Elizabeth Fama's Blog, page 5

YALSA The Hub's 2013 Reading Challenge

I'm a little late to the party! I just discovered that, as an Odyssey award winner, Monstrous Beauty is included on the list of eligible titles for the 2013 YALSA The Hub Reading Challenge.

The challenge runs from February 3 through June 22, with rewards if you finish 25 of the 83 eligible titles. What a great way for YALSA to encourage people to read their award winners and 2013 Best of the Best lists. Well played!

Aw, Thanks, Macmillan!

My mother-in-law stumbled on this ad in The New York Times last Monday (2/4/2013) and saved it for me. It was in the Arts section:

It's a shout-out to all the 2013 Youth Media Award winners from Macmillan, including Monstrous Beauty (bottom left). Thanks, Macmillan! You're so sweet.

Another YALSA nod!

I'm so happy that YALSA selected Monstrous Beauty for it's Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults 2013 list! The list covers two years, and includes twenty-eight fiction titles and two non-fiction titles.

Congratulations to all the winners, to my wonderful narrator, Katherine Kellgren, to Macmillan Audio...and to me!

Powell's in March!

Six MacTeens authors are banding together for an exciting one-day reunion at Powell's Bookstore in Oregon! It promises to be a raucous party, and we hope you'll join us!

Where: Powell's at Cedar Hills Crossing, Beaverton, OR (Portland)

When: Wednesday, March 13, 7 PM- 9 PM

What: Not just your ordinary panel, we'll be having quizzes, prizes, refreshments, and swag galore. And a lottery! One lucky reader will win a tote bag full of our signed books!

Why: To reunite a bunch of Macmillan YA authors who grew to be friends on tour, and to make friends with YOU.

Who: This is the exciting part:

Ann Aguirre ~~ Enclave, Outpost, and forthcoming HordeJennifer Bosworth ~~ StruckJessica Brody ~~ 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, and UnrememberedMe! (P-p-p-piglet!) ~~ Monstrous Beauty, and forthcoming Plus OneLish McBride ~~ Hold Me Closer Necromancer, and Necromancing the StoneMarissa Meyer ~~ Cinder, Scarlet, and forthcoming Cress

Another Honor: Best Fiction For Young Adults

Well, Gorblimey, I'm having a rewarding week! Monstrous Beauty was included on YALSA's 2013 Best Fiction for Young Adults list. This is about as prestigious an honor as I could get. I'm so thrilled and grateful. Congratulations to all of my colleagues on the list!

From YALSA's web site:

"Each year, YALSA presents the Best Fiction for Young Adults list after ALA's Midwinter Meeting. This year’s list of 102 books was drawn from 200 official nominations. The books, recommended for ages 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens. The list comprises a wide range of genres and styles, including contemporary realistic fiction, fantasy, horror, science fiction and novels in verse.

'I am very proud of the hard work, patience and dedication each committee member took this year in selecting the 2013 BFYA list,' said Chair Ted Schelvan. 'After much deliberation and discussion, our final list is comprised of books a library can be proud to add to their Young Adult collection.'”

Odyssey Honor Award!

Pretend that sticker is silver, will you?Monstrous Beauty won an award today! It earned an Odyssey Honor Award for excellence in audiobook production. The producer is Macmillan Audio, and the narrator is Katherine Kellgren. When I asked Macmillan whether Katy could be the narrator, I knew that she would throw herself into researching the pilgrim dialects and the Scottish accent. She did all that and more: she interpreted the mermaid language by studying porpoise and whale sounds; she listened to recordings of gulls to reproduce their calls; she spoke with a Wampanoag native person to double-check the pronunciation of the Wampanoag vocabulary. I felt so lucky to have her at the mic!

I'm deeply grateful that she and Macmillan got the recognition they deserve. Thank you, Odyssey Committee. Thank you, Macmillan Audio. Thank you, Katy. And thanks to Sara Crowe, for bringing Monstrous Beauty into the light of day to begin with.

Oops! And here are all the YA audiobooks that were granted an Odyssey Award today. Congratulations to everyone!


