rgz LIVE! twitter chat with Laini Taylor!!!

Readergirlz, this one is for you! To celebrate LIPS TOUCH THREE TIMES and our amazing featured author Laini Taylor, join us tonight on twitter at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern for a goblin-fruited, secret love-infused, fabulous rgz LIVE! chat!

You won't want to miss this final monthly chat - we're rolling out a whole new format in November, which you can read about here!




Don't have a Twitter account? It's fast and easy to set one up!

Go to http://twitter.com/ to get started. All you will need is your name, a unique user name, and an email address. Add a password, and you're now on Twitter!

Search for readergirlz to begin following us and our tweets.

If you want others to see your posts ("tweets") during the chat, make sure the "Protect my tweets" box is not checked on the Accounts tab. If you want to get fancy, you can add a picture and customize your page in the Design tab.

Protect your privacy! No one can see your email address on twitter, but it's a good idea to choose a user name that doesn't give away your real name or location (especially if you are not an adult).


To join the Laini Taylor chat:

Click on the "Home" page and enter #rgz in the Search box. Our chat will come up, and you can jump right in! Be sure to include #rgz in your chat posts so that everyone else can see them and respond.

We'll see you there tonight!

Love Your Body Day!

Today is Love Your Body Day!

"Do you love what you see when you look in the mirror?

"Hollywood and the fashion, cosmetics and diet industries work hard to make each of us believe that our bodies are unacceptable and need constant improvement. Print ads and television commercials reduce us to body parts -- lips, legs, breasts -- airbrushed and touched up to meet impossible standards. TV shows tell women and teenage girls that cosmetic surgery is good for self-esteem. Is it any wonder that 80% of U.S. women are dissatisfied with their appearance?

"Women and girls spend billions of dollars every year on cosmetics, fashion, magazines and diet aids. These industries can't use negative images to sell their products without our assistance.

Together, we can fight back."

Find out how at The Now Foundation's Love Your Body website.

Love is Louder: Tribute from Little Willow

Readergirlz, check out this amazing video made by Little Willow and her friends to celebrate Love is Louder day today!

To find out more, follow @loveislouder and check out the Love is Louder website. Thank you for sharing this, Little Willow!

Party It Up: Lips Touch

Planning your own book group get-together for Lips Touch? Here are some party ideas from featured author Laini Taylor.

Invite: Thick creamy paper, dark red ink, and of course: a lipstick kiss!"
Décor: Cemetery chic; picnic blanket on the floor, candles, little etched glasses

Food: Fruit, very ripe; chocolate, very dark; tea, as it is served in Hell

Movies: The Fall (gorgeous, mythic, set all over the world - especially India); The Company of Wolves (1984 gothic fantasy-horror movie of Angela Carter's werewolf stories).

Game: You could play charades in honor of Anamique.

Have you checked out The Contemps yet?!

Our own divas Melissa Walker and Micol Ostow are two of twenty-one authors Embracing the Real in contemporary YA lit at The Contemps, a fantastic new group author site celebrating the real, the gritty, and the wonderful in YA.

Their mission is simple:

We are passionate about realistic fiction because these are the books that remind us we're not alone in this real world. Our mission is simple - to spotlight contemporary fiction for young adults through blog posts, author events, and (over)sharing from our teen years.

Here is the full list of authors - lots of names you know, and names you want to know:

April Henry

Brent Crawford

Courtney Summers

Daisy Whitney

Denise Jaden

Elizabeth Scott

Emily Wing Smith

Hannah Harrington

Jo Knowles

Kirsten Hubbard

Kody Keplinger

Kristen Tracy

Lindsey Leavitt

Lisa Schroeder

Melissa Walker

Michael Northrop

Micol Ostow

Mindi Scott

Sara Bennett Wealer

Sarah Darer Littman

Sarah Ockler

Check out their challenge, going on NOW through November 15th: read 18 of their 21 books, and you can win all 21! All the deets are at http://www.thecontemps.com/. Congrats to writers passionate about YA!

Love is Louder-TODAY!

