Month: February 2017

Hello, YA Fans!

This week’s edition of “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Unbound Worlds and Cage Match.

Cage Match is back! Unbound Worlds is pitting science fiction characters against fantasy characters in a battle-to-the-death tournament, and you can win a collection of all 32 books featured in the competition. Enter now for your chance to win this library of sci-fi and fantasy titles!

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This week, in honor of March being Women’s History Month, I wanted to talk with an author/illustrator who started her book career last year with a title that highlights remarkable achievements of women through history.

Rachel Ignotofsky’s Women in Science is a collective biography featuring women from all eras of history and the work they did. Laid out in an appealing, graphic-heavy style, the book distills the scientific progress women of all backgrounds achieved.

Aside from what the book does in the inside,Ignotofsky’s work presents an opportunity to talk not only about nonfiction, but also a chance to talk about what categorizing books as “YA” does or does not mean. Women in Science is the kind of book that is perfect for YA readers, as much as it’s perfectly suitable for middle grade readers, as well as adult readers.

Without further ado, get to know Ignotofsky, her work, the work of rad lady scientists, and what she’s working on next (spoiler alert: we need this, too!).

 

Tell us a bit about your background and why you wrote and illustrated Women in Science.

I am an illustrator with a passion for science and history. Women in Science is my first book and I could not be more excited to share it with the world. I graduated from Tyler School of Art in 2011. When you go to school for Graphic Design you learn how to organize images text to make information instantly impactful. I wanted to use my skill set to make topics I think are interesting and important easy and fun to learn about.

I have a lot of friends in education and I was thinking a lot about why science and engineering is still considered such a “boys club”. There is still such a massive gender gap in STEM fields even though girls test just as well as boys do in math and science. I wanted to do what I could to encourage girls to follow their passions. I truly believe that one of the best ways to fight against this kind of bias is by introducing young adults to strong female role models. There are so many female scientists who have changed our world with their discoveries, but many have landed in obscurity. So I decided to use my own skill set –illustration and design to help celebrate women and their accomplishments. illustration is a powerful tool when it comes to telling stories, and I wanted this book to not only be educational but also feel fun. My hope for my book is to help make these women household names and inspire a whole generation of girls!

 

Can you give us a peek into your creative process? What’s a day in the life like?

All of my projects, whether it is a book or a poster starts with the research. It is the information that determines how I lay out a page. For this book I read some great books like Headstrong by Rachel Swaby and  Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries by Sharon Bertsch McGrayne. I also used documentaries, obituaries, the Nobel Prize website and interviews with the women I found online. I write around one or two stories a day and then it is time to draw.

I want to make the information as accessible as possible so I first figure out what I am saying visually versus what is actually written in words and how to weave the information into the illustration. Once it is all planned out, it is time to have fun. I usually listen to fun audio books or trashy TV while drawing each spread.

How did you choose which women to include in your book?

I wanted there to be a story for everyone. I wanted a diverse group of scientist in all different fields. Astronomers, paleontologists, marine biologist, computer programmers, volcanologist, and mathematicians are only a few of the types of scientists and fields of study in this book. I also wanted a breath of history and women who came from different cultural backgrounds and economic classes. This way you don’t just learn about science you also learn history. This book is also about suffrage the civil rights movement, world war two and the space race. The women in this book used their unique perspective to change the world.

 

What women were most fascinating and/or surprising to you to write and illustrate?

It’s wasn’t really a surprise, but it was the fact that although the women in the book had very different backgrounds and challenges passion for their work was very similar. No matter what stood in their way, sexism, Jim Crow laws, segregation, persecution during the holocaust, being unpaid or fired due to their gender — it did not matter. Each challenge was met with this unyielding love of science. They would work in their childhood bedroom, a dusty attic or in a small shack, with no respect. I did not matter as long as it got them closer to their discovery. You read their stories and you think that is a pioneer, that is someone who changes the world.

Do you consider yourself a Young Adult writer? How do you categorize your work and why?

I went into writing the book for everyone – from adults to seven year olds. I wanted there to be something to learn for everyone. I am excited that my book is so accessible to young adults. High school and Middle School are a powerful time in a person’s life. They are trying out new things, trying to figure out who they are and their place in the world. If my book helps them discover their passion in life and introduces them to their career path, that is all I could hope for!

Who is your dream reader? The one that, if you were to stumble upon them on a bus or subway reading your book, you’d melt?

