What's New with Meg Cabot

From the Desk of

Meg Cabot

Dear Readergirlz,

 

Happy Birthday! Wow, I can’t believe it’s been SEVEN years!  You’ve blown me away by all the work you’ve done promoting literacy (especially female-centric literacy) since I last chatted with you (about my YA stand-alone, How To Be Popular).

Since then, I’ve introduced readers to several new YA and adult series (including new installments in my Heather Wells mysteries series!), as well as my first series for middle grade readers, Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls.

This seems hard to believe, too, but 2015 will be the 15th anniversary of my first YAs ever, The Princess Diaries and The Mediator: Shadowland. Time sure does fly. I like to think that those series (like your site) helped do their part to spark the current surge in popularity of YA (especially female-centric YA)!

So since 2007, I’ve also been focused on giving back to my readers all around the world, not just with books, but by contributing my income from a number of anthologies to benefit organizations like Reading is Fundamental, UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency), and the public libraries of New York City. I also donated all my proceeds from the novel Ransom My Heart by Mia Thermopolis, Princess of Genovia (with a little help from me!) to Greenpeace.  You can read all about it here.

Anyway, like I said, keep up the great work, Readergirlz, and happy birthday! May you have many, many more.

Love,

Meg Cabot

Bonus: Little Willow interviewed Meg Cabot for rgz in 2008. Watch the video below, or click here!

Rock the Drop: Photo Op!

"I was excited to learn about rock the drop on one of my favorite websites, bookcrossing.com, and I dropped a bunch of teen books today." --Kristin Fischer

Sweethearts by Sara Zarr was left on a water fountain at a park in Phoenix, Arizona.

This book is The confessions of a heartless girl by Martha Brooks. It was left on top of a display of free newspapers in front of Souvia Tea, a tea store in Phoenix, Arizona. I thought this was a particularly appropriate place to drop the book since it has a picture of a teacup/coffee cup on the cover.

Here is another book dropped in support of Teen Lit Day. You can see in the picture that the book is The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. It was left on a display of free newspapers in front of Barro's Pizza in Phoenix, Arizona.

This was left near the water fountain by the restroom between the two girls' softball fields where two other books were dropped on the bleachers. It is Money Hungry by Sharon Fluke.

This book was left near the tennis courts at a park in Phoenix, Arizona. It is Avalon High by Meg Cabot:

The one in this picture is Troll Bridge by Jane Yolen and Adam Stempler. It was left on the bleachers of a girls' softball field at a park in Phoenix, Arizona:

This book was left on the bleachers of an adjacent softball field at a park in Phoenix, AZ:

This book was left on a bench by tennis courts in a park in Phoenix, Arizona:

Video Interview: Meg Cabot

Wondering what Meg Cabot thinks about the Twilight movies? Check out this video interview, in which the bestselling author of The Princess Diaries talks to rgzTV host Little Willow about movies, TV shows (Meg Cabot loves Glee!), and her typical writing schedule.



If you can't see the video above, click here.

Make sure to check out the December 2008 issue of readergirlz, when we spotlighted Meg's book How to Be Popular.

Thank you, Meg Cabot! (+ Tiara Time!)

Here's a big THANK YOU to the amazing Meg Cabot for joining us at readergirlz this month! Things we learned about marvelous Meg include:

1. She loved Slumdog Millionaire.
2. She writes in bed to rock music on headphones.
3. The spying-on-neighbor scenes in How to Be Popular were based in truth! "I used to spy on my neighbor when we were teens! It was fun! (but we never went out...we weren’t even friends!)" says Meg.

We had so much fun this month!

Also, we can't let her go without telling everyone about this awesome Tiara Auction in honor of Forever Princess, the tenth and final book in the best-selling PRINCESS DIARIES series (out now!). More than 25 actors, authors, illustrators, designers, organizations and TV personalities have decorated tiaras in celebration of the book (Meg's is the one up top). Want to see Sarah Dessen's? That's it, above left!

