News summary: After a very fun run of it, my serialized story in the Louisville Courier-Journal, Not That Girl, has wrapped up its monthlong appearance.  You can read  You can read the series from start to finish here.

I was also thrilled to get this lovely review from Tweendom, which is run by the lower-school librarian at Little Red School House in NYC.  (I did a little Internet sleuthing; it’s true.  The school looks almost nothing like that picture, by the way; although it is, in fact, little and red, it’s on the corner of very busy 6th Avenue.  That image was so gorgeously Maxfield Parrish, though, I couldn’t resist including it.)  Little Red was so much cooler than I was that I didn’t even know anybody who went there, but I can recoup some of that lost coolness now by having a nice mention on the librarian’s review blog.  You can read it here, or just enjoy this part:

“Jessica Leader has gotten the multiple worlds of the middle schooler down pat. Seventh grade tends to be a time of big changes…of kids figuring out who they want to be and where they are going to fit in. Marina and Sachi, while seemingly opposites, illustrate this beautifully. Round out the cast of their satellite friends and many types of kids are shown without seeming like Leader simply lined up types and put them in. Nice and Mean shows readers that most likely, the kids they think of as mean aren’t all mean, and the kids who seem nice definitely have some back story of their own!”

Off to the beach this weekend, and I desperately hope that Earl does not delay me!  I have kind of a horrible fear of flying,

and if this flight is punctuated by turbulence, I don’t know what kind of state I’ll be in when I get off the plane.  If you want tosay a little prayer, I wouldn’t mind being included.

Happy Labor Day weekend!  May the fruits of your labor be recognized!

1) Nice and Mean will be featured as New Moon Magazine’s September/October book of the month!  The issue’s theme is popularity, and I agree with the books editor that Nice and Mean could spark some useful discussions of that issue.  There will also be a video contest, since the book focuses on a video class, and if you win the contest, you win a copy of the book!  I can’t wait to see what the readers come up with here.

2) The Louisville-Courier Journal will feature a new story of mine, NOT THAT GIRL, in its August issue–in serial, no less!  The story is set in Kentucky during the back-to-school season, and I love the thought of knowing that readers will experience it during the appropriate season.  There’s just something about going back to school–or even back to work after summer–that makes you/one/me reevaluate priorities and open fresh wounds–and I like the thought of readers being in that mode when they read the story. 

(It’s also a little nerve-wracking to think of putting a story in print without the 20-month waiting period that Nice and Mean has gotten me accustomed to, but I guess I will just have to deal.)

3) My fantastic web designer, WebsyDaisy (aka Jenny Medford), reconfigured my “books” page to include reviews.  I love having all the reviews of Nice and Mean in one place, and if you want to see what people are saying, head on over and say hi.

4) The 3rd bit of good news I can’t really talk about at this moment because I haven’t made a decision about it, but I suspect it will be good news, so I throw it into the Yay pile here, too! 

Have a good weekend, everyone!  I’m writing this on Thursday, but when this reaches you, I will be stepping in that river (see yesterday’s post.)

{Remember: if you leave a comment on this or any post, I will donate a dollar to the funds-needing Louisville Public Library!}

This is kind of one of those cheatery posts in which I refer you to something else, but something is going on right now that I so enjoy that I can’t help but refer you to it.

You may have heard of the Morning News’s Battle of the Books, in which 16 books compete in March Madness style for the winner.  School Library Journal is doing the same for children’s books. 

I so enjoyed last year’s, not just because I got all but one right (I never succeed in predictions like this), but because the judges, all seriously honored authors, share such intricate, thoughtful reasons for preferring one book over another.  I am a judgmental reader, to be sure, and to be honest, I feel like my opinions have sound reasoning.  But hearing what these veteran authors think–authors who have been writing ten times as long as I have, who have served on award committees and seen all kinds of things come and go–always opens up my brain to different kinds of judging.  They make me want to read more widely, write more widely, and become a part of  The Conversation. 

For this week’s reading pleasure, here’s Julius Lester on why he chose the magnificent Tales From Outer Suburbia  by Shaun Tan over Newbery Medal Winner When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.  People are pretty shocked.  When You Reach Me was the only book I can remember that earned Newbery buzz early on, retained it, and won with great enthusiasm–so little of the grousing you might hear when a surefire winner walks away with the prize.  People just love this book, but Lester chose the graphic novel, and I think his reasons are compelling and thought-provoking.

Also, you should read both of these books!  http://ow.ly/1qnFD

It’s so exciting when everyone is talking about a book and how much they love it and you request it and you read it and you love it as much as everyone else does.

I’m talking about When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, about a transitional moment in the life of a 12-year-old girl growing up in New York City in 1978.  It’s just one of those near-perfect books.  She captures daily life so well, especially the New York elements, that I felt like a door has been opened in one of the rooms of my brain and I could see its contents more clearly.  (Keys are a recurring image in this book, so the feeling is fitting.)  Here are some lines I am in utter love with:

“Sometimes you never feel meaner than the moment you stop being mean.  It’s like how turning on a light makes you realize how dark the room had gotten.  And the way you usually act, the things you would normally have done, are like these ghosts that everyone can see but pretends not to.  It was like that when I asked Alice Evans to be my bathroom partner.” 

and

“On the way up, it hit me that it was truly strange to come over here without talking to Annemarie first.  But at the exact same moment I got nervous about that, I also got this other feeling, which I can only describe as love for Annemarie’s elevator.”

I mean, how right-on is that?  How often, in a moment of nerves or energy or emotion, do you fall in love with someone else’s elevator?  I do it weekly, at least.

A strong thread of the book is mysterious and fantastical, and I enjoyed that, but what really got me was the details.  I think I may be a ‘holding a mirror up to nature’  kind of reader, which is maybe too bad, because enjoying the realistic elements of this book more than the fantastical ones may be like appreciating an ice cream sundae for its whipped cream, but what the heck–everybody likes whipped cream on top.