You're missing

" Coffee cups on the counter, jackets on the chair
Papers on the doorstep, you're not there
Everything is everything
Everything is everything
But you're missing" -
-- Bruce Springsteen

Man's World

For those of you with access to Novelist, my October column"Man's World" is up. In these five young adult novels, male teenage protagonists struggle with the most basic of questions: what is it to be a man? The books are:

• Bang! By Sharon Flake
• Head Lock by Joyce Sweeney
  
• King Dork by Frank Portman
• Storky by Debra Garfinkle
• Rooftop by Paul Volponi

"got a wife and kids in baltimore"

Thanks to the good folks at Baltimore County Public Library, in particular the big Fish, Jim for hosting me this week.

Wages of Sin

Things Change is featued in new article "Inexcusable: Rape and Dating Violence in Teen Fiction" by Tom Reynolds on the Novelist database. .

The Hitter

Core Collection: Sports Books for Reluctant Teen Readers. Article in September 1, 2006 issue of Booklist.

Youngstown (and other Ohio Cities)

Things Change has been nominated for the Teen Buckeye Book Award. The Teen Buckeye Book Award program is designed to encourage students in Ohio to read literature critically, to promote teacher and librarian involvement in young adult literature programs, and to commend authors of such literature. The Teen Buckeye Book Award catagory was added to the existing Buckeye Children's Book Award in 2003.

Red-Headed Woman (at least in this picture)

The shoterst, and in someway most satisfying review, of Nailed from the rebel librarian.