Guest Blog: Cecil Castellucci

In July 2009, we featured The Plain Janes written by Cecil Castellucci - art by Jim Rugg - as our main pick at readergirlz. (Please check out the Art Saves project we did, which was inspired by The Plain Janes.) This month, the postergirlz selected Cecil Castellucci's novel Beige to be one of the books recommended alongside May's main pick, Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee. I recently caught up with Cecil and asked her to share with us what's new with her. Without any further ado, here's Cecil!

Hello readergirlz!

It's nice to be back to say hello! I've been getting ready to launch my new YA novel, Rose Sees Red (Scholastic, August 2010), and my first picture book, Grandma's Gloves (Candlewick Press, August 2010).

I hope you have been having a lot of fun with the fantastic Lisa Yee! Her book Absolutely, Maybe is a perfect Los Angeles book. I loved Maybe and her journey, her hair, her friends, her spirit, and her tacos!

I was so excited to be a read-alike because Beige is also a book about Los Angeles. Lisa and I clearly both love our city and I think that in both of our books, the city is one of the characters as well. Clearly Hollywood has a certain magic to it. And both Maybe and Beige feel totally hopeless and this city gives them a tiny light to go on. That's the great thing about Los Angeles, or any place that makes and gets you dreaming. Hope.

I have had moments of hopelessness and despair and it is terrible. I have always felt that anything that can get you dreaming again is a lifeline. The thing about hope is that all you need is a little bit of it. Just to get you to the next moment, and the next, until suddenly, instead of floating on an ocean of despair, you are standing on an island. And the sun is out. And there is a coconut to eat. And you can breathe and recollect.

I think books are good entry ways to finding hope. So get reading! And remember, hope is always there to love you. It's right there, even when you think it's not. Swears-y.

~ Cecil Castellucci