Love is Louder was started by actress Brittany Snow, The Jed Foundation and MTV to build on the outpouring of support online after the lives of multiple teenagers were lost to suicide in September 2010. This movement strives to amplify the momentum of other inspiring online campaigns and invite anyone who has felt mistreated, misunderstood or isolated into the conversation. They are here to raise the volume around a critical message -- that love and support is more powerful than the external and internal voices that bring us down, cause us pain and make us feel hopeless.

The more voices that join the movement, the louder the message becomes. Find out more about this movement and lend your voice to it today, 10/19/10. Here's how.

#LoveisLouder

Guest Blog: Pat Mora

One of the books recommended by the postergirlz this month is Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems about Love by Pat Mora, who wanted to share a little something with the readergirlz:

Great to have my book of love poems included in rgz. Great site/great blog. Writing DIZZY IN YOUR EYES, doing a whole book about different kinds of teen love, was a joyful project. Know those Russian nesting dolls? We’re all like that, all our former selves nesting inside.

- Pat Mora

October: Which LIPS TOUCH Story Would You Live In?

Laini says, "If you had to live in one of the stories, which would it be? Why?"

Cover Stories: Powder Necklace by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond's debut novel, Powder Necklace, follows London teenager Lila as she's sent to school in her native Ghana, then yanked back to London, and finally shipped off to New York -- all at her parents' whims. It's a book about dislocation and discovery, and Publishers Weekly says, "the beauty of the prose and the resilience of the heroine make this a winning debut." Plus, the book is gorgeous.

Here's Nana to tell the story behind the cover:

"For the cover, I envisioned a tin of powder laying on either a blank space or girl's dresser with powder spilling from it -- Ghana has these cool-looking vintage-esque tins of powder that I remember marveling at when I was in school there. I was also thinking a photographic treatment would be cool, in particular, a more literal representation of the title featuring a close-up of a girl's neck dusted with powder.

"My editor asked me what I was thinking in terms of the cover so I shared my ideas, which she was really into. I couldn't get her a good reference picture of the powder tin in time, but I did send her some images from my days in boarding school as a reference (that's Nana, right).

"I had a bit of anxiety when I got my cover. Seeing it made it real, and I had to ask myself if I could live with this image -- the cover of my first born book! -- FOREVA...."

Read the rest of Nana's Cover Story, and see an earlier version, at melissacwalker.com.

Little Willow's Book Bag

This Week's Picks
White Cat by Holly Black
Revenge of the Geek by Piper Banks
Harmonic Feedback by Tara Kelly

This Month's Spotlighted Title
Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor, illustrated by Jim Di Bartolo

Readergirlz Celebrates YALSA's Teen Read Week!

We've got the beat here at readergirlz!

We're celebrating YALSA's Teen Read Week 2010: Books with Beat
all next week here at the readergirlz blog.

We invite you to tell us about your favorite books,
chat with October featured author, Laini Taylor, about love and goblins,
and tell us who you'd love to see featured on the readergirlz blog.

Want to find out more about YALSA's Teen Read Week?
Check out the wiki here, and contact your local library
for events in your area!

Looking for a Book with Beat to read?

More than 11,000 teens voted on the top ten reads in 2009.
Check out the winners of the Teens' Top Ten 2010, to be announced
October 18th at 11 a.m. Central!

The Beat Goes On...

...with readergirlz' awesome archive of spotlighted YA authors here.

There is something for everyone!

Click here to download the Books With Beat rgz poster!

Then rock out to the official rgz playlist!

October: Is Desire Really Punishable?

Laini says, "Do you believe that in real life, desire is punished? Or is this a contrivance of society to try to trick you into behaving?"

rgz Newsflash: Celebrating Change

Hey rgz,

As we get ready to celebrate Teen Read Week together, we also wanted to celebrate rgz upcoming new format.

This October is our last feature as you know it. So be sure to share the love with Laini in these remaining weeks.

So what's up? Well, how about the realization that we ALL read way more than one book a month, right? And the postergirlz pick such awesome recommends. How about this:

* the divas choose a theme a month
* you nominate songs for that theme, and Little Willow will build the playlist
* we'll have a community service spotlight for the theme
* the postergirlz'll nominate the very best YA books for the theme, new releases or old
* one book will be featured EVERY Monday

*squeeeeee* Our Author Liaison diva, Micol Ostow, will be outreaching to each weekly feature for a guest blog post and will invite them to hang with us in the comments. If the author is under deadline and can't make it over, we'll still have a post and be able to chat it up, share the love, leave questions, and so on.