WinnerThe Fault in Our Stars written by John Green and narrated by Kate Rudd (Brilliance Audio)Honor Books
• Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian written by Eoin Colfer and narrated by Nathaniel Parker (Listening Library)
• Ghost Knight written by Cornelia Funke and narrated by Eliot Hill (Listening Library)
• Monstrous Beauty written by Elizabeth Fama and narrated by Katherine Kellgren (Macmillan Audio)

Italian-American

I'm sloooowly researching a historical novel set in Italy. I wish I spoke Italian. Luckily, my mother-in-law is a professional translator, and she has agreed to take notes on some of the more remote primary sources I'm interested in (mostly letters).

On the plus side, I'm genetically 100% Italian. I hope that counts for something. These characters will be in my blood, right?

I could show you my family tree, but this is all the proof you need.

The Fama Family

End-of-Year Accolades for Monstrous Beauty

I had the honor of making it onto several online "Best of 2012" lists at the end of the year, so I thought I'd list them here. My deepest thanks to each of these bloggers, web sites, and authors. The endorsement of passionate readers is the best award I could ever get. It was a thrill to discover each one.


Marissa Meyer -- My Top 10 Favorite Reads of 2012. (MB is in the #3 spot. *faints*) The Midnight Garden -- Our Favorite Books Published in 2012. (MB is one of both Wendy Darling's and K's top seven books of the year.) Picture Me Reading Book Club -- Best of 2012. (Andrew voted for MB for Most Satisfying Ending, Best Supporting Character [Eleanor], and Best Read of 2012.)Stacked -- 2012 in Review. (MB is one of Kimberly's favorite historical novels of 2012.)Bending the Spine -- Rebecca's Favorites of 2012. (MB is one of only eleven books chosen.)Stalking the Bookshelves -- Best in Books: End of Year Survey. (Both Carrie and Shannon list MB as the book they recommended the most to people in 2012.)Bookshelvers Anonymous -- Best in Books: End of Year Survey. (MB wins the category "Most Unputdownable Book of 2012" and gets honorable mention for "Most Surprising [In a Good Way!]".)Teen Librarian Toolbox -- These Are a Few of My Favorite Reads. (MB shares the category of "Literary Masterpiece" with Jodi Lynn Anderson's Tiger Lily.) Booknerd Canada -- Best in Books: End of Year Survey. (MB shares "Best Book of 2012" status with Tahereh Mafi's Unravel Me.)Oops! I Read a Book Again -- Top 10 Books I've Read in 2012. (MB is in the #6 spot.)Carrie Mesrobian -- Favorite Fiction of 2012. (MB is #3 out of 19.)Katy Upperman -- The Class of 2012 YA Superlatives BlogFest (Villain You Love to Hate, Favorite Paranormal.)Rebecca Behrens -- The Class of 2012 YA Superlatives BlogFest (Most Envy-Inducing Plot, Favorite Historical Fiction/Genre Bender, Sleeper Hit [Book You Found So Awesome You Wish it Had Been Hyped More]YALSA's The Hub -- America's Next Top Book Cover: Season 2012.Short and Sweet Reviews -- Top 10 Book Covers of 2012. 

Dear Philomel, is it too late to change this?

This book just came out on October 1st from Peachtree Press. It got a star from Publishers Weekly, and my friend Kendall (a judge for the Cybils this year) has given it a glowing review. As soon as Kendall gets back from her holiday trip, I get to read it.



Now this book (below) is slated to come out from Philomel on July 11, 2013. It sounds like a lot of fun (Ranma 1/2 meets physics) and I wish the author all good things, but...really, Philomel? You're giving a YA novel exactly the same title as another YA novel, a mere eight months after the first was released? 


Granted, Stephen Hawking has a book with the title The Theory of Everything, but it's non-fiction, and it has a subtitle: The Origin and Fate of the Universe. Lisa Grunwald also has a novel by that name, but it's adult, and it was published eleven years ago. Kari Luna's book is YA, and from the description, it seems like it will appeal to the same readers as J.J. Johnson's book. This is going to make word-of-mouth advertising pretty darn confusing. 
And so I'm wondering, Philomel: is it too late to change the title of Ms. Luna's book?  

It's Time to Vote for the Nerdies!

It's time to vote for the Nerdies. I think I've told you all how much getting this award would mean to me. If it was one of your top 5 favorite young-adult novels of 2012, I would be ever so grateful if you'd vote for it (you get to vote for 5 books in each category). Plus, there are so many other fun books to vote for this year. The ballot closes on Saturday, December 22nd. Please, please, please, and thank you, thank you, thank you. Vote here.