidates, strategies for helping out, and opinion essays from authors such as Judy Blume, Scott Westerfeld, Meg Cabot, John Green, Lauren Myracle, Cecil Castellucci, Sara Zarr, Gossip Girl’s Cecily von Zeigasar and Maureen Johnson, the mastermind behind the site.

The idea behind the site is - just because you’re under 18, doesn’t mean you can’t make a difference. And it seems to be working. The site has nearly 1300 members, all contributing tips and strategies, from transporting seniors and people without cars to polling booths on election day, to letter-writing campaigns, to (shock horror) talking to your family about how they will use their vote.

(for those who are curious: yes, there is a YA for McCain. It has five members.)

Tomorrow we launch the toolkit for boys, blokes, books & bytes. Followers of Read Alert and CYL will know that we run pilot programs in a couple of Victorian schools. The toolkit, prepared by Erin Ritchie, draws on that experience to set out a model and ways of working that encourage boys’ participation in reading for enjoyment.

Glyn Davis, the vice chancellor of Melbourne University will launch the publication.

Archie Fusillo will also be here to talk about his adventures in reading and writing for boys.

The launch event is in Experimedia at the State Library of Victoria, 6pm to 7pm.

Meanwhile, the BBBB blog has had a timely makeover. Thanks to Erin, Byron and Heath.

We have some lovely Inkys Shortlist flyers… if anyone would like a bundle for their school/library/bookshop, just let me know.

Ned Beauman over at the Guardian blog has a fascinating article on Minx, an imprint of the powerhouse DC Comics. Minx aimed to capture some of the growing audience on the middle path between manga and traditional teenage girl fiction. Cool idea, but after four titles, DC have pulled the pin. It’s a cautionary tale for publishers looking to capture the mainstream market. And a fascinating slice of the world of Japanese comics. Or maybe it’s a lesson in the way large corporations misread subcultural styles.

I am something of a GN-sceptic, at least where publishing for teens is concerned. The Minx experience shows just how hard this kind of book is to create. More successful, I think, are those novels that break down the barriers between traditional novel and illustrated work. Books like Shaun Tan’s Tales From Outer Suburbia and Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which I am starting to see in the shops now.

I have just come back from six days in Fremantle. And although they have the internet and newspapers (sort of), I have only now discovered the winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. It ’s Patrick Ness for The Knife of Never Letting Go, an exciting and original novel about a boy’s journey into the wilderness.

You can hear Patrick Ness speaking about The Knife of Never Letting Go, about children’s literature today and that little kerfuffle raised by Frank Cottrell Boyce on the Guardian news site.

The second of the trilogy, The Ask And The Answer, is due for release in May 2009. Bring it on!

Fans of the controversial picture book And Tango Makes Three will be saddened to learn that male penguins Silo and Roy have ended their 10 year relationship.

In a move worthy of the tabloids, Silo has taken up with a lady-penguin, and Roy is spending his a lot of time staring sadly at a wall.

More here.

It was a big weekend for youth literature in the nation’s newspapers.

First, Rosemary Neill in The Australian has this feature, triggered by debate over Requiem for a Beast, Matt Ottley’s CBCA prize wining picture book.

Increasingly, it seems the protective membrane that once delineated adult from young adult subject matter is disappearing.

Then the Sunday Age ran a story, not online unfortunately, about the role graphic novels can play in keeping teenagers reading. The article featured South Australian teacher Meghan Cromie, who will be a guest speaker at CYL’s professional development session early in 2009, when we look at how classrooms can integrate the graphic novel…We tipped off the newspaper, in case you were wondering.

Then Andy Griffiths bobs up in the Sunday Age to talk Just Macbeth, his collaboration with Bell Shakespeare. (In Melbourne until 5 October, then in Sydney).

Reflecting on what children like to read Andy said: “It’s not their job to read my books, it’s my job to interest them.” Hear, hear!

You can hear more from Andy Griffiths at a public forum on children’s literacy and how to improve conditions organised by Deakin University. The event is at St Michael’s Church, 120 Collins Street, Melbourne, Tuesday 14 October at 6pm. Talks will be recorded for broadcast later on ABC Radio National’s Life Matters. For further information contact Sue Brown at Deakin, (03) 5227 2006.

Five of the six Inkys Judges this year named The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as one of their favourite funny books. And Penguin Books and Douglas Adams’ widow Jane Belsin are still waving the towel, and have just commissioned Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer to write the sixth book in the series, And Another Thing…

More Here.

An American teacher wonders out loud about what turns teenager readers off. Which is a painful thing to contemplate.

Meanwhile in Brisbane, more awards for Matt Otley’s Requiem for a Beast.

And we have already received some brilliantly clever entries for the Inkys Creative Reading Prize. This is a chance for readers to respond to any of the twenty books on the Inkys longlist. The Creative Reading Prize is open until October 27, when voting on the shortlist closes.

And finally poet, writer and teacher Sheryl Clark is out and about researching for future projects. You can follow Sheryl’s progress here. Le sigh.

The Shortlist is up and Voting is open for the 2008 Inky Awards!