Special Holiday BONUS Edition: Featured Title Redux and NYC Host End-of-Year Roundup!

Hi all! I hope that everyone's enjoying a relaxing holiday season and looking forward to all good things in the New Year!

Mondays at Readergirlz are Featured Title day, but today's Featured Title is actually an encore presentation of Little Willow's December Community Service Spotlight. Read all about it here, and check out YES YOU CAN: Your Guide to Becoming an Activist for information on getting started with your own community service outreach. 'Tis the season, after all!

In other news, some of you eagle-eyed readers may have noticed that since taking on my role as Author Liaison here, I've slipped a bit in my duties as NYC Host. If only there were two of me, or twice as many hours in a day! But no matter; the end of the year is the perfect time, in my humble opinion, to catch up on all of the recent goings on about town in my very busy city. Bear with me - it's been hectic....

In October, I attended the NYPL's Teen Author Reading Night at Jefferson Market, featuring, among others, Samantha Schutz reading from her new verse novel, You Are Not Here. Later that month I attended Sam's book release party (along with fellow diva Melissa), where I got to hear her read again, this time with the bonus thrill of snacks! Here's a shot of Sam and Brother Dave, another of my fave YA-types, with good reason, toasting YANH at Book Court in Brooklyn.

I was also given a sneak peek at the cover reveal for Sweet Valley Confidential, a follow-up to the ever-popular Sweet Valley High series which I've talked about with you all before. Two months later, I don't know that this can still be considered a "reveal," but if you want to keep up with the Wakefield twins before their release this spring, head on over to the site and sign up for news and updates! Team Elizabeth! Team Jessica! Team Sweet Valley!

In November, I was off to Books of Wonder to hear a panel of National Book Award Finalists read. That's my former workshop advisor/eternal mentor and inspirer-of-awe, Rita Williams Garcia, holding court, and running down the line, you might recognize such literary heavyweights as Paolo Bacigalupi, Walter Dean Myers, and Katheryn Erskine (who took home the medal for Mockingbird).

Which brings us to December at last! Brother Dave and I kicked off the month at Temple Emanu El in Edison, NJ, where we held a talk about our novel, So Punk Rock, as part of their Jewish Book Month celebration and book fair. The participants were super-enthusiastic (and very well-read), and Dave and I had a blast!

Meanwhile, authoress extraordinaire Judy Goldschmidt has officially been dubbed Lady Literati. She's now got a column on Miss Literati where she's answering all of your questions about writing! Swing by, say hello, and take a listen to what she has to say. Full disclosure: Miss J. has, in her day, edited yours truly, so I speak from experience when I wax rhapsodic about her editorial prowess.

And finally finally, my dear friend and the original Creative Girl herself, Katharine Sise, held a reading from her career guide for sassy gals like all of us, Creative Girl. I adore Katharine and her message of creativity so much that we've featured her before, so if you haven't checked her (or her gorgeous jewelry designs) out yet, now's the time!

Phew! Well, that's it for me! Have a wonderful New Year's - read something good! - and next week, come back for our regularly scheduled Featured Title post.

Happy happy happy, readergirlz!