 My dream reader is a young girl who is being introduced to these stories for the first time and they gain a new role model. If my book inspires someone to go into science, or want to change the world that would be the dream. But if I saw one of the women in my book reading my book, like Maryam Mirzakhani, Mae Jemison or Sylvia Earle — that would be the ultimate.

Let’s dig into your own reading life a bit now. What writers and what illustrators are some of your influences? What are some of your favorite young adult books now? What were some of your favorite books as a teenager? 

What inspires and informs my work is science and history. It is my passion to take dense information and organize it in a way that is beautiful and fun to read. I want my art work to have a positive impact on the world, empowering young people to follow their dreams and to learn more about the world around them.  I truly believe that illustration is one of the most powerful tool there are when it comes to learning and storytelling.  As a kid I struggled a lot with reading, you can begin to feel insecure about your abilities to be “a smart kid”. But books and television shows like Magic School Bus, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Amelia’s Notebook, and the Classics Illustrated comics series were filled with whimsy and illustration. They made me feel like I could approach any topic without fear and inspired a lifelong love of learning in me.

Scientific Literacy and understanding history could not be more important. We need to grab the attention of children and adults to learn more about the world around them so that they have the tools to make informed decisions.  But sometimes dense information like learning about particle physics or Hyperbolic geometry can feel scary. I hope my books can introduce people to complicated topics and ideas so they experience the joy of learning and gleefully want to bust down the doors to learn more. 

The graphic novels I’ll stay up all night reading are very different then the work I make and is my escape. A lot of my favorite books and authors I loved as a teenager are still inspiring me today. Graphic novels like Sandman (Neil Gaimen), Maus (Art Spiegelman), Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi) really had an impact on me growing up.  My recent favorites would be Black Hole by Charles Burns, Ghost World by Daniel Clowes (I am about to read his book Patience that came out last year)

 

In honor of Women’s History Month, tell us about some of your lady-identifying heroines, fiction or real? Is there a woman from history you’d love to see a book written about?

Lise Meitner, Sylvia Earle, Katherine Johnson, and Mae Jemison are just a few women from my book who have completely inspired me.  Please read their stories, watch their documentaries and listen to their interviews and just be humbled by their genius.

Shirley Chisholm is someone I think needs to have a movie made about her. She is the first African American Woman elected to congress and her story is amazing. Go out and read about her autobiography Unbought and Unbossed.

  

What’s next for you? Can you tease us with what it is that’s lighting you up about this project?

I have a bunch of new projects being released this year that I am super jazzed about. First off, March 7, a guided journal I made called I Love Science will be in stores. It is filled with a bunch of resource pages like html coding vocab, geometry equations, which I think is good for everyone to have handy. But it also has prompts to inspire exploration and critical thinking about our universe and empowering quotes from female scientist throughout history.

The other big project I have been working on that is coming out this July is Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win. The most basic stereotypes that women have to fight is that our bodies are inherently weaker than men. For many, strength is associated, independence and an ability to lead, So how can we fight this stereotype? Well, with stories of women throughout history who have perused their passions in sports– who have broken records, climbed the tallest mountains in the world and have bench pressed over 300lb. Women in Sports is filled with stories of women who could not be stopped from earning their victories.

Welcome back, YA Fans!

This week’s “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by The Gilded Cage, Book One in the Dark Gifts series.

The world belongs to the Equals—aristocrats with magical gifts—and all commoners must serve them for ten years.

But behind the gates of England’s grandest estate lies a power that could break the world.

Our heroes are a brother and sister who are brought to serve Britain’s most powerful family. It’s upstairs-downstairs drama; beautiful and wicked aristocrats romancing rebellious commoners; and an epic of politics, passion, and revolution.

Not all are free. Not all are equal. Not all will be saved. 

Let’s try something a little different with this week’s newsletter. Rather than a round-up of links to YA news — there hasn’t been much since last week — and rather than a book list or discussion, I thought it might be interesting to take a dive into YA/Book Riot history. Since Book Riot has been going for over five years, we’ve amassed a lot of writing, and it’s fascinating to peek back each year and see not only what we were talking about here, but what the bigger, broader YA world was talking about or interested in at the time.