The tiaras will be auctioned online at cMarket from January 1-31 with all proceeds benefiting programs for teens at The New York Public Library’s 87 branches.

And, if you're in NYC, Meg will be speaking about Forever Princess at The New York Public Library’s Humanities and Social Sciences Library at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue on Friday, January 9th at 7:00 p.m. The free event is open to the public and will take place in the Celeste Bartos Forum of the landmark building.

Just one more way Ms. Cabot helps the world sparkle! Come back and see us anytime, Meg!

Secrets of Charm

We only have a couple of days left with Meg Cabot and her fabulous How to Be Popular (join the final days in the forum!), so I had to bring up a book, Secrets of Charm, that I found on ebay this year. It's a hilarious primer for girls about how to be glamorous and alluring and graceful at all times.

It includes instructions on how to sit on the ground elegantly ("Hold your back and head erect. Otherwise your spine curves and your shoulders droop to make a shambles of your figure that not even a winter coat could hide.")

Plus tips for buying a hat ("How many times have you been disappointed in a new hat? What a bonbon it was in the store, and what a bitter dish on arrival!")

And even advice on "Jaw Limbering" ("To relax the jaw, move it in a circular motion and say, 'How about going to town, now?' and "the stores abound with new brown gowns.'")

Hi-larious! This one is a fantastic read. If you've ever stumbled upon a fun and outdated tome, do tell.

Music Interrupted

Eeek! I was just over at MySpace checking that everything is spot on as usual, and I discovered Project Playlist is now officially blocked from running on MySpace! Ack!

We've been building playlists this way for almost 2 years. *sigh* I'm thinking they are trying to get us to use their tools instead. This is going to take me a bit to figure out. Here's the full report:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10127653-36.html?tag=mncol%3Btxt

Meg's songs for HOW TO BE POPULAR are still running on our website and you can hear them there. If you are missing them at MySpace, here's the text list below at least.

Sorry for the inconvenience. Trying to rock on,



Let the Good Times Roll - The Cars
Brown Sugar - The Rolling Stones
God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols
Young Americans - David Bowie
Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
My Sharona - The Knack
London Calling - The Clash
Heart of Glass - Blondie
Blitzkrieg Bop - The Ramones
Cantina Band - Star Wars

LIVE! Tonight! Meg Cabot!

Join the readergirlz forum tonight at 9pm EST/6pm PST as we chat LIVE with Meg Cabot! Tiaras optional.

And during the day, to psych up, visit Girl Week at Reviewer X's blog.

rgz LIVE! with Meg Cabot on December 18th!

We are chatting it up with Meg on Thursday, December 18th, 6:00 pm, Pacific, at the rgz MySpace group forum! Hope you all can make it. Meg is just a blast! She's up for talking about all of her work so feel free to drop in. We'll share some holiday cheer with each other.



Lorie Ann Grover ~rgz diva/author

Meg at the Movies!

Our featured author this month has lots of film and television deals in the works (good news for us--more Meg!).

We knew that the title we're talking about in the rgz forum, How to Be Popular, is at MTV.

According to Publisher's Weekly, producers Joan Singleton (Because of Winn-Dixie) and Harry Winer (House Arrest) just secured film rights to Meg's All-American Girl series (American Girl and Ready or Not).

In addition, per PW, "Avalon High is at the Disney Channel; The Mediator is with producer Julia Pistor; The Heather Wells Mysteries is at ABC Family, as is Jinx; and The Queen of Babble is with producer Jeff Sharp of Sharp Independent."

Very cool!

Welcome, Meg Cabot!

Our rgz pick for December, How to be Popular by Meg Cabot, is the sweet and hilarious story of Steph Landry. It explores the timeless theme of wanting to be part of the in crowd. Cabot's deft humor and sharp characterizations make this page-turner a perfect read for the month!

This book was a NY Times bestseller, and MTV has optioned the film rights!

Join Meg and the readergirlz in the rgz forum all month to chat about Steph's plight, popularity, and why Let the Good Times Roll, by the Cars, suits this book's soundtrack.