The readergirlz website will continue to hang with a final issue, hence that playlist you all helped build. And the fabbity archives will remain available for your book clubs and libraries.

Feel free to spread the news and be ready for quick changing content of the very best in the children's lit industry. Of course we'll still have Cover Stories and Story Secrets and other posts of awesome that the divas bring to the table. The rgz SALON and Street Team will also continue with their posts, along with reports from our rgz HOSTS across the country.

You know we are always looking for great ways to further teen literacy and social service. Watch for this changeover on November 1. So, what do you think?

Enjoy Teen Read Week, and always, always, always: Read, Reflect, and Reach Out!

Story Secrets: DRAGONS OF NOOR by Janet Lee Carey

Hooray, the dragons are on the shelf! I'm very very very excited (can you tell how excited I am?) to invite my dear friend Janet Lee Carey, one of the most amazing authors and one of my own mentors, to Story Secrets today to talk about her latest YA fantasy, DRAGONS OF NOOR.

It's epic. It's wonderful. I've been incredibly fortunate to get to hear this book from the very beginning, so it's like watching a beloved niece or nephew go off to high school. It's here!

You must read it.

Plus, if you are in the Seattle area, you can come to the launch party at Kirkland Parkplace Books on Saturday, October 23rd, at 7pm!

Ok, enough strongarming...er, recommending. But Janet is wonderful. She contributed to my Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market article, "Telling Your Secrets!" She's the author of STEALING DEATH and DRAGONSKEEP. You will love them. She was also one of the original four co-founders of readergirlz!

Welcome, Janet!

*****

Miles, Hanna, and Taunier are swept into a new adventure in the haunting sequel to THE BEAST OF NOOR. The tale begins when a mysterious wind steals Miles’s and Hanna’s younger brother Tymm. Tymm and other wind-stolen children are swept east across the sea. The three teens sail after Tymm blown by the wind into a Dragon war. Siding with the Dragons of Noor fighting to save the ancient trees is the only way to bridge the broken worlds, the only way to reach the missing children.

Holly Cupala: I love to hear the stories behind the story – how did you come up with the idea for DRAGONS?

Janet Lee Carey: THE DRAGONS OF NOOR began with a daydream. In a kind of trance, I saw a mysterious wind sweep in, steal a child and blow him across the sky. I followed the dream to see what lay behind it. As I asked questions the dream expanded on paper. I was soon traveling across the Noor Sea with Miles, Hanna, and Taunier to find Miles’s and Hanna’s little brother. When I began I didn’t know they’d meet up with Dragons who were fighting their own fierce battle, I didn’t know how the Dragon’s battle for the last great forest of Noor intertwined with the missing children...

Read more about Janet and the dragons here...

~Holly Cupala

Reach Out: Body heART for Positive Body Image

Body heART is, in their own words, "dedicated to bringing awareness to positive body image. In today's society there is an unrealistic standard of beauty and we intend to shatter that illusion...We believe all of us are walking works of ART that are meant to be celebrated and valued."

Their photo campaign features un-retouched images of girls and women of all shapes and sizes. Find out how you can get involved in their photo campaign!

Also, every month, they feature a different woman (such as Dollhouse actress Miracle Laurie) at their website. Check out their videos at YouTube.

For more information, please visit bodyheart.org

rgz on Polyvore

Lorie Ann Grover, 2010, Polyvore

I made this for you. xox

October: The Soundtrack to Lips Touch

Featured Author Laini Taylor hand-picked songs for the playlist that accompanies Lips Touch this month (take a sneak peek, left). Listen to the full soundtrack with the player in the right-hand sidebar or see the list of songs in the October issue!

Cover Stories + Contest: Her and Me and You by Lauren Strasnick

This week, Lauren Strasnick is here to talk about the cover of her latest book Her and Me and You. Kirkus says, "Strasnick's slim second offering packs a lot into its short chapters: divorce, broken friendships, crushes, the lines between love and sex and more. Characterization, scenes, dialogue and setting are seamlessly distilled into so few sharp, image-rich phrases that the novel reads almost as if it were written in verse... Complex and thought-provoking."