It’s interesting to see when YA coverage on Book Riot became a big part of what we do. In the early years, it was here and there. But as the YA world itself grew, so did our coverage and interest in books for young adults. I’ve gone through our archives and pulled out a collection of interesting, provocative, and otherwise amusing pieces that highlight YA lit…and some kid lit more broadly. For each year, I’ve pulled 3-5 posts that were among the most popular that month; this means in some cases, those posts might not have been published that particular month, but they had some good interest that month (I believe that was only the case a couple of times — most of the high interest centered around posts written February of that particular year).

2012

 

You may think I am joking, but Dahl has plenty of useful lessons for kids. For instance, he taught me early on that families are unhinged carnivals that dance alongside our lives – places where magical and terrible things can happen within the same heartbeat. There is more where that came from.

I am not sure how deeply engrained Dahl’s books are in the average childhood beyond the UK – the paltry showing in the US-based Parent & Child poll suggests they are not – so for your delectation, here are a few life lessons gleaned from Dahl’s books.

From A Roald Dahl Survival Guide for Kids

 

Those Degrassi Talks books were pretty amazing things. They were partnered with a television series with the same title (which I think I only ever saw in health classes) where the cast of Degrassi would talk about serious issues involving teenagers. They were important books not just because they could stand in for difficult conversations parents didn’t want to have with their kids, but more importantly they predicted the questions before I even knew what my questions were. I remember so clearly the copy of Degrassi Talks: Sex because it was comically, hilariously dog-eared and spine-cracked, but according to the card in the pocket it had never been checked out once. These books existed in the library to be surreptitiously consulted (and occasionally giggled over) as needed.

From Wheels, Degrassi, and Why Tough YA Books and Libraries Are So Important

 

Sometimes, when faced with difficult real life situations, I find myself wondering how my favourite young adult heroines would feel and act in a similar context. I mean, the fact is that lots of them don’t really have to deal with these sorts of problems very often, which got my brain a-clickin’. How would our heroines deal with banal, everyday things like an annoying coworker or a website that won’t align properly or a car alarm going off? Or, in the flowcharts that follow, how would they cope with having to pay the rent?

From What Would *Insert YA Heroine Here* Do?

2013

 

In the latest round of Riot Recommendation, we asked you to shout out the YA series (or series you read as a young adult) that had real staying power, the ones you still think about and re-read today. There were a TON of responses from all over the genre board. Here’s a collection of all your recommendations from Facebook, Twitter, and the comments.

From Young Adult Series You Still Think About Today: A Reading List

 

 

From New Posters for Catching Fire

 

I understand that Stephen Chbosky (author of the novel, writer/director of the film) needed to reinvent Charlie as a more active character in adapting the story for film, because we can’t have ninety minutes of straight voiceover where we’re trapped behind Charlie’s eyeballs. We need to see a character in film making bold choices for himself, otherwise we are on the floor of the movie theater sleeping on top of spilled soda and popcorn. Still, I wanted a slower build and more of an arc from wallflower to almost-normal kid rocking the dance floor. Whatever, I’ll go re-read the book. This will be my answer every time I have a problem with this film.

From Thoughts on “The Perks of Being A Wallflower” Adaptation

 

2014

 

The uncomfortable truth is this: At Bella’s age, I was a lot like her. A whole lot. The things about her that weren’t like me, I realize now, I envied when I read the series. That lightens my load a little bit, but putting it out there after the things I’ve said about Bella feels raw: Now the folks who have heard me say those things will know that, mostly, I was berating the traits I found annoying in myself at fifteen, sixteen, even twenty. Even thirty, sometimes.

It’s amazing how much capacity we have for change when we face the truth, though, and that can hurt when the truth about you is that you would have envied Bella Swan.

From An Apology to Bella Swan

 

I was working in a fairly well-known children’s bookstore in New York last summer, one that is especially known for its employee recommendations and vast knowledge of books. One afternoon, a well-heeled Upper West Side mom asked me for book suggestions for her 10-year old daughter. I immediately thought of Judy Blume, and at my suggestion of one of her titles, the mother looked at me with disdain, saying, “Don’t you think that’s a bit…dated?” I almost fainted on the spot. Blasphemy! Here are some classic children’s/YA books that will never carry that dreaded description.

From 10 Classic Children’s and YA Books That Will Never Be Dated

 

It’s black history month, and rather than offer up a straightforward book list of young adult titles that highlight aspects of black history in the United States, I wanted to do something different — and something that would be much more visually arresting.

I pooled together as many YA books that were historical fiction (meaning no magical/fantastical elements) and featured black main characters or stories. The pickings were so meager, I also looked at middle grade novels which could appeal to young adult readers. But even with those titles included, I hope that this time line is not only illuminating in terms of what is out there, but I hope it’s even more illuminated about what books are not out there.

From Black History in YA Fiction: A Time Line

 

3. You make eye contact with a handsome stranger on the train. If he gets off at your stop, he is totes your future boyfriend. Duh.

From 20 Signs You’re Reading Too Much YA

 

2015

 

2. A story about four female best friends growing up in the early 1970s, a la Now & Then

Now & Then is maybe my favorite movie. I watched it all the time growing up, and it’s still one I love to pop in. The opportunities to explore some of the themes and the time period it’s set in feel endless.

This is the story of four women who are reflecting back on the summer of 1970, when they were young teens in a small Indiana town. The girls go through many huge things in one summer, which makes it ripe for a YA novel since those life-changing summers are part and parcel of the teen experience. More, this time period of change in social culture feels like it has so much opportunity to dive in.

From YA Novels (Based On Movies) That Should Exist

 

Kody Keplinger wrote The DUFF (recently made into a movie starring Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell – it’s amazing and you should see it!) and her other YA books with a musical muse. She rearranges the songs to fit a specific emotion or scene in her books, and her playlists are posted on her website here.

From YA Novels With Soundtracks

 

Theory: there is something about YA and the letter K. Call it koincidence or konspiracy (I know, I know. I’ll show myself out), but even beyond the obvious example of Katniss Everdeen, some of the coolest, most interesting heroines in YA sci-fi/fantasy seem to have K names. In case you don’t already know them, allow me to introduce Kami, Karou, and Katsa: each awesome, each with her own YA universe.

From Awesome YA Heroines Whose Names Start With “K”

 

2016

 

It’s hard to put a number down for what average sales for a book are, since a lot of factors come into play: whether the book is by a new author, one who is seasoned, whether it’s of current interest, where it’s placed in the bookstores, and so forth. I’ve read average sales ranging from 500 copies to 10,000.

So what do best selling books look like? Imagine a book selling tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of copies.

Thanks to the magic of Wikipedia, there’s a nice breakdown of books throughout time and their recorded/reported sales numbers. This accounts for books across all countries, ages, and genres. Being my interest is in young adult novels, I thought it’d be interesting to break out the numbers for those books.

From The Best Selling YA Books of All Time

 

So what makes a book a good crossover? For me, it’s having a certain voice, a focus on a young main character, or themes and plot elements that are relatable across a broad spectrum of readers. For an adult book to have YA crossover, that can mean the stories are focused on teenagers or feature teenagers at the core and the writing is mature, thoughtful, and characters aren’t focused on achieving certain adult markers (marriage, children, and so forth). That doesn’t mean they aren’t doing adult things like leaving home or going to college or becoming involved in a serious relationship; it just means the way those things are included in the story feels like something YA readers would relate to or “get” in some capacity.

From 3 On A YA Theme: Adult Novels for YA Fans and Vice Versa

 

That MORE includes the Amelia Bloomer List, which is an annual list that honors “youth books with strong feminist themes” for ages birth to eighteen. The Amelia Bloomer Project started in 2002, and is—as you have probably already guessed—named for women’s rights advocate Amelia Bloomer.

This year’s list includes lots of books that I’ve already read and loved—volumes 1 and 2 of Lumberjanes (Friendship to the MAX!), Interstellar Cinderella (space mechanic!), Infandous (fairy tales and mythology and art and sex and mother-daughter relationships!), Kissing in America (love letter to female friendship in road trip form!), All the Rage (this decade’s Speak!), We Should All Be Feminists (so tiny! so necessary!), Audacity (fictional biography of social justice pioneer! in verse form!)—but as with any booklist, the titles that interest me even more are the ones I haven’t read yet.

 

From Inspiring Young Feminists: The Amelia Bloomer List

 

Here at Book Riot we’ve had a lot of questions come in about this very topic, especially among kids ages twelve to thirteen. Here is a list of recommended books with high interest plots (special thanks to Ms. Pryor and Ms. Millman, librarians extraordinaire, for their help in compiling this list!), plus some more tips for keeping your reluctant readers turning those pages throughout the summer.

From The Ultimate Guide To Books for Reluctant Readers Ages 12 to 13

 

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And may you be so inspired to pick up and read or revisit a book published from years gone by in the next week or two!

We’ll see you next Monday with a really fun, inspiring interview to kick off Women’s History Month.