How good does that sound? Here's Lauren with the Cover Story:

"I didn't have any specific cover image in mind - but when I finally saw the finished design, I flipped. So gorgeous. It seriously exceeded my expectations.

"I didn't give any input for Her and Me and You. I got to choose the shoes (Converse All Stars) that went on the spine of my first book, Nothing Like You. And I was asked for suggestions when S&S was trying to come up with an image for the paperback version of Nothing Like You...

Read the rest of Lauren's Cover Story, and comment on melissacwalker.com for a chance to win Her and Me and You!

October: The Punishments for Desire

Laini says, "In each of the stories, characters face consequences for desire. Can you give examples? Whose punishment is the most severe?"

Rgz Street Team: Olivia reviews Pretty Little Liars #6: Killer, by Sara Shepard

The rgz Street Team is a group of teens who bring YA reviews to our blog, led by Postergirl Miss Erin. Find out more.

Today, Olivia reviews Killer, the sixth book in the Pretty Little Liars series, by Sara Shepard *Spoiler alert: secrets of other books in the series are revealed in this review!*:

"In the sixth installment of the Pretty Little Liars series: Killer, relationships are strained and nothing is as it seems in picturesque Rosewood, Pennsylvania. The nightmare continues for high school juniors Aria, Hanna, Spencer, and Emily, after their best friend Alison DiLaurentis was found murdered in her own backyard years after she went missing at the end of the seventh grade. Spencer's sister's boyfriend, Ian, is arrested for the murder after evidence is found that links him to a clandestine meeting in the woods with Ali the night that she died. At first, Rosewood considers the tragic case closed. But after Ian mysteriously disappears before his trial after somehow escaping his house arrest and telling Spencer that he's innocent, the girls don't know what to think- especially after finding his dead body in the woods, which later disappears before the police can find it at the end of the fifth novel, Wicked.

"But the secrets behind Ali's death aren't the only things haunting them. 'New A,' the mystery person who seems to know all their secrets, is still sending the girls threatening text messages: even though they thought they were done with A when Hanna's former best friend and the 'original A,' Mona Vanderwaal, is killed at the end of book four, Unbelievable, when she falls off a cliff into Floating Man's Quarry. This new A, however, might actually be helping the girls piece together the puzzle- seeing as she keeps sending them cryptic clues and pictures that relate to Ali and her murder.

"Meanwhile, Aria has decided to move in with her father and his now-pregnant girlfriend, Meredith. Even when they transition to a house frighteningly close to the woods where Ali died, Aria decides that it's better than staying with her mother, Ella and having to deal with Ella's new boyfriend, Xavier, who seems to be interested in her. After running into Ali's older brother Jason, she starts spending more time with him- though judging by her messages, A believes this is a perilous mistake.

"Spencer is busy making her own mistakes after she believes she is adopted and agrees to meet with her possible birth mother, Olivia. After immediately connecting with her young, stylish, look-alike in New York City, Spencer is all too ready to move into the city to be with her- ignoring A's advice to stay away from Olivia or else.

"Hanna is still locked in a power struggle to be Rosewood's queen bee with her stepsister, Kate, who moved to Rosewood in Wicked to be closer to Hanna's dad. Newly single and bitter that Kate has won over her father's heart, Hanna fights Kate for the affections of a not-so-unsuspecting Rosewood Day boy- with surprising results.

"Emily is also having some boy trouble with her new boyfriend, Issac. She's been nothing but nice to his mother, who is sending hardly subtle messages telling Emily to stay away from her son. At first, she dismisses her fears as ridiculous, but when she finds a picture of her and Issac in which Emily's head is cut out, she has to decide between letting Issac go or telling him the truth.

"Killer is focused on the girls' futile attempts to resume their normal lives while getting sucked deeper into the mystery of Ali's death and coming closer and closer to finding the real killer. With the captivating plot twists and cliffhanger that have now become typical for the series, Killer is a good read for any young adult mystery lovers--or anyone who wants a variation from the typical private school clique story with a little more weight."